I think I've been starting to relax a little bit lately. Max (20 months) recalls really well from other dogs, people and other distractions. He will also drop and leave things as long as the reward is adequate! Today however he found a massive bone on his off lead walk. I think it was part of a wild animal as there was still some fur on it. Max would not come back when called, wouldn't chase his ball (normally a fantastic reward for him), nothing worked. Husband and I tried different tactics for about 30 minutes in the rain and wind. A few choice words were had! Then the rain turned to hailstones and there was thunder and lightning. A frightened Max finally dropped it and ran to us! I'm going to take a tin of sardines with me tomorrow in case he finds it again. Any suggestions other than alcohol which I seriously considered having when I got home at 10am!!!?
Hi, from your wording, it sounds like you are using the reward as a bribe ( , )? What you really need to be doing is training the behaviours so he doesn't know what the reward is until after he has performed the behaviour. You're after developing a "trained response", rather than letting him have the choice of whether what you're offering in return is worthwhile or not. These articles may help you: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/my-dog-wont-obey-me-without-food/ http://totallydogtraining.com/the-trained-response-for-an-obedient-dog/
This is not helpful advice - just sympathy because I never managed to crack that problem myself! If it's any consolation my Lab, Lady, AKA the Small Black Dog, found the carcass of a sheep out on one walk. I gave up trying to get the skull back off her - I know! I'm a failure and bad example to everyone out there. The SBD head home with her trophy at top speed balked only by the kissing gates en-route. She dropped it in the back garden to get a drink of water and I buried it in the compost heap. 6 months later when I was distributing compost out it came again! Back to square one we were in a trice.
It's really hard for you to train in advance of finding such a high value distraction as a real wild animal bone. For our part we walked home one day with Jet carrying a deer foreleg all the way. I never even tried a recall or a DRop it because I was pretty sure she wouldn't. In matters of safety such as you encountered I think luring or bribery trumps the desire to train properly. It's not a training moment, it's you might be struck by lightning and you and the dog need to get out of there. You might have some extra remedial training to do because you bribed but you also still have your dog. As for the sardines, try to set up distractions at home first. Obviously it's going to be hard to find a higher value reward than a found bone. For our part I find a found bone is more exciting to the dog than one I might give myself. It's not too late to read and implement those training articles. You meant the alcohol for yourself, right? Highly recommended.
A real wild animal bone that is still fresh enough to have tissue and fur attached to it is a pretty big deal. If you want to train your dog to give you things like this, then you have to train using such high value things. I think it is a big challenge to get a dog who has something he views as food in his mouth, and has the intention to eat it, to hand that item over to you. It is very different from telling a dog 'leave it', which is a lot easier to train with food. Or 'drop it' when the item is not food. Having something with you of very high value to attempt a swap is a good idea. My own dog - because he is nuts and not a normal dog - will often (not always) swap things he thinks of as food for non food items and I have built up the value of some toys to such a degree that he would pretty much sell his soul for them. He wouldn't swap these for food (but because it is easier to work with items than with food, I have trained him to give them to me).
Hattie once found fresh a deer head, she proceeded to walk along stop eat a bit and so on, so I ran in the opposite direction which she didn't like, she dropped the head to run after me, when she caught up I popped her on lead we turned round and walked back past the head with high value rewards. Obviously I am important to her than any toy or food x
I remember when Molly was just over a year old she found a large cooked lamb bone at the rec and wouldn't swap it for anything or come to me. In the end I sat down and pretended to sob - pretty nearly the real thing by that stage - and she dropped it to come to see if I was all right! After 2 1/2 years I've managed to train leave or at least give dead birds, but you can't practise when it's not something you come across regularly. I think I'd have a look for it before you let him off tomorrow and pick it up if it's still there. (I once picked up a decomposing fox from the beach to prevent Molly getting to it a second day running!) Definitely wine...
Did I tell you the one about the time when Lady was about 18 months old and the chicken? Walking down a farm track past some farm cottages I took my eye off the ball (one of many occasions!) and I was fiddling with my phone when the Small Black Dog shot past down the lane with something in her mouth. Clearly she'd stolen something. I caught up with her at a stile with a dog gate that she couldn't get through. The object was a still steaming chicken carcass still with lots of meat on it. Lady figured she was in danger of losing it so she seemed to just open her throat and down it went! It was a warm summers day and I can only think the family in one of the cottages had just sat down for lunch leaving the kitchen door open. I still feel guilty about this but we didn't get caught and I wasn't about to confess either. So - I wouldn't worry about the training blip. It could have been so much worse in so many ways.
Thank you for your advice and sympathy. I think I panic when he finds a bone as he once found and ate a rotten pork chop in a park and was very ill. I'm sure he picks up on the panic in my voice and realises that I really want to take it off him. I'll have to work on sounding calm! The alcohol would have been for me but I had a cup of tea and some chocolate instead!
Lilly found a bone in the woods yesterday, Either a fox or small deer leg maybe, no flesh left on it but had a knee articulation *sigh* She kept her distance No high value treats on me..... Apparently the cast iron stomach has coped with this too. She didn't come anywhere near me until she had crunched it all and scoffed it
It made me laugh too, also sorry. Labradors and food, the yukier the better. Nothing left to say really.
