Recall Training With Toys

[ncarter]

I still have a dog with a bad recall. Im going to get stuck into training over summer. His food drive is quite low. However he will come probably 90% of the time if I have a toy. How can I use use his toy obsession to my advantage? Having said that I don't want to always have to rely on having a toy handy to make him come. its like cheating.

[Reddii]

I still have a dog with a bad recall. Im going to get stuck into training over summer. His food drive is quite low. However he will come probably 90% of the time if I have a toy. How can I use use his toy obsession to my advantage? Having said that I don't want to always have to rely on having a toy handy to make him come. its like cheating.

It isn't cheating, it's just making sure you win......

Seriously it's like anything else you train. Start out with a high rate of reward (carry the toy everywhere) until the behaviour is as close to 100% as you can get it (realising no behaviour will ever be 100% in all conditions). Then back off the reward to say 4 times out of 5, then 3 times out of 5 etc as the behaviour improves. Eventually (or after not such a long time maybe) you will not need the toy because the behaviour will be patterned and your dog will come every time.

The whole idea is that they associate coming to you with something positive (toy), then maybe a pat or a kind word as time goes by. Don't forget though there will always be backward steps in the process.

Hope this helps.

Tony

[ness]

Will he retrieve the toy. My BC girl has a very high retrieving drive so what I do is occasionally throw in my recall word when she is already in the middle of hooning back to me with the toy/ball for another throw. She is still in the stage of me mainly calling her when she is coming anyway as I want it to be super solid before I take my chance of calling her. She is also of an age where she might chose not to come so I try and prevent that and if I need her I'll go get her or I'll throw the ball let her retrieve it to me and then put her on-lead (not always though and yep occasionally she will go back on lead and I'll let her off again and keep playing).

[Lablover]

I still have a dog with a bad recall. Im going to get stuck into training over summer. His food drive is quite low. However he will come probably 90% of the time if I have a toy. How can I use use his toy obsession to my advantage? Having said that I don't want to always have to rely on having a toy handy to make him come. its like cheating.

As an extension to Reddi advice, you have trained your dog to ignore the recall. If he is "obsessed" by the reward, use it, to your advantage. Cheating?

Bear in mind the three D's: Desire, distraction, distance.

For interest what is his toy?

[ncarter]

Seriously it's like anything else you train. Start out with a high rate of reward (carry the toy everywhere) until the behaviour is as close to 100% as you can get it (realising no behaviour will ever be 100% in all conditions). Then back off the reward to say 4 times out of 5, then 3 times out of 5 etc as the behaviour improves. Eventually (or after not such a long time maybe) you will not need the toy because the behaviour will be patterned and your dog will come every time.

Hope this helps.

Tony

thanks for that. Say I have a tug toy. My dog is running round sniffing the grass or whatever, then I show him the toy and call him to 'come'. He comes and I say good 'come', and then I play tug with him for a minute or so. I repeat this over and over but decrease the rate of reward until I don't need the toy because the behaviour will be patterned. Is that right? What happens when I take the toy away after the reward? I know the dog will just bark and be like 'lets play lets play give me my toy'.

eta - Ive tried working with a long-lead and food rewards but its been pretty slow going, dog distracted and not really motivated by food. Having said that I don't think i've persisted enough with that. Should I do a combination of the two methods?

Edited November 16, 2008 by ncarter

[ncarter]

Will he retrieve the toy.

yes but sometimes when he is tired he will have a rest wherever the toy lands or he can sometimes be distracted by other people/dogs. So this is when I have a lot less control obviously so I take 2 toys, one to entice him if he is looking distracted but I don't wanna rely on toys too much

[ncarter]

As an extension to Reddi advice, you have trained your dog to ignore the recall. If he is "obsessed" by the reward, use it, to your advantage. Cheating?

Bear in mind the three D's: Desire, distraction, distance.

For interest what is his toy?

The toy is normally a squeky bone but a tug toy or ball works.

[Kavik]

You'll want to move from show toy - command - comply - reward to command - comply - reward so he will do it without the toy being shown first. Have you tried running the other direction when you call him?

[persephone]

Have you trained him at home with no distractions? Is he 100% there?

[ncarter]

You'll want to move from show toy - command - comply - reward to command - comply - reward so he will do it without the toy being shown first. Have you tried running the other direction when you call him?

yep this generally works

[ncarter]

Have you trained him at home with no distractions? Is he 100% there?

yep i wouldnt say 100% though maybe 95%