One of my goals is to make time to work with my own dog everyday, as I truly believe that hands-on, practical experience is essential to becoming a pro. So while I didn't get as much done yesterday as I had hoped, I did make some progress with training, and with training one of our toughest "opportunities" - the recall.
With most of my dogs, the recall hasn't been important - we had a fence, they just stayed around or they were slow enough that I could catch them. Ben was so obsessed with tennis balls that any small yellow object in my hand gained his immediate and intense attention.
Not so with Mac, my beautiful, bunny obsessed, sniff happy Collie/Shepherd angel.
And worse yet, we live on a major road, and not far from a very fast express way. Mac, who loves to run and play, has been on a leash or a long-line for the better part of the last year. Occasionally she's allowed to run with a drag line, but I tend to panic - what if she sees a rabbit!
I have been working on the recall, and 80% of the time she comes the first time she's called, but for me, that's not good enough. But yesterday, when she started playing "mad dog" (running around the house like a Tasmanian Devil, overturning furniture and rucking up the rugs), I knew she needed a run. So I stuck my courage to the sticking post, grabbed a hand full of her favorite treats, put her on a short drag line and we headed out to the field.
And she was wonderful! We practiced coming while I had hold of the line, then from a short distance and her recalls where a vision. She dawdled one time when she got to the trees, but when she saw my hand moving in an inciting manner, she decided that kitty treats where better than sniffing. We even started fading treats in favor of a good scratch above the tail while we were on the way home.
So day-one of training was a success. And I realized that tough as it is, I needed to let go of at least a little bit of my fear... yet again.
Question of the day: How do you distraction-proof a dog against things over which you have no control - like the sudden appearance of squirrels, bunnies or deer?
Answer: Start with distractions you can control (recall away from some really yummy food), then recall away from some semi interesting unpredictable distractions, then finally the biggies, from large distances if possible, slowly getting closer. Increasing the rewards as the stakes get higher. Or that's what I would do!
ReplyDeleteHi Lyssa
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment - I hadn't thought of yummy food as a distraction, but it is in Mac's case, and would be a good place to start.
But then, how do I go on to "stage" the really exciting unpredictable distractions - critters - so we can workup to a real critter experience. And if I can distraction-proof her against the sudden appearance of a variety of dogs (a situation I can control) will that generalize to bunnies?
(Maybe a little dog in a bunny suit?!?)
I am really glad I started with low-value treats - she'll happily work for kibble or tiny bits of dry cat food - so we have plenty of scope for the high-stakes training later on!
You can start to suddenly throw food and then call him off the chase to at least get practice at that part of it. Does she chase balls? Can you call her off a ball chase?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't try calling her off critters until you have an unshakable recall in as many adrenaline fueled scenarios as you can manufacture. With super nice treats. Then start with her least liked critter before she has actually launched herself at it. Although I have to say, I love the idea of the bunny suit.