Video: Recalls – Bad Dog Agility Academy

Video: Recalls

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  • Randy says:
    June 5, 2023 at 6:45 am

    Sometimes during a training session for a tunnel and one jump sequence, my 9-month-old will not respond immediately or not until 10 seconds or so have passed to return to our start line. I would call her name maybe three or four times as she would look in a different direction. Would luring with food be appropriate in this instance? If so I may sacrifice having a toy reward and have to use food as reward from that point forward.

    • Sarah Baker says:
      June 7, 2023 at 12:01 pm

      You may want to reward leaving the start line. Release word, then “get it” cue and toss toy. Does your pup REALLY want the toy? Use as a reward whatever your pup wants most. Also, looking away can be a slight sign of stress. Make sure you are setting your puppy up for success (aim for at least 90% success rate). You can send a short video if you like.

      • Randy says:
        June 26, 2023 at 4:53 pm

        I may have muddled my question. The problem I’m having is my pup, Jem, will run a short sequence or complete a simple recall drill then run away after completing the assigned task to play with other dogs that may be nearby. When I call her name and call out “come!” she will return enthusiastically and I’d reward her with a treat. Most of our training has been in the backyard, so I’ve gone to an open field on a few occasions to watch a few club members in a class or practice session to expose Jem to this setting and purposefully practice with distractions. Jem will runaway in this setting, but will return when called. Yesterday, we were doing a recall drill between two people. After completing a recall and sitting in front of me, Jem ran to two dogs about 40 yards away and started playing. I called her name three times before getting eye contact at which time I called out “Come!” She returned quickly. Am I just having typical puppy problem or am I not training a recall properly? I don’t have video of what I described, but know I should have set up something. Will try to do that next time.

        • Sarah Baker says:
          June 27, 2023 at 4:49 pm

          Thank you for the clarification, no need to video. It sounds like you have a good baseline recall. What we need to do next is more proofing and more management. In your backyard, your assignment is to set out distractions (dishes, toys, other dogs, etc) then work on heeling and short recalls past them. Start her on leash. If she pulls toward them just wait for her to return her focus on you, reward and continue. Start as far away from the distractions as needed for the exercise to be easy, then gradually move closer. Reward her for heeling as often as you need to to keep her focus then wean off having to give many treats. You could reward with a toy if it is more valuable. When that is easy, go off leash but start farther away again and shovel out those treats again. Work closer until it is easy. Then, we are going to build a routine. Place a jackpot reward on the ground. Heel her a little ways away from it . Have her do a stay, walk a short distance away, recall her and reward. What comes next is very important. You are going to add in a transition behavior to go back for the jackpot or to start line for the next repetition. Options: heel, cookie lure, stay then recall, pick up and carry, hand in collar, tug on a toy). This is a missing piece. We need to not allow her the opportunity to run away after reps and we need to teach her what to do instead. Start on leash, use a long line when you want to work more distance. The loop we are trying to build is: stay, release to do a behavior, get reward, stay focused with a transition behavior back to the “start line” or to get the jackpot. When rewarding with the pre planted jackpot make sure to have her do a behavior for you (like a sit) and that you release her to it. I would do this on leash until it is super easy. Then move off leash but put some management in play like you have the best juiciest chicken ever, or you have someone to manage access to the distraction/pre placed reward. Use super high value rewards at first, especially when you are outside your backyard. Make sure to add dog distractions too but start on leash. I would also revisit the it’s your choice game and the ready go game. Here is a link to a more advanced version of the ready go game: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pEy19FoZPvEGvgpgzTDRnvIqvIfNYYI7/view?usp=drivesdk In daily life, when you do allow her to greet dogs/people, make sure she does something for you and that you release her. Please let me know if you have any questions!

          • Randy says:
            July 14, 2023 at 4:12 pm

            Just want to be sure I’m following instructions correctly–when you describe the steps to take, with options, to train the transition behavior. Am I supposed to use, if needed, the options (heel, cookie lure, stay then recall, etc.) that you list to get my dog to go to the jackpot? Also, should I use a verbal cue to send her to the jackpot? For example, if I have her in a sit and want to get her to the jackpot, is it okay to say, “okay, get jackpot!” And if she doesn’t respond or responds incorrectly, do I use one of the options at that point–like lead her by the collar or carry her to the jackpot?

          • Sarah Baker says:
            July 18, 2023 at 10:43 am

            For sequences yes, finish sequence, give a jackpot cue, send or use a transition to reach the jackpot, release to jackpot (if needed), leash up. I would start with the jackpot very close to the last obstacle (so she reaches it immediately, no transition needed) then build the distance. Start all of this at sequence at home, then take it to class. Next step, at home and then in class, add in the leash. Finish sequence, cue leash on (teach that separately as well), then jackpot cue, etc. This will build value for the leash and prevent running off.

            Also play that ready go game a bunch and put the “bring your collar to my hand” part of it on cue. That will help in instances like the recall game. After each recall the person asks for and rewards the collar in hand behavior, so the last person to recall her can prevent running away by already having her collar. By having everyone ask for and reward the collar behavior she will not get suspicious that the collar cue ends fun games and is an opportunity to run off and find better things.

          • Randy says:
            March 18, 2024 at 5:10 pm

            I’m not sure if this entry belongs in this thread, but I’m including it here because of some similarities, at least to me. In our previous discussions on this thread, we did follow your great instructions and worked out Jem’s inclination to leave me after finishing a practice sequence in our yard and elsewhere. In the past, Jem would run to her crate and/or mom but we solved that problem, at least temporarily. Having said that, my wife and I are not 100% sure it’s mom she wants to check in with. The last two occurrences of this were the past weekend at Jem’s first-ever AKC trial. I entered her in Novice Standard and JWW on Saturday and Sunday. Her debut run on a Standard course went very well, and she earned a Q. A few hours later in JWW, she ran out of the ring in mid-course to an area where two photographers and two ring crew members stood. Mom was not there. She seemed to run to investigate who was there. It took about 15 seconds but I was finally able to coax and to recall her back on course. We ran everything clean but NQd due to going over time.

            I must interject that our club trials in a public park with an open ring–not walls. Just those small triangular plastic flags strung out on a “rope” that lines the area of the 100’x100′ ring. A multitude of distractions may occur such as a kid’s playground that abuts one side of the ring although chain link fence stands between the two areas. Beyond the playground nearby are basketball courts. Yeah, it can get crazy but the dogs do remarkably well.

            The next day, Jem left me mid-course after emerging from a tunnel and ran straight to the chain link fence where mom, flanked by two other people, was recording us on a phone camera. It took about 15 seconds to get her back and to my surprise we Q’d because we came in under standard course time. My wife and I believe that an incident immediately before our run spooked Jem and may have contributed to her running away mid-course. The incident involved a a large Rough Collie (intact) running off course to pursue Jem (female but not in estrus) and me a distance away, as we prepared for our turn on course. I had to hold Jem and keep her away from the large male collie who was leaping up at us before its handler finally arrived and struggled to contol him. This collie has been a problem going after other dogs in class and recently has been going after Jem.

            My basic question is: Do you have any recommendations to prevent Jem from running to mom–or to others? Mom has done some competing with Jem (now 18 months-old) in rally and obedience and has done very well in the latter. A friend says the problem is mom’s strong bond with Jem in obedience. I’ve run two shelties prior to Jem, with mom present, and never faced this issue. Forgive me for this long-winded entry.

          • Randy says:
            March 18, 2024 at 7:03 pm

            I forgot to mention that Jem and I have had many training sessions and classes with no incidents when we’re on the field and my wife is present on the sidelines.

          • Sarah Baker says:
            March 19, 2024 at 5:57 pm

            It seems like you should continue along the previous lines of purposefully adding distractions and making it very valuable to work with you instead of going to distractions. I would add your wife and other people to your training. Have them just stand there at first, then if Jem is successful, have the people be closer to her, have them look at her, talk to her, wave food/toys around, lie on the ground, walk in and out of the training area, etc. Also take her to parks more to practice playing with you and focusing. Make sure to keep the training easy and successful as you progress. That said, there is most likely also some trigger stacking going on. Multiple stressors can make working more difficult. Try your best to stear clear of the collie and I would preemptively pick her up if you can. Please keep me updated!

  • vdemenge1@gmail.com says:
    February 15, 2022 at 10:04 am

    Can somebody start over so to speak with a dog that missed this type of training?

    • Sarah Baker says:
      February 15, 2022 at 5:42 pm

      Oh absolutely! I just treat them like a brand new puppy. I pick a new recall word, do lots of training and use lots of management so refusing recalls is not rehearsed.

  • Lori Linstruth says:
    December 28, 2021 at 6:40 am

    Hi Sarah, and happy holidays!

    I have to give you a little background here, but trust me, this has to do with restrained recalls 🙂

    Our puppy is now 17 weeks old and in the middle of teething…he’s always been super mouthy, but for the last week or so when he gets a bit too aroused he turns into a Bitey Mc Biteface demon spawn of the Tasmanian devil…it seems worst in the evening.

    We’re working on bite inhibition with him and it’s sloooowly getting better — I just started with reverse time outs and I think that’s going to be the most effective — “ow ow” when he bites and then praising when had seemed to be helping, but once he’s super hyper, making ow ow sounds just seems to get him more excited. I tried reverse time outs from yesterday evening, and already I see a marked improvement.

    Now to restrained recalls:

    The problem is balancing the mood-killer of bite inhibition training with the relationship-building fun games. For example, the last couple of times we’ve tried restrained recalls, he’s obviously having a blast and super keen to do it, but he’s started biting at the hands that are restraining him ( probably frustration about being restrained). Not knowing how to deal with this, we’ve stopped practicing restrained recalls for now. We were not restraining him for a long time at all, just like a second…but just being restrained at all for this game now is making him bite.

    Any advice about how to proceed from here?

    • Sarah Baker says:
      December 28, 2021 at 5:42 pm

      Hi Lori!

      I think the time out strategy is a good one. Tie downs so you can easily get out of reach can be helpful as well. It is quite normal for puppies to turn into crazy monsters in the evening. They often need a training session, a play session, to go potty or to take a nap : )

      Retrained recalls. So one strategy is to have the holder feed as you walk away, but I know that you cannot use much food. You could try adjusting how he is being held, like a full body hold from behind or something, you could put a harness on him and hold the back of the harness, you could teach him to do a behavior to give you time to run away (like run away from you to touch a target or go around a cone or to stay on a platform/in a crate). Separate, work on being calm when being restrained before being released to things he wants, like to go watch the chickens or play with a toy, etc.

      • Lori Linstruth says:
        December 29, 2021 at 7:43 am

        Thanks so much for the quick feedback, Sarah! I’ll give these things a try and see how we get on. Practicing calm restraints is something we haven’t done at all, so I’m curious about how that will go.

        One thing I tried last night when he was feisty was “hide and seek” recalls. I’d throw a couple low value cookies on the ground to distract him, then sneak away and hide and call him. That worked great and we both enjoyed it without any time-outs necessary.

        We’re at the stage where I’m wondering if the biting and wanting to eat everything is ever going to stop…it’s getting slowly better but I’ll be glad to be past the teething, at least. Being a puppy parent is hard…I’m constantly worried about whether something is just a normal phase, or if it’s the beginning of bad habits. I don’t want to be too much of a helicopter parent or buzz kill, but I don’t want him rehearsing bad behavior either.

        • Sarah Baker says:
          December 29, 2021 at 11:25 am

          Great job with the hide and seek game! Puppy training can definitely be a tough balance! I think if a behavior is getting better then you are on the right tract and you should be able to get him over it. Teething at least does not last long! With any problem behaviors remember to put in as much value as you can into non compatible behaviors (like sitting instead of jumping for example).

  • Lori Linstruth says:
    December 5, 2021 at 5:40 am

    Hi Sarah! I could use some advice about what to do when you attempt to recall from a distraction and your puppy totally blows you off. I guess a general procedure for what to do when this happens.

    This is the first day this has happened to me (Fjorf the Papillon puppy is 14 weeks old tomorrow). I only attempt a recall if I’m sure he’ll respond, but this afternoon I failed … and he knew I had the yummy treats on me too, but he preferred to be digging in the grass and eating whatever it was he was finding there (he wants to eat EVERYTHING).

    A few days before we’d been successful in this same scenario plus a bunch of other distractions. For example, digging, watching the chickens, eating leaves, etc…I was able to get a head whip recall for all these things (and then I released him to go back and play).

    For the record, for recalls I always release him to go back to whatever I called him away from. And I can’t think of anything I’ve done that would punish a recall.

    I really wasn’t sure what to do this time so I just quietly led him away from his digging paradise by his leash, let him sniff a bit more then we came inside and he went back in his x-pen (he’s good in there and has plenty of things to chew on).

    • Sarah Baker says:
      December 7, 2021 at 5:47 pm

      Hi Lori! It sounds like you have been doing a great job! If he is stuck on a spot, I would go up to him, put the yummy food in his face, move the food away and say your food marker cue. He he will not leave the spot for the tossed food the I would gently lead him away and start to feed when he can focus enough to eat. The I would do some recalls near the spot until they were easy, then I would try releasing him to the spot and then recalling. Great management BTW having the leash on! I also worked on having Skeptic hold appropriate items in his mouth as much as possible to help prevent him from picking up inappropriate items. Keep in mind that he is approaching the teenager stage. That means that some behaviors are going to need to be worked on a lot more. Recalls are a very common behavior to leave during adolescence. So I would just double down on the real life recalls and set up recalls. Also remember that punishment can come in many forms. Maybe anytime he goes inside he feels punished because what he wants is to be outside (for an example). If you think that might be a possibility then with some recalls, reward, walk in the house, reward, then release to go back outside. Let me know if that helps!

      • Lori Linstruth says:
        December 14, 2021 at 2:09 am

        Hi Sarah, thanks so much! Yes, this helps. I think part of the problem is that he is so tiny that I overestimate how interested in food he might be sometimes (right now I think he’s still under 2 kg). So my rewards might not always be as amazing as I’m hoping they are. I’m not a very experienced trainer either, so I worry about crossing over into “bribing” or having him waiting to see if I food first before offering behaviors, creating unwanted behavior chains, etc., so I have a lot of worry around reducing criteria (I’m working on this!).

        I have a related question about rewards in general. I see that you’re able to use kibble/wet food with Skeptic quite a lot…I’d love to do this too, but am not having luck. I can use a bit of kibble first thing in the morning if he’s very hungry, but just for a minute or two. And only for “fun” games like IYC, or where he gets to run and find the cookie. After about 3-5 grams of kibble he’s more interested in running around and doing his thing…he’ll just spit out the kibble if I give it to him. Wet food doesn’t work much better (I’ve tried a few flavors from Renkse and Edgard & Cooper … nothing really excites him).

        Is it possible that I’ve “spoiled” him by using high value rewards too often for recalls / counter conditioning? There’s just so much he needs to get used to at this stage so I’m using a lot of chicken, beef heart, and cheese (tiny, tiny nibbles, but still…it’s a lot throughout the day). Liver paste is only for recalls, but if I do many reps throughout the day it also adds up.

        He also seems to be getting habituated to these rewards so I’m tempted to try different things..but I don’t want to get stuck in a cycle of having to provide ever more valuable rewards, and have him getting even less interested in his proper food. Any advice about how to tackle this?

        • Sarah Baker says:
          December 17, 2021 at 6:21 pm

          A couple of thoughts here. For the morning kibble, can you limit the environment so there is nothing more fun to wander off to? I had to do that some with Skeptic. I would bring his X pen different places. Maybe then he will work longer for the kibble.

          The possible spoiling… I have been there too in some ways with my current young BC. It is not that she cannot eat a lot, she just does not want to. When I want to use the manners minder I have to do it in the morning, before breakfast and it must have good treats not kibble. All my boys have worked for kibble in the mm ; ) Also, she will turn down good treats and often “makes” me get very high value treats for her to be willing to really work for them. I use toys, timing, different high value treats and try to choose carefully and plan for when to use those super high value treats.

          The other route I could try to go is staying with lower value food and trying to get her to work for them by making things easier, making her hungry, putting her away is she does not want my food, etc, but I do not really want to go that route…

          I hope those thoughts help!

          • Lori Linstruth says:
            December 18, 2021 at 3:13 am

            Thanks very much, Sarah! I’ll give these things a try, keep notes, and see what happens. I think I was also giving him just too many treats throughout the day for all the good things he was doing. He’s sooooo tiny that I may have underestimated how full he was getting. Good luck with your young BC! 🙂

          • Sarah Baker says:
            December 20, 2021 at 1:45 pm

            Thank you! Be sure to use “life rewards” as much as possible. Like going out the door, getting on laps, etc, and try to find the kind of touching he likes to you can use a little of that too. Chest vs on top of the head for example.

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