spiritdogs
Posted : 9/19/2008 4:03:56 PM
mudpuppy
I'm very opposed to "reeling dogs in" with long lines. There was a study that showed that dogs who were trained by simply rewarding the dog for coming developed much more reliable recalls than dogs trained with the old-fashioned method of using the long line to enforce the recall. I think long lines should only be used for safety. The idea that letting a dog "blow you off" will ruin the training of whatever and the dog must be forced to comply is I think very incorrect and incompatible with positive training methods. Dogs who appear to be "blowing you off" are almost certainly distracted, confused, under-trained, or under-motivated and how does dragging a dog to you fix any of these problems? it doesn't and it won't. I think all recall training is best done OFF leash in a safe area, use a long line for safety only if you need it. You'll notice that Leslie Nelson's really reliable recall doesn't ever suggest dragging your dog to you with the long line for failing to recall. You'll notice that very few clicker trainers suggest pushing your dog's butt to the ground when he "blows you off" for an undertrained SIT command, or suggest giving your dog a good hard leash-pop when his under-trained heel turns into forging. Same principle as with dragging your undertrained dog back to you when he fails to recall. Bad technique.
Well, you can say what you want, but aren't you the one who thinks that an e-collar is ok to enforce a recall? I may be "old fashioned", but my dogs come when called, and my clients' dogs come when called, and they certainly aren't yanking or dragging the line. You really have to see it - it's pretty much what Leslie does, done with encouragement and cheerleading, but the dog does get the sniff and not the mouthful of the meat.
And, where did the "pushing the dog to the ground" comment come from? You certainly know that I would NEVER advocate that, and it's not appropriate to suggest, even remotely, that I am dragging, pushing, or yanking dogs. I use the term reeling because I want to AVOID yanking. But, I guess it loses something in the translation if you don't see it. Usually, what I do is move away from the dog and they tend to reel themselves in at that point with a slight encouragement. And, we are working, at first, in an environment that is not that distracting. In my opinion, it's never ok to shock a dog to enforce a recall, so WTH.