When Pigs Fly_ Training Success With Impossible Dogs - Jane Killion [63]
6. If you can get more than one person to play the game with you, that is very helpful. Be random about who the dog is to go to next—sometimes the person next to him, sometimes the person across from him, etc.
Add a cue. When you have gotten to the point where you are clicking your dog for actually coming close to you, you can add a cue. If you have been playing “pass the dog” and “cheese ball recalls,” and you know for sure that your dog is going to come to you because he has just done it a several times in a row in the same location that you are in now, you can add the cue just as your dog is turning towards you. At this point it should be easy to predict when your dog will come to you so that you can add your cue before the behavior right off the bat.
It is especially important that your recall cue sounds the same each time. Use the word “come” and say it in a high, clipped, voice—almost a chirp. It is good to say it that way because that staccato sound will carry over a long distance. Also, dogs tend to be drawn in and motivated to move faster by short, high pitched sounds and kept away and/or slowed down by long, low pitched ones.
As with your dog’s name, the recall cue must be a sacred sound that only ever has good associations for your dog. Never call your dog to you and then scold him or punish him in any way. Go and get him if whatever follows might not be an activity he likes. You may see a Cattle Dog coming to his owner, looking very unhappy because he knows there is a good chance he might be getting a bath or a toenail clip or a trip to the vet. The Cattle Dog is so reinforced by his owner’s mere presence, that he will overcome his abhorrence of whatever activity is planned so he can comply with his owner’s wishes. Your dog will never do that. If your Pigs Fly Dog thought you were calling him to do one of those stinky activities, he would either run away or stand in the middle of the yard with a bubble above his head that reads, “Yeah, right.” If you want your dog to come to you, you are going to have make sure that your recall cue always means something good for your dog.
Sometimes you are going to need to call your dog when what follows is not the best thing in the world. For instance, you have to leave for work so you call your dog in from the yard so you can put him in his crate. Make sure that, even if you going to put him in his crate, he gets a really fantastic jackpot of reinforcers for coming to you when called. Give him food, toys, play—whatever floats his boat. If you make the reinforcer strong enough, it will break the association between being called in and being put in his crate for the day.
Frequent but short sessions. Make sure you end your formal sessions while your dog is still really hyped up about the recall. Just a few recalls a day is all you need to build a strong behavior. Make it a point to call your dog to you a few times a day around the house and give him some incredible reinforcer. The surprise factor helps cement the recall in your dog’s mind as something great.
Energize your dog’s behavior with hot reinforcers. Coming to you when called is the single most important behavior your dog will ever learn, and you should lay on the reinforcements as thickly and as creatively as possible. Great food is a good reinforcer, but if your dog’s number one passion in life is a squeaky toy, make sure he gets it sometimes for coming to you. Make sure he does not see the squeaky toy before he comes to you, or he will only ever come when you are holding the toy. Surprise is the key element here.
Take it on the road very gradually. Refer back to the formula in the beginning of this section: The history of reinforcement for coming when called, minus the level of excitement/stimulation/novelty of the environment, equals the likelihood that your dog will come when called. Slant things in your favor by either adding to the history of reinforcement, or diminishing the excitement/stimulation/novelty of the environment. Improve the history of reinforcement by more repetitions