How to Train a Dog to Come when Called

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Any problems with Teaching your dog to come when called?

[jokowalczyk]

hi Mike,

So we got the dogtra collar as you suggested and have been waiting to use it. We decided to use it to strenghten the come command. Our black lab, buddy, is walked partially off leash on out 70 acre property. He has been doing well so far without the shock collar but there are instances when he gets too busy with the distraction to react to our come command. I would say he comes 80 % of the time. There are loads of things that keep him distracted such as dead snakes, sheep sculls and other fun smelly things which he finds. When distracted he will come eventually when he is done what he is doing but we want to get the instant response from him. Is it too much to ask???

Today we tried using the collar on our walk and it worked until he found some bones. We used it on 20 and them turned it up until we saw a response in him up to 40. He didn't come though, he thought that the shock was caused by the bone and he just jumped to the side looking at the bone as if it was causing the shock. We really didn't like to see him jump ( sort of like you jerk in the video.. we did try the collar on ourselves by the way ) and are wondering if we are using it in the wrong way. Is it ok to see him jerk or does it mean that he is getting too much shock and we need to take a different approach?

We have had him almost two months and have been using your methods with amazing results. We are working on other comands in phase 2 but decided he was ready for the collar with come and leave it...

thanks
Joanna

[jokowalczyk]

Hey Mike,

I just had another thought about out problem here. We didn't do the flexi come with the training collar since our dog is not so bad at coming but after couple of days of trying the collar out I am thinking that maybe he just doesn't understand what is going on. Today on our walk he got really into this feather and didn't respond to me calling him at all. I used the collar on vibrate and he still didn't come even thought he felt the collar. He just jumped around the feather as if he was playing with it and maybe felt that the stimulation was coming from it. So maybe we are just not getting ahead without following all the steps. Also is it possible for the do to build up tolerance to the shock??

Thanks again
Joanna

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Hi Joanna,

The problem you are seeing is from skipping steps like you have suggested. Definitely do not skip the flexi come with the remote. If the dog seems confused you can quickly use the flexi to show him what to do. If he does well there, your best bet is to do the exercise with him dragging a very long light line (for the same reason but he will feel more like he is free due to less tension).

You are discovering that the biggest difference between the remote collar and other training collars is that it does not show the dog what to do when he is corrected - so you must always be prepared to show him if he shows the slightest bit of confusion until he really gets it. Refer to the instructional video "phase 3 flexi come". When he does well there , then have him drag a light line (be careful not to get your ankles tangled), then you can test off leash if he is doing well there. Remember to keep using the same predictable command sequence and PRAISE if he even looks at you and all the way to you. Still always reward when he gets to you.

keep in touch with me on this one as this is a very advanced exercise. Guidance helps.

Good luck,
Mike

[arturios]

I need some help on using the electric collar. After I have done the flexi come with the e-collar I started using it off-leash. My dog responds very well. However, when the distraction is 'heavier' and I'm further away from him and/or he doesn't see me it takes longer and I need to turn it up to some 18-20(dogtra). I'm not sure if it's because of the distraction being so attractive (e.g. my wife raking the lawn) or because he gets confused. So can you give me a few tips on lengthening the distance and calling when he does not see me?

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Few tips and reminders (just in case):

1. Be sure to praise the INSTANT the dog starts to come to you - this helps them a lot, especially when there is distance.

2. If a dog's adrenaline starts going you can expect to use a higher level to motivate the dog (or for them to even notice), BUT if the dog obviously notices the correction and is showing signs of stress and still not obeying... you would want to stop the exercise and place a light line on the dog that you can use to help the dog figure it out.

3. Be sure to let your dog go back to the distraction majority of the time you practice (see the "dog training trinity" in the obedience section of the self-help portion).

4. If you are out of your dog's site be extra sure you have a way to know if he is trying to make an effort so you can praise him for trying. Sometimes you can hear the jingling of the collar. It helps the dog to be able to follow your praise. Sometimes owners accidentally correct their dog when their dog is actually on the way (because they couldn't see them). Don't let that happen!

5. If you haven't worked distractions with the flexi or light line first, go backwards and try the same situation with the flexi or light line first.

6. If you feel the dog is confused - always go backwards and put yourself in a position to help the dog with a light line.

I hope one or some of those tips help. The remote can be tricky because it doesn't show direction, so keep in touch on this one.

[arturios]

Hi Mike!
Thank you for your reminders. Since the initial problems it's been going really smoothly. My dog responds really well with most distractions even from long distances. I rarely need to use the remote - 'no' will do most of the times. However, there are certain things which need clarification. Under heaviest distractions when his adrenaline level goes really high I need to use higher levels of stimulation for him to even notice that he's being corrected. Today, for example, a big homeless male dog kept following us on our walk. 'Piorun' tried to chase him away and I didn't want a fight to start. So I called him back and I had to use as high as level 50 at times. With levels around 30-40 he came towards me a few meters (with me praising him all way long) and then turned back to look at the other dog so I had to give him a few impulses, then he continued on his way back to me, then stopped, I corrected, and so on, until he finally came.
My questions are as follows:
1. I know that when adrenaline is high, pain resistance is higher also but I tried level 50 on my own neck (my wife pushed the button :-)) and it really didn't feel nice. It's not very painful but the muscle contraction is extremely 'inconvenient'. My dog didn't show any signs of panic or fear but still I would like to use as mild correction as possible. I guess that most 'positive' trainers here in Poland would already like to impale me. So in your practice do you ever need to use levels around 50 or is there anything I could do to use milder corrections under heaviest distractions?
2. How do I go about situations like the one described above? I mean, when my dog is about to get in a fight or is already fighting with another dog, how do I use the remote? Should I use it at all? I know that using a pinch collar when the dog starts showing aggression can make the problem worse; is it similar when we use the remote?
3. How do you coordinate looking at the LCD display on your remote when turning the level up with looking at the dog to see whether he's reacting? And when the dog starts coming back towards you and then stops on the way do you use the same level which you did to get the initial response or turn it down?
4. The ultimate goal is to control the dog off-leash without the remote under heaviest distractions. The question is when and how do I withdraw the use of the remote?

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Great post! It it has a lot of questions that I guess many other trainers would have that are new to the remote. I'll break down the answer by your numbers:

1. First thing to mention here is that the level of correction is always relative to many factors: the individual dog's pain tolerance, the situation, collar placement, fur thickness, etc, etc.. Depending on these factors, level 50 may be too low or inhumanely too high. Sometimes dogs respond to levels that are so low I can barely detect them on my fingertips - other times it is hard for me to fathom that they can basically "blow off" levels that I think would be unbearable to myself. Dog's pain tolerance has a great range depending on individual and situation. For instance, if you were about to get into a bar brawl you may barely notice the level 50 yourself. This is why level 50 may be inhumane if you were just calling your dog from chasing a butterfly, but may be appropriate if he was chasing a dog and preparing for a possible fight. If it is too low you will know because the dog will not respond and if the level is too high you will know because the dog may yelp or otherwise show body language which reflects fear or stress (this can also happen on low levels if the dog does not understand).
The best way to avoid overcorrection while still reaching the minimum level needed to motivate the dog is by using an "escalating correction". I do have plans of making a video on this concept, but for now I will explain it. What you do is start with the remote on an estimate (when in doubt go on low side) of the level for the current situation. If a correction is needed you pulsate (do not use continuous). As you pulsate turn the dial slow and steady at the same time. The moment that the dog responds you stop turning the dial. It is not necessary to watch the display since what matters is not the number. What matters is what the dog responds to, so you watch the dog. With practice (the remote not on the dog) you can get good with this with one hand. One client put a cut piece of rubber tubing around the dial to make it easier to turn using only his thumb. This works great and ultimately allows for lower corrections. The dog eventually realizes that the really low correction will only strengthen so they basically say "why bother challenging" if you are consistent. The extra beauty to this is that if you always say "no" before the correction consistently, the "no" becomes a conditioned punisher (in operant conditioning terms). What this means is that if you are consistent the word "no" should be the only correction that you ever need.

2.The remote works better than the pinch collar for aggression because it does not resemble a "bite" like the pinch collar and you can stay calmer while giving a less aggressive but more motivational correction, but just like any of the training collars you don't want to use the remote in most cases to correct aggression - instead you use it to enforce obedience. So you can use it to enforce the command "come" when the dog is at a fence acting aggressively or running down the road in an aggressive manner. There are always limitations to the remote. For instance it may not work for a "come" command if the dog is actively in a fight - especially if the other dog is fighting back. The fear of the fight and not defending themselves may be more powerful than the thought to avoid a remote correction. If that is the case it is better to have a good plan for breaking up the fight if it gets to that point. There are other techniques for using the remote to break up a fight - but thats for another post...

3. I sort of answered half this question already above - as far as what level to use when the dog turns around is a judgement call. Generally if the dog turns quick I use the same level - if the dog is closer to me and the adrenaline seems to have subsided I turn it down. Again, the dog will let you know if the level is too high or too low. It is best to practice this in controlled situations so that you are prepared for an emergency. If you are consistent with discouraging the turns - they happen less over time.

4. The question about when to withdraw the remote and still have control over the dog during heavy distractions depends on a lot of factors. The biggest one is wether or not you also use positive reinforcement in your training. If you are not than it is similar to a clicker trainer asking when can i withdraw treats (or other rewards) from the training. If they did eventually the obedience will get worse. Using compulsion in training is similar. If you base your training mainly on the ecollar - once the obedience can not be enforced it will slowly unwind.
If you use a balanced approach (both reward and correction) you stack the odds in your favor that you don't have to rely on the remote as much. But in reality you can not get around science. And the more you understand what I'm about to write here the better for maintaining a good recall (or any obedience):

If someone trains using only positive reinforcement the best way to have reliable behavior is using a variable ratio reward schedule. In layman's terms this means that the dog gets a reward at random times. It is the slot machine method. A person still pulls the lever on a slot machine even when they dont get rewarded for unpredticable amounts of times because they know eventually it will spit out money.
Compared to a vending machine that always rewards when you enter money (a continuous reward ratio) - a person will stop putting in money much quicker when not rewarded (machine breaks). This is why if someone trains with positive reinforcement they make a plan so that they dont reward every time a dog responds - because if they are in a situation with no rewards the dog stops responding much faster. If they treated randomly the dog will still respond for a much longer time before giving up.

Training with an ecollar or any compulsion is opposite. When training purely with compulsion the best punishment schedule (sounds bad but that would be the scientific term) would be a continuous punishment schedule. This means that every time the dog did not respond to the obedience the dog always was punished (corrected). Compare this too speeding in a car. What if every time you broke the speed limit 100% of the time you got a ticket. This obviously doesnt happen in real life, but if it did - not only would people speed less they would get less tickets. The catch to this is that this would only work if the drivers new these super police were on the road that day.

Compare this to remote training. If you always enforce disobedience with a correction 100% of the time - it will be very rare that the dog disobeys. But the catch is, just like the super police on the road, the dog will need to know you have the ability to enforce the obedience with the ecollar. So by the dog wearing the collar - the dog doesn't disobey and doesnt get corrected.

In reality most people are not this consistent and by the dog getting the chance to disobey on a variable ratio schedule (like the slot machine) it gives them a reason to challenge the collar more. This is like a child that throws tantrums to get what they want because it works one out of 5 times randomly so it is worth trying. The child who consistently gets punished for the tantrum doesnt throw tantrums.

Therefore, the most reliable obedience without having to use primary reinforcers (treats) or primary punishers (ecollar or other collar) comes from a combination of the best of both worlds. Rewarding the obedience on a variable ratio schedule and punishing the disobedience on a continuous punishment schedule. If you say "good boy/girl" before you treat and you say "no" before you correct you can have a dog obey very consistently without having to treat or correct with the ecollar around heavy distractions. But, the catch is that if you dont have some treats in your pocket to treat randomly or the collar on to remind the dog that you have the ability to enforce this ideal eventually unwinds. Those are just the facts of science and anything less than that is a compromise to the most reliable obedience.

A real life example are the guide dogs for the blind that are trained on the same city streets that I train my dogs on. The trainers use choke collars to correct the dogs for disobedience (they also treat). These dogs are also bred to be some of the most compliant dogs in the world. But, even after they are finished training they go to their new homes and lead around a blind person while still wearing the choker collar. Why? It is a reminder to the dog that they still can be corrected for disobedience. It is still very rare that you will see a trained guide dog be corrected with the choker collar once it is finished training - but part of that is because the dog knows that it can be corrected.

The problem with remote collars is that no one wants their dog to be seen wearing one. If a dog is trained with a choker collar it is different. A guide dog can be lead down the street wearing one and no one will notice - you can even compete in most obedience trials with your dog wearing a choker collar. Try that with an ecollar - will never happen. But basically the same concept - it is just another training collar.

I have a lot of youtube videos up. In most of my videos where the dogs are working under heavy distractions they are all wearing ecollars - yet in none of the videos do you see them get corrected. At most I say "no" and that is their correction. I don't even need to hold the remote. It is in my pocket or side or whatever. I have an old bulldog that is 12 years old. And after i trained her with a remote I didnt have to correct her the rest of her life with it - but I would have her wear it if I was going to have her off-leash around distractions like in protection demos off-leash at pet fairs around other barking dogs. Still never had to use it.

Another example are invisible fence systems. When trained correctly the dog may get only one correction their whole life - then because the invisible fence is on autopilot and gives a warning 100% of the time that is backed up 100% of the time the dog goes the rest of their life not challenging the property line. The catch there is that the dog must wear the collar.

So sorry for the complicated answer but it is a kind of complicated question with a lot of twists - not to mention to factor in the individual dog's temperament.

Hope this helps. If too confusing feel free to ask questions!

[arturios]

Hi Mike!
Thank you for your thorough answer. It's by no means confusing. As far as variable ratio reinforcement is concerned we've been using it for a long time now and it works great unless the lure of the distraction is more attractive than the possible reward. As far as the fixed punishment ratio is concerned it seems obvious but no one had told me that before so thanks for the enlightenment :-) I have a few new questions and observations:
1. There are times when my dog comes when called but does everything to prolong the coming. He won't return in a straight but rather 'meandering' line. Here and there he'll stop for a very short moment to sniff something or squeeze out a droplet of pee. And of course he's not as fast as he could be. How do I use the remote in such a case? Or do I use it at all? I mean, he's on his way back and I don't want to punish him for it. I know some positive techniques which help but perhaps there's something else I could do?
2. There are days when I don't even have to say the 'no' but on other days he's very stubborn and I have to turn it up for him to react. We castrated him chemically in March with deslorelin. It was supposed to work for six months. However, his testicles are only now beginning to reach their normal size and for a month or so he's been clearly experiencing testosterone peaks. To what extent is his reaction correlated with his testosterone level? Or is there a different reason which would explain the variations in his responsiveness? He's a 20-month-old border collie. It once happened that I thought that I had turned on the collar when in fact I hadn't. I called him but he had found something more interesting, so at first I said 'no' and then repeated 'come' and started pressing the button. He, of course, didn't feel anything but I kept calling and he finally came. Is it possible that that one incident when the 'correction' didn't work was enough to cause him to start testing whether he really has to come?
3. How do I use the remote when he starts chasing roe deer or a cat? It seems reasonable to call him as soon as possible because the longer the chase the higher adrenaline level. However, when I start low he gets far away before I reach the level which he can actually feel. So, in this case, do I need to start at a higher level?
That's it for now.

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Seems like most of the fine tuning will be related to "the Golden Rules" - timing, motivation, and consistency. How to tweak these just the right way is the key.

Although hormones can certainly contribute to factors such as stubbornness, it shouldn't be something that couldn't be addressed with the right fine tuning.

I'll break down into your questions.

1. This 'meandering' recall you describe could be due to different reasons. The most likely is probably avoidance behavior or a need for tweaking motivation to obey. Sometimes dogs will purposely sniff and act occupied to avoid conflict and hope you divert your attention elsewhere. They do this with each other as well. If the behavior doesn't seem anything more than he would be doing anyway (if you weren't calling him) than it is likely to just be a lack of motivation. Even though this doesn't sound like the case I also want to mention that this shouldn't be confused with an "arching" recall. This is where the dog comes but takes a wide angle instead of a straight line. This is usually due to an insecurity issue and needs to be fixed mostly by confidence building, positive reinforcement, etc.. I don't think this is what you are describing but want to mention it for anyone else who reads this post because it wouldn't be handled the same way necessarily.
If you know positive techniques that will help you should definitely do them. Anything that can be fixed with a positive technique should always been done first and never discarded through maintenance training. One of the biggest mistakes that I see with some clients that learn how to correctly use +P and -R is that they forget how important the +R is especially to maintain the enthusiasm. Again, not saying this is the case but keep on using the +R.
Some other tips:
- Be sure to always keep the dog training trinity in mind found in our self-help obedience section. When he does come, most of the time let him go back to what he was doing. Therefore the faster he comes the faster he gets to go back uninterrupted
- Never practice too many recalls in a training sessions at too close intervals. The dogs, like us, can get bored or annoyed at constantly doing recalls. Tweak frequency so it is something he looks forward to.
- Don't be too picky about the perfect competition style sit as a finish for a recall. Some dogs will actually avoid recalls because they associate the ending with stress if an owner is too picky about the sit or corrects the dog for not sitting properly. With my personal dogs I usually let the dogs recall into my open arms for some quick affection and then I let them on their way again. If he is very food motivated then the sit for a treat is usually easy to do.

2. Testosterone rarely makes obedience easier (for us and them!) and could be a factor for making certain scents more of a distraction, giving him the urge to stop along the way and mark etc.., also the stubbornness factor that does go along with it. But, everything can be tweaked. In general we just have to use higher motivation levels for dogs that are equally higher distracted. Motivation can both be negative or positive types. Going back to my earlier reply from last week - one time of him having a training session where the behavior of not coming is not paired with a consequence can certainly move a step back wards especially in near future until enough repetitions shows that it is futile to ignore. I never use the conditioned punisher "no" without having the ability to back it up with the primary punisher - especially in early stages where there may still be a chance of a challenge. Emergency situation say no all you want..scream yell, etc.. Although what you did was an accident it still may need some time to flat line the reliable response from him again. Consistency means less corrections.
3. I think you are on the right track here. Once you know your dog's levels you will know not to bother with levels he doesn't detect in certain situations. The faster the dog makes the connection to respond to the come the better. If he didn't seem to respond into you escalated to 30 for instance. Next time he takes off after a cat start at 25 instead of 10 and quickly escalate. The numbers are of course all relative to the dog/situation.

For your specific scenario with the lazy come. I would troubleshoot with the flexi or a light line first. You should not let him drop his head to sniff (just like on a heel) during the recall. Be sure your timing is very quick with "no" as soon as his head drops then correction if no response. If after the first of "no" than correction with word "come" - I wouldn't give additional "no's" during the same recall but instead go right to the correction paired with the word "come". You would want the light line or flexi on him because there is the possibility even with the perfect timing that he can associate the recall itself with the correction. For instance if he is coming toward you but also has his head down sniffing he may associate the correction with the coming toward you or who knows what else. That is of course the tricky thing about remote training - it does not show what to do like other collars it only corrects. So have the line on him in case he gets confused to be sure he understands that the correction means "no meandering and keep coming".

You can potentially have a perfectly straight recall that is just very slow - and always the best way to rectify that is with positive motivation and letting him go back to what he was doing.

I hope this answered your questions!