A Really Reliable Recall
By Scotty Valadao – Accredited Animal Behaviour Consultant (Canine) ABC of SA™
Why Dogs often don’t come when called
Lets ‘Think Dog’ for a minute and try to figure out when our beloved dogs seem to have turned deaf:-
· Do you call your dog to take it for a bath when it hates bathing? If so, rather go to the dog and lead it by the collar to the bath area.
· Have you ever called your dog to you to punish it for some misdemeanor? Where punishment is concerned, it must occur while the dog is caught ‘in the act’, or else not at all. Dogs do not associate the behaviour of having had a wee on the carpet to being reprimanded for this when you call them. Rather they associate the behaviour of returning to you as that which caused the punishment!
· What about your own voice and body language? If you are bending over (threatening action to a dog) and screaming and shouting at the dog to come to you, would you return – no way!
· Think about the case wherein a dog is out for a walk, perhaps on a choke chain, and the owner calls it to return to him/her. The dog does not respond and a few seconds later it receives an almighty jerk on the lead!
· What about the situation in that you are just going to leave for work and call Fido to take him outside. As you reach for his collar he dashes away, leaving you to run after him. Well that is one of a dogs favourite games and according to my own dog it is called ‘catch me if you can’ and is great fun! The one thing you never do with a dog that is running away is give chase – rather go against all human instinct and run in the opposite direction, clapping your hands and calling in a happy voice – ‘come Fido, come’. When the dog does turn around and follow you, reward him lavishly for returning to you, don’t just grab the collar and put him outside.
· Another one is calling your dog to take away a valuable item (to the dog at least). Rather practice the Swap exercise which will take care of this situation.
· You are at the park and your dog is having a great time, you call him to return to you and result – you are totally ignored. To overcome this, follow the Real Relaible Recall method below, and then practice in the park as well.
Collar Grabbing
This may seem like a strange exercise to perform with your dog, but when we realize that so many dog bites occur when we try to stop our dog charging at another dog, grab the collar during a fight, or even grab the collar when the dog is over excited, trying to run away from us etc, we can then see the necessity of teaching it. That our dogs do try to bite us in these circumstances is not unusual. It does not mean they do not love us; it is simply a case of redirected aggression and this is an important exercise to teach the dog as it is a preventative measure.
HOW TO:
a. Grab the collar and reward with a treat. Do this over and over, grabbing the collar with stronger and stronger intensity and in different positions on the collar (from above, from the side, from below etc). Start this exercise when the dog is calm.
b. When the dog is accepting the grab and reward happily, start bringing in a shout as you grab. Increase the volume gradually until you can virtually scream and grab the collar really hard. The reason for this is that if our dog is involved in a fight, we very often shout or scream without realizing it.
c. When the dog is ‘proofed’ to this exercise then start doing it in more challenging circumstances – when the dog is playing for example. Remember that when you start a new section of this exercise, to go back to the beginning – that way the dog can cope and you are succeeding every time. Do it when out for walks and in all type of circumstances you can think of. This is an exercise, together with the bite inhibition, which should be practiced throughout the dogs life.
This does not guarantee that it will every happen, but should go a long way towards reducing both the possibility and the severity of any bites and of having a dog that tries to run away the second your hand touches the collar.
The Real Reliable Recall
I received this about 10 years ago and the credit goes to Leslie Nelson of Tails-U-Win in Manchester, Conn, as presented at the APDT conferences in Pennsylvania. I have kept the content as the original I received, just tidied up the spelling and grammar. This really does work but has to be practiced until perfect, and then reinforced on a regular basis, and I have had hundreds of clients who have achieved success with this method. Personally, I reinforce this daily with my own dogs, calling them at least once a day with the Akee recall cue and (rest of the time I use dog’s name and ‘here or come’) and rewarding them for coming. Enjoy, thanks Scotty
“This is your emergency, life-saving recall. You will practice this until your hair turns gray and falls out, but otherwise save it for emergencies. This is NOT your everyday recall, but it will make your everyday recall much better.
Credit for this method goes to Leslie Nelson of Tails-U-Win in Manchester, Conn., as presented at the APDT conference in Pennsylvania a couple years ago, and I received this in 2000 from Wendy Dreyer.
Most of us have an unreliable recall with our dogs. We don't know why they don't come when called, but they don't. Most of us say "Fido, come!" and the dog ignores us. That's our Really UNreliable Recall. Now we need to teach one that is reliable.
The Method
Call the dog with a new word, praise and treat for 20 seconds, every time. Make sure the new word is NOT one used in everyday conversation. Start with the dog very close (2', then 3', then 4') so you are guaranteed he/she will come, using very tasty treats. When training this new word, the dog needs to associate the word with the best treats and 20 seconds of praise. This is the key!!!!!!!!!
Ground Rules
#1. Choose a new word that you will remember, that you DO NOT use in
everyday conversation. It must be unique, short and sweet. "Come!" is already tainted so don't use it for this and it is a word that is used in everyday language. I like AQUI!" (ah-kee') which is Spanish and Portuguese for Here. It is high pitched and can be lengthened if necessary.
#2. Use excellent treats (tasty, smelly, motivating!), something very special. It's fine to vary the treats as long as they are delicious to the dog. Instead of feeding your dog its daily rations in a bowl, use this to give the food over the duration of the day but it is important that you add in really tasty treats as well. It's also OK to intersperse this training with a really fun toy that the dog loves. Possible treats: Hotdog (try turkey or chicken, or go to a natural food store for the really healthy kind) cut in four long strips, then sliced in nickel thick pieces, bits of steak, leftover chicken or turkey, Cheerios mixed with freeze-dried liver & crumbled bacon (keep in freezer) string cheese sliced into bits, Mozzarella (same as string cheese but cheaper) diced, any other cheese (careful, some gets gooey at room temp), Rice Crispies mixed in with Cheerios, freeze-dried liver and crumbled bacon. Anything else you can think of that the dog loves is fair game.
#3. The key is repetition, repetition, repetition. Did I mention repetition? Practice this exercise 2 times a day, for 5-10 minutes each time
Review: New Word, Tasty Treats and Praise for 20 seconds, Repeat Repeat Repeat.
Next 5 minute training session:
Put the dog on a 6' leash and do 50 "AQUII" recalls outside the front door. Don't
tug on the leash! This is totally voluntary; the leash just keeps the dog from running off.
With the dog still on a 6' leash do 50 "AQUI!" recalls outside the back door (even if you have a fenced yard, have the dog on a leash).
With the dog still on a 6' leash go across the street and do 50 "AQUII" recalls.
Congratulations! You just completed another 150 recall repetitions for a total of 300 in one day, in two 10 minute sessions! WOW!!!! You are on your way to having a Really Reliable Recall!!!!
Repeat this lesson, 300 recalls in two 10 minute sessions, every day for the next week. At the end of 7 days you will have done 2100 recalls. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Repetition is the key to learning. Did I mention this?
Now, take this lesson and repeat the training in as many new and different places as you can think of. In order for dogs to generalize their training, they need to be retrained in at least 10 different locations with increasing distractions. Make a list that is logical (in terms of driving) and has increasing distractions. Then, find some safe off leash places to train, and off leash start with your dog back at the 2' distance, and retrain from very close and slowly, slowly add distance.
REMEMBER, there are no corrections in this RRR training. There are no wrong choices, just 20 seconds of reward and praise with these special delicious treats when the dog comes. You are brainwashing, not training! Ha!
Some ideas for training locations: Start in the home, the garden and the driveway (brilliant for dogs that try to escape), the in Parks, the sidewalk outside a mall, Home Depot (or other hardware store), pet store, feed store (farm supplies), sidewalk across the street from a grammar school while school is in session, then later, when school is getting out, downtown sidewalks, more parks, nature preserves or "greenway" walking areas (some require leashed dogs, some do not), the beach, the sidewalk outside the Post Office, etc.”
Note from Scotty – dogs, as humans may take a shorter or longer period to perfect the above. Just work at this exercise consistently and at your own dogs pace. Remember to reinforce this on a regular basis – personally I do it once a day.
Lets ‘Think Dog’ for a minute and try to figure out when our beloved dogs seem to have turned deaf:-
· Do you call your dog to take it for a bath when it hates bathing? If so, rather go to the dog and lead it by the collar to the bath area.
· Have you ever called your dog to you to punish it for some misdemeanor? Where punishment is concerned, it must occur while the dog is caught ‘in the act’, or else not at all. Dogs do not associate the behaviour of having had a wee on the carpet to being reprimanded for this when you call them. Rather they associate the behaviour of returning to you as that which caused the punishment!
· What about your own voice and body language? If you are bending over (threatening action to a dog) and screaming and shouting at the dog to come to you, would you return – no way!
· Think about the case wherein a dog is out for a walk, perhaps on a choke chain, and the owner calls it to return to him/her. The dog does not respond and a few seconds later it receives an almighty jerk on the lead!
· What about the situation in that you are just going to leave for work and call Fido to take him outside. As you reach for his collar he dashes away, leaving you to run after him. Well that is one of a dogs favourite games and according to my own dog it is called ‘catch me if you can’ and is great fun! The one thing you never do with a dog that is running away is give chase – rather go against all human instinct and run in the opposite direction, clapping your hands and calling in a happy voice – ‘come Fido, come’. When the dog does turn around and follow you, reward him lavishly for returning to you, don’t just grab the collar and put him outside.
· Another one is calling your dog to take away a valuable item (to the dog at least). Rather practice the Swap exercise which will take care of this situation.
· You are at the park and your dog is having a great time, you call him to return to you and result – you are totally ignored. To overcome this, follow the Real Relaible Recall method below, and then practice in the park as well.
Collar Grabbing
This may seem like a strange exercise to perform with your dog, but when we realize that so many dog bites occur when we try to stop our dog charging at another dog, grab the collar during a fight, or even grab the collar when the dog is over excited, trying to run away from us etc, we can then see the necessity of teaching it. That our dogs do try to bite us in these circumstances is not unusual. It does not mean they do not love us; it is simply a case of redirected aggression and this is an important exercise to teach the dog as it is a preventative measure.
HOW TO:
a. Grab the collar and reward with a treat. Do this over and over, grabbing the collar with stronger and stronger intensity and in different positions on the collar (from above, from the side, from below etc). Start this exercise when the dog is calm.
b. When the dog is accepting the grab and reward happily, start bringing in a shout as you grab. Increase the volume gradually until you can virtually scream and grab the collar really hard. The reason for this is that if our dog is involved in a fight, we very often shout or scream without realizing it.
c. When the dog is ‘proofed’ to this exercise then start doing it in more challenging circumstances – when the dog is playing for example. Remember that when you start a new section of this exercise, to go back to the beginning – that way the dog can cope and you are succeeding every time. Do it when out for walks and in all type of circumstances you can think of. This is an exercise, together with the bite inhibition, which should be practiced throughout the dogs life.
This does not guarantee that it will every happen, but should go a long way towards reducing both the possibility and the severity of any bites and of having a dog that tries to run away the second your hand touches the collar.
The Real Reliable Recall
I received this about 10 years ago and the credit goes to Leslie Nelson of Tails-U-Win in Manchester, Conn, as presented at the APDT conferences in Pennsylvania. I have kept the content as the original I received, just tidied up the spelling and grammar. This really does work but has to be practiced until perfect, and then reinforced on a regular basis, and I have had hundreds of clients who have achieved success with this method. Personally, I reinforce this daily with my own dogs, calling them at least once a day with the Akee recall cue and (rest of the time I use dog’s name and ‘here or come’) and rewarding them for coming. Enjoy, thanks Scotty
“This is your emergency, life-saving recall. You will practice this until your hair turns gray and falls out, but otherwise save it for emergencies. This is NOT your everyday recall, but it will make your everyday recall much better.
Credit for this method goes to Leslie Nelson of Tails-U-Win in Manchester, Conn., as presented at the APDT conference in Pennsylvania a couple years ago, and I received this in 2000 from Wendy Dreyer.
Most of us have an unreliable recall with our dogs. We don't know why they don't come when called, but they don't. Most of us say "Fido, come!" and the dog ignores us. That's our Really UNreliable Recall. Now we need to teach one that is reliable.
The Method
Call the dog with a new word, praise and treat for 20 seconds, every time. Make sure the new word is NOT one used in everyday conversation. Start with the dog very close (2', then 3', then 4') so you are guaranteed he/she will come, using very tasty treats. When training this new word, the dog needs to associate the word with the best treats and 20 seconds of praise. This is the key!!!!!!!!!
Ground Rules
#1. Choose a new word that you will remember, that you DO NOT use in
everyday conversation. It must be unique, short and sweet. "Come!" is already tainted so don't use it for this and it is a word that is used in everyday language. I like AQUI!" (ah-kee') which is Spanish and Portuguese for Here. It is high pitched and can be lengthened if necessary.
#2. Use excellent treats (tasty, smelly, motivating!), something very special. It's fine to vary the treats as long as they are delicious to the dog. Instead of feeding your dog its daily rations in a bowl, use this to give the food over the duration of the day but it is important that you add in really tasty treats as well. It's also OK to intersperse this training with a really fun toy that the dog loves. Possible treats: Hotdog (try turkey or chicken, or go to a natural food store for the really healthy kind) cut in four long strips, then sliced in nickel thick pieces, bits of steak, leftover chicken or turkey, Cheerios mixed with freeze-dried liver & crumbled bacon (keep in freezer) string cheese sliced into bits, Mozzarella (same as string cheese but cheaper) diced, any other cheese (careful, some gets gooey at room temp), Rice Crispies mixed in with Cheerios, freeze-dried liver and crumbled bacon. Anything else you can think of that the dog loves is fair game.
#3. The key is repetition, repetition, repetition. Did I mention repetition? Practice this exercise 2 times a day, for 5-10 minutes each time
Review: New Word, Tasty Treats and Praise for 20 seconds, Repeat Repeat Repeat.
Next 5 minute training session:
Put the dog on a 6' leash and do 50 "AQUII" recalls outside the front door. Don't
tug on the leash! This is totally voluntary; the leash just keeps the dog from running off.
With the dog still on a 6' leash do 50 "AQUI!" recalls outside the back door (even if you have a fenced yard, have the dog on a leash).
With the dog still on a 6' leash go across the street and do 50 "AQUII" recalls.
Congratulations! You just completed another 150 recall repetitions for a total of 300 in one day, in two 10 minute sessions! WOW!!!! You are on your way to having a Really Reliable Recall!!!!
Repeat this lesson, 300 recalls in two 10 minute sessions, every day for the next week. At the end of 7 days you will have done 2100 recalls. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Repetition is the key to learning. Did I mention this?
Now, take this lesson and repeat the training in as many new and different places as you can think of. In order for dogs to generalize their training, they need to be retrained in at least 10 different locations with increasing distractions. Make a list that is logical (in terms of driving) and has increasing distractions. Then, find some safe off leash places to train, and off leash start with your dog back at the 2' distance, and retrain from very close and slowly, slowly add distance.
REMEMBER, there are no corrections in this RRR training. There are no wrong choices, just 20 seconds of reward and praise with these special delicious treats when the dog comes. You are brainwashing, not training! Ha!
Some ideas for training locations: Start in the home, the garden and the driveway (brilliant for dogs that try to escape), the in Parks, the sidewalk outside a mall, Home Depot (or other hardware store), pet store, feed store (farm supplies), sidewalk across the street from a grammar school while school is in session, then later, when school is getting out, downtown sidewalks, more parks, nature preserves or "greenway" walking areas (some require leashed dogs, some do not), the beach, the sidewalk outside the Post Office, etc.”
Note from Scotty – dogs, as humans may take a shorter or longer period to perfect the above. Just work at this exercise consistently and at your own dogs pace. Remember to reinforce this on a regular basis – personally I do it once a day.
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