How to retrieve our dog .... and stop running after
In many animal species, the call has a vital role in the social, security and survival. Learning to recognize a warning is initiated by the mother or a signal collection by the leader of the pack is a behavior that animals developed from the early weeks of life.
If you have got to see it in action, in a documentary, a group of lions or wolves but also bison or zebras do a lot of effort to imagine scenes of animals that hunt for a desert go for a walk or remaining in their drinking pool despite being advised to join the pack to deal with an attack. Normally the speed of response to these stimuli is so fast that I would not talk about obedience, but rather of instinct. All dictated by the need to eat, reproduce and stay alive.
those problems are our furry friend has already solved a long time. Eat at least twice a day without the danger that someone take away lunch, live in a safe and secure to say the least and, in the case of matches unpleasant, has a two-legged beside him ready to take the his defense and to solve its problems. Among these, in some cases, even find a wife or husband.
There is therefore no wonder that sometimes the answer to the call of the leader of the pack is unresponsive or even absent.
Because the dog is not when we call it?
I remember as a child when my grandmother called me from the balcony and, last of all vain gave his voice to try to recover his nephew who took his world of "cops and robbers", "hide" or "soccer tournament", he had little intention of returning home. A few years later the situation was made even more difficult added to the interest I had in the presence of some cute friend. In fact the only chance for my grandmother, it was hoped that fatigue, contentment, hunger or desire for something warm was pushing me to return to base.
This is our dog, a little boy full of enthusiastic desire to play, explore and learn, but they can hardly satisfy his needs. It is precisely for this reason that in such situations, these stimuli are for him something very important. The meeting with his peers, exploring new places and games that just another unruly dog \u200b\u200bcan offer is therefore a strong magnet that draws inexorably to our friend and makes him deaf to our calls. In fact, on the other hand, there we are, often bored and sometimes angry. In any case, we are always happy to have to stand outside with our dog has however been indicated in his eyes too unattractive because clumsy, pleading and distracted.
control initiative is one of the most important elements to obtain obedience. E ' based on the speed with which we can block action of the dog and needs attention high as it should be in control of everything happening around us so as to prevent his behavior. One example is the attraction to cats, if during my sights a cat walk my dog \u200b\u200bbefore I have time to call it, put the leash and exercise direct control over him making him understand that it must remain calm. You will probably get the same result if I give a resounding "STOP" at the very moment when he located the cat. The dogs respond more obedient to our command even if they are to go in pursuit of the unfortunate but certainly it is very difficult to listen to us if the game has already started. And this for two reasons: one the frenzy of the race towards the prey is too high to listen to our commands, and two we have not proven good leaders be surprised by this situation and then, from the perspective of the dog, we are not up to handle it, let alone give orders and instructions!
Of course we also have something to offer to our friend when he answers the call: enthusiasm, cuddle, caress, games or food. The problem is that often all he is allowed even when it has not done anything special, wrapped us who try to spoil it and make them parties, to convince him to play or to suggest something good to eat. All this greatly reduces the importance our gestures and, above all, our leadership. To be interesting, our proposals have to be a bit 'exclusive and our actions more fun (try to dance, roll or jump like a kangaroo and see how the dog runs just to have fun with you!). Instead of convincing him to play with the ball make him see that you have no intention to give it to him and run away, throw it in the air and recuperatela the fly without even considering what is your friend.
There is one final element to consider: If the dog has the opportunity to vent often be tired and satisfied will certainly have much more willing to come and relax with us and, in some cases, he'll look a bit 'of calm crouch at your feet.
Habits and stimuli
We have found that responding to our call should be a good habit as well as good. For this to happen we should be able to put the dog in a position to easily obey our "invitation". The first rule is so well observe the environment around us before leaving him free. No one knows better than us and I think with a little 'attention, we can assess the situation and see if there are disturbing elements that might prevent him from "listening". If we are in an area such as dogs, the presence of his best friends who invite him to play is not a condition ideal starting point to exercise the call. Also an area in the country, seemingly devoid of stimuli, but could be so full of smells to be an irresistible distraction. Safety is important for two reasons: first, we must not risk having something happen to our friend and secondly, it is essential to be very relaxed when we call for not to show, with the voice or the body, no kind of apprehension. Speaking of body language we must also learn to look through the eyes of a dog, especially if it is a puppy we remember that he sees us as the Giants (even though we are not) and then we try to imagine how it would go to someone who is 5 meters high. Squat down the first few times, it is good practice. Matter much even tone of voice that should be persuasive and inviting (not even much enthusiasm we would if we went to someone who calls us in unpleasant ways). Finally it may be useful to understand the mechanisms that help the learning of our friend and examine the fundamental concepts:
positive reinforcement : DO. It is simply to find something pleasant arrival of the dog will always receive cuddles and caresses combined with so much enthusiasm, sometimes a treat and other times a game.
appetitive negative reinforcement : DO. Although this definition is likely to deceive and to seem hostile, on the contrary it is to remove the dog from a negative situation, for example, we can call if we see him in trouble or afraid of something. In this way we come to associate the end of an unpleasant sensation.
Punishment positive : DO NOT DO THIS. The dog should never be yelled at, much less punished, if not the call. Even if he comes back after an hour's flight should never find any kind of hate on our part otherwise the next time will not come back.
Punishment negative : TO AVOID. This is an interrupt welcome to the dog. Calling while you are eating or playing with his companions may be unpleasant and it is therefore to be avoided in the initial phase of learning. In a second phase we will be careful to propose a superior alternative (eg, if we call him while he is eating his kibble on his arrival will find a dish lasagne!). All this, of course, is no longer necessary once mastered the mechanism of the recall .
Exercises
Here for you some very useful exercises to strengthen the warning:
· Hide and seek: is the first and the simplest of games to reinforce the call. Just as our hobby as a child, we only take advantage of a distraction from our friend to disappear (behind a bush or tree) and wait for his reaction. We can also help you end up with small tips (one way or noise) and then be on his arrival, really excited. In this case it is preferable to use social reinforcement as a reward (ourselves and our excitement) more than food or games.
· Ping Pong, in which case they need the cooperation of a family member or a person with whom the dog is familiar. You will assistant positioned opposite one another at twenty yards. Your helper holds the dog by the collar, leaving it just shows no intention of coming to you who calls him. Once you have achieved, repeat the exercise in reverse. So you keep him you and your co-worker to call and receive it with great enthusiasm and a premium food. The sequence can be repeated again five or six times more abundantly rewarding.
· Recall from the rest: Choose a quiet place and eventually fenced off and, after leaving the dog free to explore for about twenty minutes, put it in a sitting position and give the command "stay" before walking away from him to a distance you see fit. Of course, this exercise is essential to have already learned to sit still in your absence. Once you reach this particular point, recall it and reward him when he arrived. On a sequence of five or six calls choose one in which not call your student to come back, but reward him for the rest. This is very important because the dog does not have to mechanize the operation (- "I leaves here, goes away and after that I recall "-) but it should always have the doubt about what awaits him (-come to me or call me? -). This is also the best way to increase his attention toward you.
few more tips for exercise making the work varied and entertaining at the same time:
· Try to make the sessions (five or six reps) during which the dog very close calls (three or four meters) by pushing with food.
· During the walk on a leash every now and then walk backwards and simultaneously called the dog.
· with bowl in hand do some ' 's "stupid" by continuing to walk home call as if you had not noticed that he's already there.
Associations:
To understand how to improve the recall is useful to explore further mental mechanisms of our friend. When we call the dog in his mind is that our image is an expression of our mood. It 's easy then imagine how important it is always positive attitude, smile and the association at a premium. Try to think how you would design if you could do it, what is the type behavior that we take towards it and, above all, thing associated with your figure? Connects you with unbridled fun and tasty rewards or restrictions and immeasurable pain? From this reflection we can certainly understand a lot about the effectiveness of our failure to recall or their unfailing success.
The extinction of the premium
To ensure that the reference to be effective you need to associate it with something pleasant to our friend in order to create a positive expectation, especially in the presence of distractions or when the task of exposure is extremely interesting. Each odor, scent or track are often so intriguing that attempts to attract his attention may be in vain. The solution, as we have seen, you might offer something interesting (such as a game or food) but there is a lurking danger: that our friend returns to us only if we have something to offer him in return. It is rare indeed hear phrases like "is very good but only if I have the ball in hand" or "does it only when I have to give him a treat." To avoid this problem is useful to try to teach him now that there are different premiums and different times . Here for you the ideal sequence of exercises to teach the dog that is not necessary to see the reward for obedience to a command:
· call the dog once and immediately upon his arrival bestow the reward (food or game) that we had already in hand.
· Let them move away and call it a second time more rewarding just back from us.
· In the third bullet point instead keep the prize in his pocket (or if bulky behind the back). When the dog comes to us first let us make a lot of parties and after a few seconds give the prize.
· For the Fourth we proceed as for the first repetition, then the immediate reward.
· FOR THE FIFTH repeat the award should be situated away from you (to ten meters). When the student arrives greets him with the usual excitement and then go together to take the prize in the designated place.
Alternate always the way we reward our friend, you can:
· Develop a strong belief in us, because sooner or later will always receive his prize.
· Increase your motivation because every time there is a different premium, and therefore more interesting.
· Maintain a strong enthusiasm even when we decide not to give him the prize because they are already accustomed to postpone gratification.
course, you can gradually remove the prize "rolling" substitutes the "emotive" (holidays and cuddles) but the speed of this operation depends on the motivation of your friend and how you have improved your leadership.
Lunghin
E ' likely that few occasions during which free up our friend to try the various exercises recall that we have just seen. Often we do not trust or other security conditions are such that we can not risk it. If you do not want to spend a whole afternoon chasing after our dog is so good that we learn to control the situation. The dogs are often well-fenced areas but too crowded and we we need to exercise, especially initially, a place less frequented.
The solution to prevent "Desertion" is to use a Lunghini. This tool is nothing but a string of ten meters equipped with a spring clip that can be used as a leash. It can find a ready in the Pet Shop or build one yourself. How can you experience now is really a good solution even if it excels because of its convenience.
The principle, in fact, is to let our friend turns dragging the lunghini to be secured to her usual collar. It will initially be a bit 'annoying for him but after a few minutes padroneggerà the situation and move in total freedom. We avoid taking the rope with his hands but we will rather than block it with his feet whenever, called our friend, they continue to proceed in its direction. The ideal sequence would be as follows:
· Attach the clasp of Lunghin the dog's collar and then let free to go without taking the same hands.
· When the distance between you is about six to seven meters try to recall it (but only once in a very inviting).
· If you mention to go back a few steps backwards, crouch and reward him when he arrived (pampering, food and games ).
· If he continues to mind his own business put a foot on Lunghini. The dog will stop and you look at that now, try and recall it to you if you proceed as above.
· If despite all this procedure does not mention back then grab with your hands to the top of lunghini and, still proceeding back, collected by forcing the dog to come towards you.
Repeat the sequence from two to six times depending on how your student answers (more than once will be required is good exercise).
After a few days you may increase the distance from which it recalled and also make some reference from the left (as we saw in the section exercises).
After a few weeks you will be ready for the next step which is to reduce the length of the rope to 5 meters. A further step will allow you to work with lunghini of 2 feet, and when you will feel safe and in control, you can spend a little more rope to get up to 20 cm.
Remember that the secret to good training and proper education are a lot of patience and very gradually. Then proceed without haste and always in small steps.
Leadership :
Whatever we do request the dog, its response depends not only on knowledge of the command, in fact, to "obey" our trust account must have a higher or lower the source of order (ie us). In short: if you see us as little more than a tool-food pantry and pick-hunting we can forget that it is one of our call. Knowing what to do and doing it are two distinct things, and therefore it is essential that metabolize this concept before jumping to conclusions such as "my dog \u200b\u200bdoes not understand anything." We have already seen how important is the positive association when he returns to us and that is essential to be the most interesting of all objects, animals, smells and people around him, just so we can encourage them to always be curious and eager to come back from his master . Well be a good leader is perhaps the 'most compelling attribute that we can have, even irresistible wrapped for him. How to develop then this seductive quality? Let's definitely a fish out of the ancestral herd behavior and, as usual, disturb our friend Wolf. The Alpha male and female behavior are slightly different but with some common factors: their attitude is often very indifferent to what happens around them even if they continue to maintain high vigilance on everything. Do not talk much (... well you understand), and their movements are always measured and safe. Do not get angry but almost never known to be very strict in other ways, first of all to ignore, dismiss or even deny access to social activities and, ultimately, food.
All important decisions (and when they move, the direction, whether to be aggressive or peaceful, to eat, play and sleep) are always controlled by the leader of the pack that takes all its means to ensure that they follow. Knowing your dog is essential precisely to avoid that surprise us and then the figure of the compress, neurasthenic and inconclusive. We must learn to measure not only its ability to obey but also our willingness to stay calm when the situation there got out of hand. If we can not bring back our dog in the park when we try to implement all the knowledge we have acquired. Not only must we teach him to go but we must also make sure that they have no doubt that this is the best action to take given that we asked ourselves. we must show that we know always calm and safety which is the direction to be taken at any time. If we can admire us by our friend as we are not we expect more from him because he will ask himself what to do.
Michele Uploaded
collaboration with Laura Marco
