Dog Community

The Recall Game

Posted : 9/11/2006 9:26:43 AM

COPYRIGHT 2005/2006 Rebekah L. Pless * all rights reserved
Free for use or copy by anyone as long as author info remains intact

The Recall Game

Having a dog who will reliably come when called is one of the best
things in life. This means FREEDOM for your dog. Here is how to teach
your dog to RUN to you each time you call it.

1)       NEVER call your dog unless you are CERTAIN you can enforce
the command. Each time you call your dog and he does not immediately
come to you to receive a food reward, you take a step backwards in
his learning to come when you call. It is important not to make
mistakes when teaching the recall. DO NOT CALL YOUR DOG if there is
ANY chance you cannot enforce the command. EVER.
2)       NEVER call your dog to you for anything unpleasant. If you
need to interrupt a play session, or you are going to trim nails, or
if you are about to do anything to your dog that he does not enjoy,
GO GET THE DOG. Do not call him to you.
3)       FOOD REWARD every single recall. EVERY SINGLE ONE. This
means keeping treats in your pockets at all times.
4)       Smiles are required equipment when calling your dog. NEVER
EVER call your dog in anything but a praise tone of voice. Correction
will NEVER help a recall. Your dog must WANT to come when you call.

To play the game you need at least 2 people, and several is great.
Each person is given a handful of very small soft treats. I prefer
tiny pieces of hotdogs or string cheese. Pieces should be VERY small,
even for a larger dog or puppy. I slice a hotdog in half and cut the
pieces the size of a nickle. Once people have their treats, they
should take a seat around the room with as much room between them as
the room will allow.

One person takes the puppy or dog and points him towards the person
who is going to begin the game. This person may do anything to get
the puppy to come towards him except say the word COME. Clap hands,
smile, laugh, show the treat, call PUPPPY PUPPPPY PUPPPPY, or the
dog's name. When it is CLEAR that the pup is committed to going to
the person, and ONLY THEN, say the pup's name, and come. For example,
Bailey, COME! It does not matter if the puppy is almost to you, as
long as the pup hears his name and the word COME while he is going
TOWARDS the person calling.

Hold the hand with the food right up next to your body so that the
puppy has to come all the way up to you and touch you to get the
treat. Do not feed the treat until you are holding the puppy's
collar. This prevents the "snatch and run" game. Praise and pet the
puppy cheerfully while he is getting his treat. Once the pup has had
his little tiny treat, it's time to point him towards another person
who does the same thing.

It is extremely important that the participants understand they are
NOT to say the word COME unless the puppy is already doing just that.

Play as long as the pup is interested. Main rules, Do not say COME
unless the puppy IS coming, hold the treat up CLOSE to your body, and
you must be holding the collar to feed the treat.

This simple game does more to build a reliable recall than any other
training you can do. Your pup will quickly learn that his name and
the word come means TREAT. Each time you call the pup and reward him
for coming quickly to you, you build a more ingrained and reliable
response. If you are consistent and train this game at least 2 to 3
times per week, you will have a dog who will ALWAYS come when you
call it. Most owners list this as a top priority for their dogs. Here
is a fun and simple way to attain this goal.

Practice often! Your pup will love this game, and so will your friends.

John

Posted : 9/11/2006 10:01:21 AM

Points one, two and four are spot on the money. As is the game. However I would no more treat my dog than beat it.

If praise isnt enough then the dog doesnt really understand the fact that the owner is wise enough to give undying devotion to. Such devotion that will lead to unquestioning obedience to any command it can understand.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/11/2006 10:19:49 AM

You are entitled to your views, brittany, however, there are legions of people and trained dogs who would strongly disagree, and I am one of them. Dogs do what works. Food = survival to a dog. Properly done, using food rewards during training makes it fun, keeps the dog interested, and once it is put on a variable schedule, dogs work VERY hard to earn that OCCASIONAL reward. I do not use correction or aversives during training.

John

Posted : 9/11/2006 10:56:38 AM

Fair enough. I see you in another forum with some excellent training ideas. Least I think its you with the same name.

The only reason I mention that treats are not the only way is that since I been on these dog forums I see many people for whom the treat rout doesn't solve some problems. And in my limited experience of these boards, it almost always seems to come down to the fact that treats are the primary motivator. They are great as a way to reinforce good behaviour but they in no way guarantee it. Many things in a dogs life outweigh a little snack. Especially if your dog isn't that hungry to begin with. In particular a dog can forgo a tidbit for a step up in status in the pack. Likewise, a little praise is not all that persuasive either. Probably less so.

OTOH if a dog has a better reason to do what you say, ie god is in his heaven and all is right with the world, and his leader is giving clear instructions, then either of these methods will get good results. But its important to stress that the dog is happy to co-operate coz hes seen from your behaviour that you are a good, wise and natural leader. Not because he can string you along for a treat.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/11/2006 11:23:09 AM

Exactly, Brit, and yes, that's me on the other forum. Food, like other reinforcers both positive and negative, must be timed properly and used properly. Luring should be moved away from as soon as possible, and food should be used as a REWARD, not as a bribe. When people show dogs the food in order to get them to work, this is where you end up with dogs who are dependent on food and won't work without it's presence.

mudpuppy

Posted : 9/11/2006 2:22:58 PM

However I would no more treat my dog than beat it.

If praise isnt enough then the dog doesnt really understand the fact that the owner is wise enough to give undying devotion to. Such devotion that will lead to unquestioning obedience to any command it can understand.

ha! ha! you're funny. What a silly outdated attitude. You'd train your dog a lot faster with more reliable results if you'd do some research into behavioral modification principles.

John

Posted : 9/11/2006 5:01:31 PM

Well I am here to learn from others experience. I find it hard to imagine that my dog would've learned obedience much faster than she did. The last couple I've had seemed to pick it up much quicker than the treat trained ones before them. Of course part of that will be from my greater experience.

Maybe you think I'm saying that by being the top dog, that all the rest of the training takes care of itself. That is not the case. You still need to get a dog to understand what it is you are trying to tell it. Which can take a lot of work. But a dog who knows what its being told and still wont do it will benefit from a better understanding of its place in life.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/11/2006 5:32:01 PM

What do you do, Britney, when you have a dog who shuts down and refuses to work when it's corrected?

John

Posted : 9/11/2006 6:04:28 PM

What do you mean refuses to work? I've never had a dog that doesn't want to go for a walk. And when they are walking they will happily do as I say. Be that heel come or leave it. Stay they learn in front of the food and by me being able to surprise them when they break stay coz they think I can't see them. Such obstacle course work that I might do with a dog is pretty easy coz I only do it for fun. And stay alert for the dog losing interest. Then I stop on a high note so it will still be fun next time.Coz surely fun for the dog is what that is supposed to be all about.

If you are talking about in a training situation.well will just go over and over until I get one positive result to end on and then put it away for the day. I guess you'd say I just outpatience them. But in that situation, you are not talking about refusing. Youre talking about not understanding in the first place.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/11/2006 6:26:27 PM

No, I train for competition obedience. I'm talking about a dog who when corrected or coerced to learn a new behavior, quits entirely. No attention. No heeling. She went so far as to lie down and in effect say, "just go ahead and kill me, I'm NOT going to do this". She is the reason I "saw the light" and went postive.

John

Posted : 9/11/2006 6:47:14 PM

Put that way, I guess I have been positive for a while as well. As much as being alpha is about outranking your dog its also about bonding. The love and praise is a reward. And the pack thing is like a bank to keep it in. We can make a withdrawal when we need to be encouraging. And all the positive feelings at other times are deposited until they are needed. I could be completely facetious and suggest that as the savings grow over time, there is some compound interest getting paid in as well.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/11/2006 7:15:04 PM

There is absolutely no lack of any bond of love and respect between me and this dog. She has a flawless recall, I can call her absolutely off anything, and we adore each other, but when I started using some correction on her (NOT severe) she quit. It was adios for her. At this time I was also training with just as much food as I do now. However, I corrected any and all mistakes (NOT harshly, usually with verbal AH AHs, and some luring help to fix the issue. Perhaps a frown with the ah ah, and the OCCASIONAL collar correction, but minimal amounts. This bitch was just not going to tolerate the collar corrections and the mild co-ercian I was enforcing on her by (gently) making her hold the Dumb Bell. She had enough, she laid down, (Figuratively), and basically said, I'll sit here and take any punishment you want to deal out, but I can't do this. Her ears went back, she would not meet my eyes, and I just quit. For several weeks I did not work her AT all. I was at the point where I wanted to start real retrieve work with my young bitch as well, and I was stumped as to what to do. So I talked to some people I know that I knew were into all positive training. Got some GREAT advice from a wonderful person, and in about 3 sessions, both dogs were holding and retrieving to hand reliably, with beautiful enthusiasm and ears all up, like any dog who is playing and having a great time does. It was simply remarkable. It worked the same on both dogs. Let me tell you, I was HOOKED. I started working the middle girl with a touch stick for the Drop on Recall, and she learned it practically instanteously. Within no more than 4 sessions, she would RUN across the room and dive to put her chin on the touch stick, while watching my face to wait for me to call her. I taught my young bitch to any object with her paw when I hold it out and say touch, and to wave pretty. Fronts and finishes were right behind that. One day a couple weeks after we started this kind of training, I had been playing retrieve with them and I went into the other room to check my email. I felt a nudge on my arm and I looked up. There stood my girl who quit on me, and told me plain as day she just didn't want to work with me any more. Can you guess? I had left the Dumb Bell lying on my sofa. It was in her mouth. There she stood with ears up and eyes all twinkling, asking me to work(play) with her. I'm not ashamed to say it brought tears to my eyes. I had already been pretty much a convert, but when that happened, I vowed to never go back.

mudpuppy

Posted : 9/12/2006 8:29:40 AM

I don't see what "training" has to do with "dominance" or "pack status", or even "respect". Alpha dogs DO NOT go around issuing commands to submissive pack members. They just expect the submissive dogs to let them take their pick of the food. Most people who talk about how their dogs obey them out of "respect" and work "solely for praise" actually have dogs who obey them out of fear of being punished.

Training is about communication and motivation. First you communicate to the dog what you mean when you say "sit". Since dogs don't understand english, or even language, this is difficult task. Then you need to motivate the dog to "sit". Some dogs might be motivated by praise. Some might be motivated by food. Some might be motivated by attention, by petting, by going for a walk, or by toys. Your dog will actually be more reliable if you use a wide variety of motivators of differing values. Why limit yourself to one or two motivators? that's just silly.

Traditionally dogs were motivated solely by pain.

raise meant they had avoided punishment so they were happy to receive praise.

ColleenC

Posted : 9/12/2006 9:57:36 AM

ORIGINAL: RedyreRottweilers
When people show dogs the food in order to get them to work, this is where you end up with dogs who are dependent on food and won't work without it's presence.

I disagree with this. Both of my dogs are trained for the ring. The do get treats in the ring, as well as a squeeky toy. Mostly treats though. They are also obedience trained, well, the little one is getting there, and the will work for praise just as hard as they will work for treats. The main thing to remember in training is to make it fun. Whether they get toys, food, or praise it should be something the dog enjoys.

RedyreRottweilers

Posted : 9/12/2006 10:09:07 AM

Colleen, I was not speaking of the conformation ring, where I compete as well.

I was speaking of training obedience. If one continues to lure/bribe a dog with food during training, the dog can become dependent on the actual presence of the food, and this dependence can be VERY difficult to fade.

Having recently left behind ALL aversives in training, I am with you all the way in finding whatever works for the dog as reinforcment. I use anything at my disposal to reinforce proper behavior and the response I'm looking for. My primary reinforcer is generally food, however I use toys, praise, play, fetch games etc to keep dogs interested and motivated.

The point I was trying to make was that if you continually lure the dog with the food, and show the dog the food constantly in order to get it to work, instead of letting the dog learn how to get in CONTROL of his rewards by his response, then you can end up with a dog who is not interested in doing anything with you unless you have food on his nose.