Finally, one of my older dogs who had a really bad habit of chasing the cars along this fence, passed away. I was determined to take advantage of this tragedy and make a change in the behavior of my pack of Australian Shepherds. Of course my dogs don't chase cars that are inside the fence, only on the other side of the fence so it was a bit of prey drive, herding instinct and barrier frustration issue. My older dog that passed away, you would never expect to hurt a soul who was on the inside of our fence. She used to be so aggressive that she would try to bite a person who would walk along that easement. She would jam her head through the wire fence snapping and barking as in a rage but if they got to the gate and opened it she was their best friend. You can imagine that I was pretty frustrated that my sweet girl would do such a thing. The main problem was distance. She would never do this if I was near her when a car would go by or if a person would walk along the fence. It was impossible to stop her once she was engaged in this behavior. She would escilate to red zone behavior. Spinning and barking wildly. If the cars would come by unexpectedly and I didn't have my dog on a leash or at least have her attention solidly on me, I was out of luck.
I finally decided to really put my heart into it and I had good information and a solid plan. I have a power wheelchair that I use to exercise my dogs around the property. I put a treat bag on the arm of my power chair. I fill it with hot dogs that have been cut into small pieces and dried somewhat in the oven. I made a point of keeping this with me all the time when I had the dogs where they might have access to the fence/car problem area. I did not want them to have the opportunity to practice this behavior. While I was on the first stage of this project I would take my four Aussies out only when I expected that my neighbors were at work so that they wouldn't be driving by. I would turn the dogs loose and when they would get out sniffing around the yard I would call them with a whistle (I used a push button electric coaches whistle since I don't whistle myself and I occasionally have trouble projecting my voice) or I would use a loud YIP! Works good when the dogs are far away. It sounds kinda like a hog call. *grin* I set them up for success. When my dogs would come to me they would always get a piece of hot dog as a reward. Sometimes they would get a handful of hot dogs. Pretty soon the dogs would come running at lightning speed to my whistle or Yip ( I did this for several weeks). After they got in a very strong habit of expecting the hot dogs I would give it to them sometimes and sometimes I would just pet them or let them sniff or lick my hands. This increased the intensity of the recall. It is important to go to this variable reinforcement stage to increase the intensity of the behavior you are working on but only after you teach the behavior with the 100% reinforcement schedule for a couple of weeks. By giving it to them sometimes and sometimes not, it becomes like a slot machine in Las Vegas. They never know if it is coming or not and it actually increases the reaction to your whistle or call. As soon as we had this really solid we were ready for the next phase of training.
I finally decided to really put my heart into it and I had good information and a solid plan. I have a power wheelchair that I use to exercise my dogs around the property. I put a treat bag on the arm of my power chair. I fill it with hot dogs that have been cut into small pieces and dried somewhat in the oven. I made a point of keeping this with me all the time when I had the dogs where they might have access to the fence/car problem area. I did not want them to have the opportunity to practice this behavior. While I was on the first stage of this project I would take my four Aussies out only when I expected that my neighbors were at work so that they wouldn't be driving by. I would turn the dogs loose and when they would get out sniffing around the yard I would call them with a whistle (I used a push button electric coaches whistle since I don't whistle myself and I occasionally have trouble projecting my voice) or I would use a loud YIP! Works good when the dogs are far away. It sounds kinda like a hog call. *grin* I set them up for success. When my dogs would come to me they would always get a piece of hot dog as a reward. Sometimes they would get a handful of hot dogs. Pretty soon the dogs would come running at lightning speed to my whistle or Yip ( I did this for several weeks). After they got in a very strong habit of expecting the hot dogs I would give it to them sometimes and sometimes I would just pet them or let them sniff or lick my hands. This increased the intensity of the recall. It is important to go to this variable reinforcement stage to increase the intensity of the behavior you are working on but only after you teach the behavior with the 100% reinforcement schedule for a couple of weeks. By giving it to them sometimes and sometimes not, it becomes like a slot machine in Las Vegas. They never know if it is coming or not and it actually increases the reaction to your whistle or call. As soon as we had this really solid we were ready for the next phase of training.
I finally started letting them go out with me when I expected the cars to come by. I always wanted to be the one to spot the car first. I called them as soon as I saw or even heard the neighbors car coming down the road. I would call the dogs loudly and give them a big jackpot (hands full of hot dogs) continuously until the car stopped in my neighbors driveway. I did this almost daily until I didn't have to call loudly only at a normal tone. I don't have to use the whistle if I don't have it with me but the whistle really works better. (I sometimes use roasted chicken or other meats to keep it fun.)
I didn't get to practice this too often with the car coming down the road since the summer was so hot this year, so I was surprised one day last month when the dogs saw the car coming before I did. I was not paying close attention to the road and to my surprise, all of the dogs came running to me for their reward when they saw the car coming! I always knew that this was the ultimate goal of my training exercise but I'm telling you it was quite a rush when it finally happened that my dog decided on his own to come running to me when he saw the car instead of chasing the car along the fence line. I didn't have to call them, they just knew what to do. Wow! What a feeling that was!!
I truely believe that absolute determination to make this a reality and the ability to finally muster the patience and persistence to get a routine going and sticking too it like glue no matter how long it takes (the way I always tell my clients) was the reason for our success. The entire process, once I got the right plan in place, took about 3-4 months. I now have the best recall I have ever had for my dogs and I have always thought that I had a decent recall on them under most circumstances but this was over the top. I can now call my dogs away from a running squirrel or just about anything I know of. When their favorite people come, with their dogs no less, to our front ranch gate, I can get them to come and pay attention to me and me alone until I release them. When we run the horses back to the barn they will stay right by my side until I release them as well. So much freedom this gives me and peace of mind for the UPS man as well. Ha!
I truely believe that absolute determination to make this a reality and the ability to finally muster the patience and persistence to get a routine going and sticking too it like glue no matter how long it takes (the way I always tell my clients) was the reason for our success. The entire process, once I got the right plan in place, took about 3-4 months. I now have the best recall I have ever had for my dogs and I have always thought that I had a decent recall on them under most circumstances but this was over the top. I can now call my dogs away from a running squirrel or just about anything I know of. When their favorite people come, with their dogs no less, to our front ranch gate, I can get them to come and pay attention to me and me alone until I release them. When we run the horses back to the barn they will stay right by my side until I release them as well. So much freedom this gives me and peace of mind for the UPS man as well. Ha!
Another thing I used while working on this emergency recall was to call them to a game of chase the water from the garden hose. I would stroll around on my wheelchair with the hose in my hand. When they would become distracted in a wrestling game or a game of keep away with a pine cone, I would whistle and then start a game of chase the water hose. This really got them coming like a rocket. They all wanted to be the first to catch the stream of water in the summertime. One thing to remember when doing this is to make sure that you can stop the water chasing game any time YOU decide you want to. Always have control over the beginning and ending of these intense games! Practice stopping and starting them everytime you play the game or your dog may become obcessed. You really don't want that to happen! Excited is one thing but obcessed is very unhealthy for your animal and dangerous for you both as well, especially with larger dogs.
Happy Dog Training!!
Mary
Power Paws Dog Rehabilitation and Training Contact us at:
powerpaws@live.com or 321-302-4142
No comments:
Post a Comment