More dog training notes
Aug. 23rd, 2005 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnIn theory, you shouldn't let your dog off the lead till you have 100% confidence in their recall. I don't see how you can be 100% sure that any animal will always do what you say in every possible situation though.
We have now reached a stage where I am sure Mollydog will return on the first or second call about 98% of the time if a) not chasing and b) there are no other dogs about. If there are other dogs about, it goes down to about 90%, which is still better than almost all the other dogs we meet, and close to 100% recall on the third command while waving the Big Bag of Biccies.
If she is chasing - maybe 50% probability she will come back on the first 3 commands, and 50% that she'll make me wait till she's had a good sniff and made sure whatever it was has got away before returning.
I still need to carry a big bag of biccies wherever I go - and I think probably always will - but I don't think that's a big problem. I'd rather have a dog with close to perfect recall and a pocket full of biscuits than a dog that comes 'sometimes' and no biccies.
It's amazing how many people think that dogs will come to them just because they are yelling a name. I have no idea how they think the dog is supposed to *learn* the name with no incentive given!
One mildly alarming development: Mollydog now likes coming to a whistle so much that she will often come to someone else who is whistling their own dog (she usually gets there before the other dog too, as of course she can go so much faster!). So far my whistle seems to override theirs, but it does probably make her a bit more of a theft risk: will have to keep an eye on that.
We have now reached a stage where I am sure Mollydog will return on the first or second call about 98% of the time if a) not chasing and b) there are no other dogs about. If there are other dogs about, it goes down to about 90%, which is still better than almost all the other dogs we meet, and close to 100% recall on the third command while waving the Big Bag of Biccies.
If she is chasing - maybe 50% probability she will come back on the first 3 commands, and 50% that she'll make me wait till she's had a good sniff and made sure whatever it was has got away before returning.
I still need to carry a big bag of biccies wherever I go - and I think probably always will - but I don't think that's a big problem. I'd rather have a dog with close to perfect recall and a pocket full of biscuits than a dog that comes 'sometimes' and no biccies.
It's amazing how many people think that dogs will come to them just because they are yelling a name. I have no idea how they think the dog is supposed to *learn* the name with no incentive given!
One mildly alarming development: Mollydog now likes coming to a whistle so much that she will often come to someone else who is whistling their own dog (she usually gets there before the other dog too, as of course she can go so much faster!). So far my whistle seems to override theirs, but it does probably make her a bit more of a theft risk: will have to keep an eye on that.
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Date: 2005-08-24 12:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-24 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-24 01:28 pm (UTC)