There are a few walks we take that are close to home and so very convenient for us at the moment, having to take evening walks so much earlier because of the light. They both end on the same path, where we have had some issues with Shadow running off after a smell. He's so good at stopping and coming back to the whistle, but I don't want that to become punishing for him, so I'm trying to work on avoiding having to use it, by putting him on lead. I think he's smelling deer, although I've never seen them there, but I know there are some on the other side of the wooded hill this is on. Whatever it is, it's hugely distracting for him and, having him on lead is a complete nightmare because he cannot concentrate at all for the couple of hundred metres that this is over. It's also quite smooth rock, which doesn't give a lot of grip if he suddenly pulls. I've tried going back to basics and using a treat as a lure, but he is so far past his threshold that he won't even look at something tasty. I've tried using a ball, but as I've mentioned before, he's not really interested in a ball unless it's for chasing, so that didn't work. So it's a massive challenge of stop-starting, taking no more than one pace at a time, to get him past this section. Today, I tried something different. Before we got there, I gathered up pockets full of pine cones. I kept him off the lead (because I'm confident I can recall him if necessary) and intermittently threw a cone for him. It was like magic. He didn't even flicker towards running up the hill. I wasn't throwing them all the time like a crazed woman, but he knew I had loads, and he was on alert for me to get another one for him to chuck. I was really pleased with this, in that it shows that he can refrain from following that hugely attractive smell, for the right reward, which happens to be chase games, but I'm also aware that this is more distraction than training. He is more than capable of following other cues in order to get the cones, which is pretty much bribing, but shows he can still think a bit. I was considering a plan of continuing with this, but slowly (very slowly) fading the frequency of the throws and increasing the duration of the other behaviours I'm asking for - like walking to heel - before he gets a cone. Does this sound like a valid method of switching the distraction out and training in, or can anyone think of any other methods I might use?
Well....I have some thoughts from Kay Laurence which might help (or, they are helping me in related but different circumstances) - just got to sort my notes....so many notes..... Will write them up after supper though.
My own view on this is that distraction has the benefit of helping a dogs brain learn to push a stimuli or situation into the background. And perhaps without this help, their brain only knows one way to respond - an all consuming priority to investigate. Hopefully not flawed logic, but I base this on use the distractions in other scenarios. OK, I know there are more factors going on in these than just distraction, but nonetheless, we use Kongs to distract the dogs mind away from separation, and I was advised by a behaviorist to offer up a long-lasting chew treat to help the learning process of switching off around visitors.
Premack would say your biggest distractions are your biggest reinforcers Kathy Sdao showed us footage where she rewarded recall with the opportunity to go sniffing for squirrels and recounted how she actually used to let one dog chase squirrels in reward for heelwork. The dog was on lead and she ran with it but it worked. Now how to incorporate that into my real life................
Yes, I understand Premack at a very basic level, having watched Nando Brown's video on Premack recall, where he recalls the dog away from a toy, which the dog then gets to have as its reward. In a situation like this one, though, I don't see how Premack could be used. I'm certainly not capable of running up that bloomin' hill, through the thick wood, in search of deer! I do try to reward a recall from chase with a chase - using a ball or fir cones - and this seems to be really working with Shadow to give a really strong recall. I'm just unsure whether distracting him with a chase in this case is really the way to go. I also don't want to be recalling him from chasing critters too frequently, as one of these days, he might just realise that they are more exciting than a lousy ball, and so the recall ends up more punishing than rewarding.
I think you have the right idea but I'd try to get off the pine cone thing as fast as possible - Shadow might be different, but "the possibility of a throw" has limited use with Charlie. A throw used properly as a reward works wonders, but him just waiting for the throw definitely acts as a bribe. But hey, bribes are really only lures....so long as you move on rapidly.... There is something that is helping me that I picked up, it's from two different trainers (Kay Laurence and Emily Larlham). This is going to be the most OBVIOUS thing to experience people, but it has helped me. I struggle proofing stuff around distractions (although we are getting a lot, lot, better) - it's the thing I find the most frustrating. It's not that I'm not prepared to put in the work or time, it's just it has seemed almost impossible to put in enough work and time with Charlie. Kay Laurence claims not to proof anything - we discussed this a while ago on the forum, Kay had (rather controversially) said on her facebook page that dogs are good at generalising, and if you isolate the cue well enough when you train it, you do not then need to proof the cue. Many people objected to this description, arguing that proofing IS the process of isolating the cue. Anyway, I had the opportunity to listen to Kay's full lecture on this, and Emily Larlham's lecture on training complex behaviours - the link for me was whether Emily Larlham really proofs all the thousands of tricks she trains. The answer is no, she doesn't. And Kay also does not approach proofing in the same way as I do. What they both do though, is view getting and keeping a dog's attention around distractions as a fundamental building block to all their training. Then they take care to isolate their cues, then they put the two things together. For all the experienced trainers slapping their foreheads and saying "durr.....gosh, she didn't realise that!" - sorry. So, what I'd do with Shadow is take him back to that place, have him on a long line, stand still and reward him keeping his attention on you. Don't try to do anything else until in those circumstances, he keeps his attention on you. Then I'd try to take one step....you can of course keep his attention on you by throwing pine cones, but you are going to have to change that to a reward for something asap.
Great, thanks. I'm in the day-after-migraine haze today so not feeling the sharpest. I'll revisit what you've said tomorrow when I'm feeling a little brighter and see if I can put it into action. This evening's walk will be a steady plod somewhere easy, well away from deer!
