FE240: Calling All Dogs

Lecture 5.1 The Recall Ladder: Raising Criteria in Real Life

You have systematically introduced your dog to distractions in easy environments. By now, they should be able to come when called off various food and toy distractions in your house and yard or other easy locations. Congratulations! You are ready to start calling your dog in real life! In order to continue your excellent success rate, it is crucial that you raise criteria incrementally and keep in mind that ...

• the greater the distance between you and your dog, the more difficult the recall.
• when your dog is walking away from you, the recall is more difficult than when they are looking at you.
• the more distracted your dog (sniffing, playing ...), the more difficult the recall.
• the more challenging the environment (noises, people, other dogs, wildlife ...), the more difficult the recall.
• the less satiated your dog’s desire to explore, sniff, run and play, the more difficult the recall.

Examples

The video below was taken in my yard, but it is a good illustration for an important element of the lowest rung of the ladder: I wait until Grit has finished sniffing and lifts her head. Only then do I give the recall cue! This way, I can be certain that she is ready to receive the cue and respond correctly! I'm setting her up for success! The fifth rung of the ladder might look almost the same - with one big difference: I'd call while she was still sniffing.

Below is an example for the lowest rung on the ladder in an intermediate environment (short distance, all three dogs are looking at me):

Please excuse the shakiness and angle of the next two videos! Even though the quality isn’t great, I thought it better to include them anyways than to not share them with you at all.

An example for a rung on the upper third of the recall ladder: the dog is less than 10 yards away from me, but trotting towards the people and dogs in the distance:

Finally, an example for the highest rung of the ladder: Hadley has just started playing with the other dog, and I call him back right away. I treat and - this is VERY important, especially in the learning phase! - immediately send him back to play again. 

Before you start working on the ladder,

adjust it to your dog! For example, whether they find birds, dogs or squirrels more distracting varies from one individual to the next. The easier a distraction, the lower it is on the ladder. It’s also possible that your dog’s ladder has a rung or two that are missing in my example, such as joggers, skateboards, wildlife, or cars! Think about it, and let me know how you are going to adjust the ladder for your dog in your homework thread.

Once you have customized your dog’s ladder, it’s time to start with the lowest rung. Stay at each rung until your dog has responded without hesitation five times in a row - then you are ready to move to the next rung! However, keep rewarding all lower rungs of the ladder as well, no matter how far up you get!

How to Reward on the Recall Ladder

We’ve already talked about the importance of rewarding with something that is higher value or the same value as the distraction/environment/situation you are asking your dog to leave behind. For the recall ladder, this means that in all cases, your reward needs to be worth more to your dog than continuing to move away from you, sniff the ground, or play. For the four lowest rungs of the ladder, this may be as simple as a medium value food reward. For rungs six to eight (counting from the bottom), this might be a high value food reward, or toy play. Once upper-rung distractions such as squirrels, birds, dogs (or, depending on your individual dog’s temptations, joggers, bikes, cars, cats ...) come into play, it is crucial that you reward extremely well: use your dog’s most favorite games, toys, and treats and, if safe and possible, combine them with a Premack reward: call your dog off the distraction, and reward by means of sending them back to play with the dog, chase the squirrel or run after the bird! In the next lecture, we’ll look into Premack rewards in more detail.

Please note: If your dog has a history of chasing wildlife and you want to be able to call them off such distractions, you might need additional help that goes beyond the scope of this class. Look into my “Calling All Dogs” class, and then revisit the recall ladder!

Homework

Start working on your dog’s customized recall ladder! Remember to stay at each rung until they have been successful five times in a row. Let me know how it goes, and show me a video if you run into problems or have a special recall brag to share!