Friday, May 1, 2009
Training Tip - Recall Drill
Sometimes, a pup comes along, and regardless of what we do, there is some difficulty with recall. Just as with children from the same parent, even pups from the same litter, they will not all turn out the same nor will they progress at the same rate. Realizing that in dog training, there are going to be hurdles to cross and issues to deal with; using our head can sometimes be the best answer. Using reason and logic, something dogs do not possess, combined with common sense and we can many times come up with ways to get through these situations.
Now I do like to get in the floor of my family room with a pup of approximately 8 weeks of age, along with my wife and daughter. We will form a triangle and put pup in the middle. One at a time we will excitedly call pup, “Here” and clap our hands. When pup gets to us, we pet and praise him, “Good Boy, Here, Good Boy”. Then the next person will do the same thing and we will repeat till each of us has recalled the pup 2 or 3 times. Watch and do not let pup get bored or too tired with this. We want to make sure we stop while pup is still excited and going, not after he is bored or tired out.
My friend John Huddleston of OTM Boykins in Birmingham was telling me recently about someone that he works with that had gotten a pup off his last litter, JustAHomeWrecker x Heidi Belle. The owner of the pup, Wayne Myers, had been having a little difficulty on recall. The dog was not always coming, and Wayne knew from listening to John and reading my articles here on “Raising Pup”, that chasing the dog was the wrong thing to do. So Wayne put his thinking cap on and came up with an ingenious way to work on this.
His young pup, Rocky, as you will see in the Video, is very energetic, but most importantly is food motivated. So Wayne decided to do this drill right before Rocky’s normal feeding time so that he would be hungry, thus helping insure success. With his assistant trainers (His Wife and Son), they went into the yard and formed a triangle. Each of them armed with kibbles of Rocky’s’ food to be used as bait to lure Rocky into coming when called. Each time Rocky is called, he gets a kibble as a reward.
There was one instance in the video where Wayne had just called Rocky, which Rocky complied, and had received his Kibble. Then the son called Rocky, but Rocky ran to the wife, where he sat waiting for his Kibble. She alertly folded her arms and stood as still as she could be, ignoring Rocky, while the son kept repeating the command: “Rock y Here”. I know you recall from previous articles that you should never repeat commands. While this is very true, it only applies to “Known Commands”, commands which the dog is already performing to the point of habit. When teaching a command, repeating is sometimes a necessity. So in this case, the son did the correct thing. Rocky quickly realized the error of his ways and turn and went straight to the son, where he was promptly rewarded with a kibble.
Another great thing about this drill is that it is family oriented. All too often I hear that the dog will come to the husband when called but not to the wife or children. Through this drill the dog is learning to come to everyone, plus spending time as a family unit is always a good thing, something we all need to do more of.
Now this drill is not just for dogs that are having difficulty with recall. This drill can and probably should be used with all pups. It is so easy to do, and is great fun for the pup, keeping his spirits high. Boykins do not always perform well to Drill Sergeant Methods, something I have heard from Millie Latimer of Rock N Creek Kennels on more than one occasion. So by making this a fun, light hearted session for the pup, he is having fun while learning, which equates to a productive time. It is good exercise for the pup as well.
This drill also works sit and patience training into it as well. As pup progresses with it, having pup sit and wait before he gets his kibble, makes this drill multi faceted.
Thanks to Wayne Myers and his family along with Rocky for sharing this with me.
Now I do like to get in the floor of my family room with a pup of approximately 8 weeks of age, along with my wife and daughter. We will form a triangle and put pup in the middle. One at a time we will excitedly call pup, “Here” and clap our hands. When pup gets to us, we pet and praise him, “Good Boy, Here, Good Boy”. Then the next person will do the same thing and we will repeat till each of us has recalled the pup 2 or 3 times. Watch and do not let pup get bored or too tired with this. We want to make sure we stop while pup is still excited and going, not after he is bored or tired out.
My friend John Huddleston of OTM Boykins in Birmingham was telling me recently about someone that he works with that had gotten a pup off his last litter, JustAHomeWrecker x Heidi Belle. The owner of the pup, Wayne Myers, had been having a little difficulty on recall. The dog was not always coming, and Wayne knew from listening to John and reading my articles here on “Raising Pup”, that chasing the dog was the wrong thing to do. So Wayne put his thinking cap on and came up with an ingenious way to work on this.
His young pup, Rocky, as you will see in the Video, is very energetic, but most importantly is food motivated. So Wayne decided to do this drill right before Rocky’s normal feeding time so that he would be hungry, thus helping insure success. With his assistant trainers (His Wife and Son), they went into the yard and formed a triangle. Each of them armed with kibbles of Rocky’s’ food to be used as bait to lure Rocky into coming when called. Each time Rocky is called, he gets a kibble as a reward.
There was one instance in the video where Wayne had just called Rocky, which Rocky complied, and had received his Kibble. Then the son called Rocky, but Rocky ran to the wife, where he sat waiting for his Kibble. She alertly folded her arms and stood as still as she could be, ignoring Rocky, while the son kept repeating the command: “Rock y Here”. I know you recall from previous articles that you should never repeat commands. While this is very true, it only applies to “Known Commands”, commands which the dog is already performing to the point of habit. When teaching a command, repeating is sometimes a necessity. So in this case, the son did the correct thing. Rocky quickly realized the error of his ways and turn and went straight to the son, where he was promptly rewarded with a kibble.
Another great thing about this drill is that it is family oriented. All too often I hear that the dog will come to the husband when called but not to the wife or children. Through this drill the dog is learning to come to everyone, plus spending time as a family unit is always a good thing, something we all need to do more of.
Now this drill is not just for dogs that are having difficulty with recall. This drill can and probably should be used with all pups. It is so easy to do, and is great fun for the pup, keeping his spirits high. Boykins do not always perform well to Drill Sergeant Methods, something I have heard from Millie Latimer of Rock N Creek Kennels on more than one occasion. So by making this a fun, light hearted session for the pup, he is having fun while learning, which equates to a productive time. It is good exercise for the pup as well.
This drill also works sit and patience training into it as well. As pup progresses with it, having pup sit and wait before he gets his kibble, makes this drill multi faceted.
Thanks to Wayne Myers and his family along with Rocky for sharing this with me.
# posted by Clay Black @ 1:22 PM 
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