Stuck at recall exercise Five - recall from food

[Lab_adore]

So we were doing really well with total recall. If we blow that whistle from anywhere in the house he comes charging. Even if he is sound asleep.

However we are now doing the exercise with the plate on the counter, walking away so he is between us and the food and blowing the whistle. He just sits and looks at the food. He WILL look at OH or I doing crazy antics to try and get him to come but he won't budge. We've gone back to the room-to-room a few times to try and reinforce but the little tyke will not move away from the food on the counter.

Any suggestions wise friends?

 

[snowbunny]

If you’re not getting the results you want then you need to split the progression into a smaller step.
Try it with an empty plate to start off with. Or a piece of paper on the counter if the plate is too hard. Generalise it to different objects so he starts to understand the game before adding food.

 

[Lab_adore]

Thanks....do we treat when he runs to us in that scenario? If yes, isn't he just running to the food again as he did in the earlier exercises? Sorry if I'm being daft

 

[VanillaBean]

When I helped someone else with this (litter mate), we started off putting the plate on the floor no food a few times. Then moved it on the bench. Once that worked put the food on it, on the bench. Distance was very small only maybe a meter and then gradually increased the distance.

I am sure you will get loads of advise. Just make sure you pick one and stick with it dont swap every 2 seconds ( I know you wont but at times it can be tempting). This will just confuse Maxx and you.
You will get there.

 

[VanillaBean]

Thanks....do we treat when he runs to us in that scenario? If yes, isn't he just running to the food again as he did in the earlier exercises? Sorry if I'm being daft

I would take him to the object and treat. But that is me

 

[snowbunny]

Thanks....do we treat when he runs to us in that scenario? If yes, isn't he just running to the food again as he did in the earlier exercises? Sorry if I'm being daft

It's a long time since I read Total Recall and I never followed it through to the end, so I don't know what that method prescribes. But if it were me, I would reward the dog for recalling to me away from a distraction, for sure. He's not "running to the food", as you're not going to be luring him. He doesn't see your food, he sees the plate with the food on. You're calling him away from a distraction, and he absolutely deserves to be rewarded for that.

I would take him to the object and treat. But that is me

It's OK to do this sometimes, for sure, and it works like a "zen bowl" (move away from the Thing to get the Thing). But I wouldn't want to be building up an expectation that moving away from the Thing always gets the Thing. Think of real-life scenarios where you might be recalling away from discarded food, a family eating a picnic etc. If you always release back to the Thing and you're not careful about how you do it, you can end up with your dog not fully completing their recall as they anticipate being released as part of the chain.
So I would reward at you most of the time. Sometimes release back to the food. Sometimes reward at you and then release back to the food - double whammy, yeah!

 

[VanillaBean]

agree with @snowbunny don't always take him back and then reward. Mix and match. We are the same we never finished the book, but she is now at 99%. Problem is with new distractions that you would not ever be able to train against as they are few and far between.
You will get there with Maxx, it will be worth it in the end.

 

[snowbunny]

Problem is with new distractions that you would not ever be able to train against as they are few and far between.

That's very true, and the reason I didn't complete the book was because it just wasn't practical for where I lived. What you can do, though, is keep increasing the value of the distractions you do have control over. The few pieces of kibble can work their way up to being a whole warm roast chicken. You can add movement, adjust the distances. Can you recall your dog halfway through the chase of a ball, or a game of tug with your partner? What about while they're sniffing for scattered kibble in the grass? Working with what you know the dog finds engaging means we have access to high levels of distraction that we can have control over, even if we can't give them access to the situations that are described in the book.

 

[Ashley]

Agree with the previous advice...I would use boring kibble as the first distraction, with my treats being more tasty. I also didn't follow the book all the way through, but one thing we did when struggling with distractions was to up our reward - her ball or her tug toy turned out to be a better reward than steak for food distractions (play is a higher reward than food, we learned). I was changing up the food rewards too - someone recommended little tins of cat food for jack pot rewards, which I used through the 'teenage' months and it had a huge impact when introducing harder distractions.

 

[HAH]

someone recommended little tins of cat food for jack pot rewards, which I used through the 'teenage' months

This is so reassuring to hear - clearly these teenage months do need a fair upping of rewards!

 

[Lab_adore]

Thanks everyone