Claire Martin on Podencos and recall
Are we all ready fo the next instalment from Claire Martin, our dog behaviourist and trainer extraordinaire? With so many dogs arriving in their new homes, we asked Claire to provide some support to our new pod families on Podencos and recall.
The key to good recall is to train your dog that being with you is way more fun than being anywhere else or doing anything else. The problem comes when other things are more fun. So – how can we be the most fun?
Having fun together by playing – this can be hard for some people – you need to “let go” and not worry what anyone else thinks of you! So be prepared to find your inner pod! Does your Podenco like to chase? Mine do! So I have lots of toys on long tuggies. I run off with them following, changing direction lots and teasing them to catch me – it’s fun for us both! While you are having fun together though you do need to prevent your dog from running off to have their own fun as this will become self-rewarding and negates all your efforts. To prevent your dog running off use a long line attached to their harness and train in a secure area. If there is no suitable secure area then you will need to learn to use a longline in the hand – this is an art and it is important that you don’t let too much out as a fast sprint to the end of the line can easily pull you over.
Feeding your dog their meal, from your hand, out on a walk is a great way to teach your dog that all great things come from you. Don’t let the type of food put you off! I feed raw and I am a veggie yet I can still hand feed because its worth it for my dog – you see I might be tempted to stick around if someone I was with was almost certain to offer me chocolate and Prosecco at random intervals! Of course on most walks you can use treats – but the food we feed as a meal should be of such high value that this is the ultimate in power when it comes to recall. Just for safety – don’t make a hand-feeding session one with lots of running about. Start in your garden, at meal time go to the garden and make sure that your dog knows you have their meal with you, step away from them and the moment they step towards you feed them a handful. Don’t ask for any other behaviour, all they need to do is to approach you to get some food. Do this 20 times and then take it to a more distracting environment but always make sure that you can prevent your dog from running away by using a harness and a long line.
Collar Touch and Hand target - If your dog received a treat every time that you touched their collar or they touched your hand with their nose – imagine how easy putting their lead back on would be! These are actually very powerful exercises and the result is that your dog will choose to offer you their collar to touch when they want a reward!
Checking in - If every time your dog looks at you they got a treat, imagine how much higher value you would be to them! Out on a walk reward every check in possible! Yes – that might well mean that you give your dog 30-50 treats on a walk! But food is currency in training – so reward little and often and take quality treats out every walk. My 12 year old dog still gets rewarded for checking in. Look at your dogs face when you say their name. Do they look the happiest they could look. Does the very utterance of their name make them happy? Have you ever used their name as a precursor to telling them off? If yes- try not to. Their name should be the most wonderful word to their ears. It should mean that the moment they get to you they are rewarded – be that play affection or food, or maybe all 3!
Premack - One of the biggest reasons for a Podenco failing to recall is because there is something better on offer. Premack is all about using the rewards the dog wants. Play, chasing, sniffing – give them what they want for checking in with you first or coming when called. Chasing is incredibly stimulating for our dogs but it can be used positively. The sport of lure coursing – chasing an artificial lure rather than a live quarry is a superb way to give our dogs what they need and love in response for coming back. Set up the lure so that you know it will stop near you and watch them run!
Safety - Whatever you do, never put your dog or other animals at risk of harm if their recall isn’t reliable. Letting a dog off lead near a road or near livestock could well result in death or injury. Nothing is worth that. Secure fields may be the only place you feel safe to let your dog off lead and that is absolutely fine. Using a GPS tracker on your dog’s collar is a great idea and as you can see – when my dog Siri caught the scent of a vixen fox it was really good to know where he was when he should have been doing agility!!! He did however come back and when he did we played a crazy game of chase and he was richly rewarded. Yes I was cross that my recall had failed at that time- but that was my fault not his and it was really important that I didn’t blame him. Punishing a dog that has just come back to you teaches them not to come back!
Mistakes to avoid - When your dog recalls don’t ask them to sit! Otherwise the reward is paired with the sit and not with the recall! Don’t just put your dog back on a lead at the end of the walk – or they will soon start refusing to come back then if they want to stay out for longer! Put the lead on at random times during the walk! Don’t stop rewarding recall – if you stop valuing the behaviour then your dog will stop bothering. Pay them well and they will carry on working hard for you! If you go somewhere new, don’t discount using a trailing line to give you the security to know that you can help your dogs recall if there are temptations! Set your dog up for success and you will be successful!
Claire Martin at Chrysalis K9 is a CAPBT behaviourist and trainer and currently shares her life with 10 rescue sighthounds including 5 Podencos/Podenco crosses.
