Every dog should learn to come when called; it's a matter of safety.  

It is often easier to teach a puppy to come when called than it is to teach an adult dog.  This is because a puppy is naturally responsive to happy sounding, high-pitched noises.  These noises can be used in conjunction with running backwards, crouching down, and patting the legs to help a puppy respond correctly after the recall command has been given.  To maintain this behavior a food or toy reward should be given to the puppy once they reach the person who called them.

Teaching the older dog to come when called is easy too.

Many of my clients have dogs that are older, or who have been recently adopted.  These dogs are often able to go off-leash on hikes, or to parks, beaches, and dog runs without running away or getting in trouble.  However, many of them will not (or only rarely) come when called.  Generally these clients have been getting by without recall, but would prefer to have better control of their dogs at the park.  For these clients and their dogs it is often unnecessary to follow standard management practices, such as having the dog drag a long leash.  The following exercises are often all that is needed to get started with teaching your dog to come when called. 

Recall Exercises for well-behaved, older dogs.

1) You can't get them to come when called if they can't even look at you when you say their name.  

Practice this on leash walks first.  Say your dog's name, then stop walking forward.  Stand still and remain calm.  Say nothing.  DO NOT REPEAT YOUR DOG'S NAME.  Wait and watch your dog.  As soon as your dog turns and looks at you (usually because they can't figure out why you are being so still and quiet) clearly mark your dog's behavior with a word that means you like what they did.  Then give them a tasty treat and continue walking forward.  Later, try this when your dog is off-leash and has little or no distractions.  Finally, try it with distractions.  If your dog doesn't look at you, simply walk away (no reprimand and no reward).

NOTES ON MARKING WHAT YOU LIKE

• When you mark things that your dog does that you like, use one word.

• Always use the same word.

• Pick a word that is special--something you don't use all the time.

• Use the marker word like a camera to catch exactly the moment of success.

• Always follow the marker word with a valuable reward (food, toy, access).

• When your dog has learned the behavior and is successful 95% of the time you can start giving rewards for only the best responses.  Continue to praise your dog for all correct responses, but use the marker word only if you intend to reward the dog with food, toys, or access to something they wanted.

2) The first rule of teaching a new behavior is to make sure that your dog can do it.  

After your dog is consistently offering the new behavior (sitting, coming, speaking) THEN you can call it something and reward your dog only when you command them to show a specific behavior.  To do this I have my clients GIVE their dog HUGE REWARDS for Auto Check-Ins.  

When rewarding your dog for AUTO CHECK-INS you will NOT CALL your dog.

• Wait for your dog to be willing come to you--even if they are only 10 feet close.

• With your best happy voice PRAISE YOUR DOG LIKE MAD!

• THEN give your dog a fantastic reward--something TRULY YUMMY!!!!

• Now walk away.

• Watch your dog closely.  Try to guess when your dog is going to come to check-in and get a treat.

• When you are 90% accurate on guessing when your dog is about to come to you, then start calling your dog right before they are about to check-in.

• Then stop feeding your dog for auto check-ins and only feed your dog when you call them.
  

There is no reason to tolerate being pulled by your dog when you walk them on leash.  More importantly you DO NOT need to choke or pinch/prong collar your dog.  For ethical and health reasons I despise these collars.  Pinch/prong collars look downright frightening, but they actually do less damage to your dog's trachea than the traditional choke-chain collar. Both are dreadfully medieval in comparison to the many wonderful, non-aversive (no pain) halters.

FOR STARTERS, LET'S LOOK AT WHY DOGS PULL.

1. Dogs pull because they would like to get to things faster than we walk.

2. Dogs pull because when they are interested in sniffing, seeing, or doing something, pulling us over to it generally works.

3. Dogs pull because we tell them, "Pull.  Pull.  Pull!"  

That's right the very equipment we put on our dogs is making them pull!  

Flat collars and back-hooking harnesses put pressure on two areas of a dog, the neck and chest, which physically prompt a dog to pull.  A dog's body is simply not designed to ease-back into pressure to gain relief.  If pulled back by the neck or chest a dog WILL attempt to fight the pressure by pulling forward.  The name for this is oppositional reflex.  It exists and it is innate in all dogs; you do not need to teach a dog to pull, they come hard-wired to do this all on their own.

ARE WE REALLY TEACHING THE COMMAND HEEL?

HEEL is a position that dogs in obedience will hold while moving with their handler.  Dogs traditionally HEEL on the left and are expected to keep their nose in line with the pant seam.  For the average dog owner, HEEL is ridiculous and unneeded obedience. They just need a dog that doesn't pull when walked on leash and a dog who will demonstrate some patience at doors, crosswalks, and on stairs.

Pinch/prong and choke collars are designed to deliver sharp, jerking corrections each time a dog pulls.  I am against scaring and hurting dogs during the training process; it is unnecessary and cruel.  Furthermore, neither of these collars teaches the dog what the handler wants them to do; they only are used when the dog gets it wrong. Getting HEEL right simply means the torture ends (you stop jerky for a while).  

Imagine if you had to learn a new skill (playing a clarinet) and every time you were wrong I slapped you, not hard, not enough to REALLY hurt you, just enough so that you knew you'd gotten it wrong.  Would you come back for more lessons?  What about when you played a note correctly...  Would you really be elated to have done well, or just relieved that you didn't get slapped that time?  

Unfortunately this is what many dogs must endure when walking on leash.  This is a sad at best, tragic for some.  For many dogs, one walk a day is all they get. Imagine A WALK riddled with corrections you endure because it happens during the single most exciting 20-minutes of your day.

THERE ARE BETTER CHOICES

Hope comes in many forms.  Head Halters are fantastic for controlling jumpers, lungers, and pullers. 

Front-Clipping Harnesses work WITH a dog's anatomy and physiology to humanely prevent pulling.

The other options are old, cruel, and need to be used forever anyway.  Any person who got their dog to walk nicely with a choke or prong can't take off the device and get the same results.  The devices below have the same defect--take it off and the dog will pull.  I urge you, if you are going to use something for the life of your dog,  choose a piece of equipment that does NO HARM!

1.  The Gentle Leader Head-Collar

2.  The Halti

3.  The Sense-ible Harness

4.  The Easy-Walk Harness

5.  The Canny Collar

6.  The Dream Walker

Pet Products Review: Poop-Freeze

Did you check out video?? Yes, this is a real product.  But all joking aside, I want to like the concept of this product.  Having multiple pets, yes, I occassionally have those "muddy" situations when our "business" is a bit runny, or an unwelcomed hairball spots the carpet.  I would love a product that would allow me to point, freeze then toss that poop like a rock.

Yes, this product is environmentally safe to the ozone and help make clean up easier, but it's not magic.  It's probably difluoroethane, the compressed air chemical they sell as computer Dust-Off.  Let me tell you, spray Dust-off continuously on anything for 10 seconds, it will be cold; Frozen? I don't think so.  And if you need to carry the handy advertised carry all bag? everday? well then your problems certainly won't be solved by Poop-Freeze.  It means your pet has some serious health problem, and a vet should be consulted.

If you want to make your friends chuckle, send this blog post to them.  Do not buy a can for $11.99 on a site like entirelypets.com go to Staples and get 3 cans for $6 of computer duster.

If you have a product you think will pass the Secret Shopper test, send an email to secretshopperblog@gmail.com.

In general, I find the term "Positive Reinforcement Trainer" too specific and misleading. 

The term is commonly used to describe trainers who won't use aversive methods such as choke, prong, or shock collars.  Because of this I think that many dog owners/guardians have been given the impression that trainers who focus on rewards never punish dogs.  This is untrue.

Reward-Based Trainers (I consider myself one) choose to not scare, hurt or intimidate dogs.  This does not mean that naughty behaviors will go without consequences.  Nor does it mean, that I am arguing: aversive methods won't work.  I am aware that aversive methods can effectively punish out bad behaviors.  However, using aversives to punish/doling out yucky stuff (aka: Positive Punishment) will have side effects.  In addition to the side effects there are moral and ethical considerations that prevent me from even considering Positive Punishment: Giving (+) an aversive for a bad behavior.

My concerns regarding Positive Punishment:

1) Given the many other options available for teaching a dog what to do or how to respond, Positive Punishments are unnecessary. 

2) To reduce harm, Positive Punishments demand absolute accuracy; perfect timing is hard for trainers and almost impossible for new dog owners/guardians. 

3) Even when used correctly, aversive methods can have damaging and dangerous side effects including increased fear, unintended associations, avoidance and learned helplessness. 

4) Aversive methods are a poor choice for fear-based behaviors (barking, lunging, growling, biting) because Classical Conditioning, not punishment, is what will condition new responses to threatening stimuli or items perceived to be scary. 

This is usually where someone tries to argue:  

________ piece of equipment "doesn't really" hurt the dog. 

IF this were true, then the equipment or method being used would be an ineffective punisher.   Because ineffective punishers don't work they need to be used over and over again. If what the trainer wants is to teach the dog NOT to do something and they are adding/giving a punishment then you must assume that the intention is for that punishment to be aversive.  Aversives are by definition unpleasant.  If they are not truly aversive then they won't eliminate the behavior and the trainer/handler is merely startling or nagging the dog over and over again (choke/prong collars used for pulling).  This could be considered abusive.

It needs to be recognized that many Reward-Based Trainers (myself included) DO punish dogs when they fail to respond or behave rudely.  But, let me be clear.  This does not mean that we use aversive methods or GIVE punishments.  

Reward-Based Trainers stick to focusing on rewards by using 1) Positive Reinforcement (giving rewards -adding good stuff into the situation) and 2) Negative Punishment (taking away rewards, or removing access to fun stuff).  ***Remember the words: positive & negative refer to whether the trainer is adding or taking away a reinforcer or aversive, not to whether the dog will perceive them as good or bad.

This leads to the question: How does one punish a dog by using rewards?

It's simple.  If rewards can be given/earned, then they can be taken away/denied.  Taking away something your dog wants is a type of punishment.  By definition a punisher reduces or eliminates a behavior.  This is the principle behind detention.  In school detention a student loses their "free time," This translates as a loss of access to people, places and things that are fun.  This loss is a consequence for bad behavior.  This is calledReward-Removal or Negative Punishment.  ***Again, negative refers to something being taken away or removed (-) from a situation.

The expectation in dog training is that naughty behaviors like chewing, jumping and barking will decrease until they are extinguished completely.  As with all learning, the principles of Reward-Removal must be used in conjunction with other learning tools.

Removing Rewards is an effective and humane way to eliminate unwanted behaviors in dogs, cats, children, and many other living beings. As a humane dog trainer I use Positive Reinforcement (giving rewards) & Negative Punishment (removing rewards). I call myself, and others who train by similar principles Reward-Based Trainers.

One practical application of REWARD REMOVALS is removing access to fun stuff.  This can be accomplished by putting your dog in a Time-Out.  Because dogs are unable to comprehend a long time-out at the end of the week (no Saturday morning romp at the beach) you will need to be prepared to give your dog many, short time-outs immediately after each offense.  

Nobody likes a dog that pees and poops in the house.  This is the single most important factor in having a good relationship with your dog.  Puppy accidents are understandable, but the honest truth is that if you are doing things right, there shouldn't be more than 1-2 accidents during the entire time your potty train your puppy.  Every accident is a learning opportunity, but unless you are there at the exact moment of the mistake... the only learning is:  "That worked and I feel better."  Furthermore, I can't think of a worse situation in which to punish a dog.  

For starters, its not like they have a choice -if you gotta go, you gotta go.  Any error is human error.  

More importantly, most house-training is done when puppies are young or dogs are just getting familiar with a new home or new people.  I can't think or a worse time to make them fearful of you, your hands, you coming home, you entering a room, you being present when they are going to the bathroom.  

Remember, there are two types of learning and both are always occuring:  

1) Operant Learning: What you do matters and has consequences.

2) Classical Conditioning:  Situation-A can predict that Situation-B is highly eminent.  Therefore Situation-A starts to make you feel as if Situation-B is happening even when it hasn't happened yet.  Example:  Pee on floor & person entering room... Dog flops on ground in guilty position of "Please don't grab me and yell at me."

That "guilty look" you think your dog is giving you because THEY KNOW what they did wrong, is not what you think it is.  That look is a classically conditioned appeasement (oh, please don't be angry with me) to a specific set of environmental conditions, like Poop in kitchen + Human entering room = Dog in trouble.  This DOES NOT mean they know that they did something bad. 

Go Dog Training's Next post:  ERROR-PROOF POTTY TRAINING!

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If you have questions for Kelley or suggestions for topics, please send your emails to amiGOdog@sbcglobal.net