Shock Collars? :-/

xpaeanx · Dec 15, 2014

I'm not a shock collar person, and a lot of other people have already said what I would have about the other options.

So let me say how great I think this is - and offer another idea to be working on. I know he didn't hold it long enough for you to get there, but the fact that your dog was running at another dog and reacted correctly to the sit cue is awesome in my book. Have you trained an emergency down at all? I've known several dogs who have had fantastic ones, and I think it is a great thing to have in the toolbox. Particularly with the herding dogs I've known who had really well trained ones, it can sometimes be a good alternative to a recall that may not happen because they are SO focused on something moving. Having them just drop into a down in place keeps them safe but doesn't require them to turn away from the thing they are focused on. Obviously they are supposed to hold it until released. But the fact that you got the sit in that situation makes me think it is something Slick could learn fairly easily, and might be a good 'emergency break' for those times where the recall isn't happening.

This is basically what we train in herding. It takes A LOT of impulse control to get there... but when you do... it's just awesome.

Kootenay · Dec 19, 2014

As far as having treats on you, personally I basically try to always have high value (enough) treats on me, because really it's a small price to pay to always have something great to offer the dog (though for Onyx it is easy - she would rather a stick or a snowball than any treat!). I understand wanting the dog to listen even if you don't have treats on you, but especially when they are young I am paying EVERY time they recall. It's the one behavior that I pretty much always want to reward heavily for, every single time, because it is SO important and you are often asking them to recall away from interesting, distracting things. So it better be rewarded frequently and well!

You say he will recall consistently if you do have treats on you, so I would just always have treats, he is still young and you want this response to be very, very well ingrained in him!

Just my 2 cents.

Slick · Dec 19, 2014

BostonBanker said:

Thank you for this. This has given me a new thing to try and work on with him.
I think this really applies to Leo. He get sooooooo focused on another dog far away, and even when he blows me off, it always seems like a kind of reluctant "I want to come back...but wait, they moved. I can't right now. Need to stare. Must move towards dog...maybe I should go back...nope, moved again."

I have used a sit instead of a recall several times in order to control Leo when he was focused on something and I wanted to make sure that the command I uttered would actually be followed.
However, I never actually specifically trained that. Its just a command he knows and that I used in the situation kinda out of desperation.

But after reading this, I can actually start working on getting him to down quickly in any situation, which will give me one more tool in case the recall doesn't work.
I think the down/stay will be a lot easier for him than recalling after he has already focused.

I will try this angle first before I even think about ordering a shock collar.

Shock Collars? :-/

xpaeanx

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Kootenay

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Slick

Kristina

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