From: mlhb@mammoth.dr.att.com (Sky Warrior)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs
Subject: Re: training problem <sigh>
Date: 31 Dec 92 21:42:41 GMT
Reply-To: mlhb@drutx!att.com
Organization: Bell Labs, DCTT, Denver, Co.

In article <1992Dec31.135015.566@news.wesleyan.edu>, RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu (Ruth Ginzberg) writes:
|> OK.  Buffy has this problem & I know its my own fault for mis-training her. 
|> The problem at this point is to fix it.
|> 
|> I love to walk in the woods and/or play in the field with Buffy.  Do it about
|> 5x/week.  She loves it too.  She loves it too much.  She never wants to leave
|> (who could blame her).  So when she realizes that we're getting ready to go
|> back to the car (she's psychic, she just Knows), she starts playing
|> Catch-Me-If-You-Can.  This has become an escalating battle of wits & speed. 
|> She develops ever more sophistocated methods of evading me;  I develop ever
|> more sophistocated methods of capturing her.  Problem is, she's quicker than I
|> am, & unless I can *trick* her into coming to where I can grab her collar, she
|> wins this game.  She's also smart <sigh> and is quickly learning to evade my
|> trickery.
|> 
|> She has been getting nearly 1 hour/day of off-leash exercise ever since she was
|> a baby pup, & I can't imagine what kind of a holy terror she'd be if I didn't
|> allow her any off-leash exercise.  She's VERY energetic, & it is impossible to
|> give her that kind of exercise on a leash.  She needs to dash, sprint, jump,
|> wrestle w. other dogs, run, swim, etc. pretty regularly, none of which can be
|> done on-leash.

What?  Santa didn't bring you "People, Pooches, and Problems" for Hannukhah?
;-) ;-) ;-)

(Sorry about the "Xmas gifts" post to not include other religions.  Perhaps
I should have said "Holiday Gifts"?)

Anyway, there is an excellent chapter in teaching the recall.  I tend to 
think your dog has not learned "come" means all the time, not just when
she feels like it.  Anyway, the Catch-Me-If-You-Can actually cheapens 
you in your dog's eyes.  Think about it, you are playing on *her* terms now; 
not yours.  How long are you going to look like an Alpha in her eyes?

First of all, you are going to have to put a moratorium on using the word
"come", except when you can reinforce it.  Sorry, but this does mean she's
got to be on a leash.  Don't despair, there are 30 ft tracking leads 
available (or you can use a clothesline) -- anything so you can reel in
your dog.  Believe it or not, tracking leads work wonders.  I've used them
when I couldn't get my dogs to come.  They're a bit inconvenient but once
the dog figures out her limit (especially with a choke chain) she won't
stray far.  My dogs have jumped in creeks, ran around, played tag and did
all sorts of fun things with tracking leads on.

Secondly, you'll have to start retraining her to the word "come".
Start with a six foot leash and an enclosed yard and practice 10 recalls,
one after the other.  Do this for the first week.  Length the leash to 10
feet within an enclosed yard for the next week.  The next week, take her to an
open area with a six foot leash.  And so on.  (I may not have the right
regiment that Job Michael Evan suggests.)  Eventually, you will have worked
your dog to a 30 ft leash, both enclosed and out.  Then you'll try off
leash in an enclosed yard; then a bigger enclosure; then outside altogether.

If Buffy relapses, you have to fall back a step or two.  If she does not
come off leash/ not in an enclosure, she goes back to the beginning.  (Do not
pass go, do not collect $200 ;-) ;-)

Anyway, People Pooches and Problems is by Job Michael Evans.  
His Radical Regiment for Recalcitrant Rovers sounds pretty severe at first, 
but it really makes a lot of sense.  Another thing is, the above training is 
a lot of work.  Still, I don't think there is a quick-fix solution for your 
problem (not one that will last).

Good luck!

Sky Warrior & team
-- 
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SKY WARRIOR aka MLH Bonham  | "Good tea.  Nice House." -- Lt. Worf
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