Once you’ve taught your dog a behavior, add distractions slowly, so the dog can perform the behavior when faced with a better option. For example, my two Dobermann and our boarder Doodle were out for exercise this afternoon, and my girl, Emilie, was the first to notice one of our marauding gopher tortoise friends along the fence line. She went into stealth mode and slowly crept up on it. This was a hard maneuver to watch without breaking out into laughter, but I managed.
When Emilie let out the alarm and did her trademarked move, the Kickback Swack, my boy Velken went running to her side, then our boarder and Doodle friend, Darcy joined in. I don’t know if Darcy ever met a Tortoise face-to-face before today.
While youngster Velken got distracted by a low-flying air plane, the elder dogs were steadfast on keeping that tortoise out of our yard! They did a wonderful job of it, and when the tortoise retreated, we had a long walk back to the front of the house where our cutie-pie Miki friend Picasso was contained in an exercise pen for sun bathing and safety.
I treated our retreat from the tortoise as I had any other recall I’ve practiced with the dogs. Yes, there was a tortoise in the lurks, but so what? These kids still needed to listen; otherwise, I’d have to retrieve a leash, snap it on, and walk the dog all the way back to the house with a timeout in the crate as the consequence for not listening. I don’t give dogs freedom off leash in the yard if they’re not ready to come when called, so I had every faith these kids would. And…did they? Here’s the video.
This was a perfect opportunity to test these three dogs’ recall, the cue to come when called. I’m proud of them for passing the test!
To send your dog to the Love Wags A Tail board-and-train camp for motivational learning with our cast of characters, contact us with your dog training, behavior modification wish list to get started.
Helen Verte Schwarzmann
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Certified in Training and Counseling
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed
Certified Trick Dog Instructor
AKC STAR Puppy, CGC, and Trick Dog Trainer and Evaluator
Your Board-and-Train Dog Trainer for south and southwest Florida, Southwest Ranches, Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Weston, 33326 33327 33331 33332 , Broward, Collier, Lee county
