Difficulty with Recalls or "Come Here"

Question: We have a 9 mos. old mini-doxie that is very sweet and playful. We have worked with her in an 8 week training class (for us humans). She will sit, down, settle, wait, kiss, and walk well on a leash. We are having difficulty with “come”. We are working on using a clicker with treats and calling come. It works beautifully in the house and when she’s on her run line. We are having difficulty with come if she gets out of the house, ie a screen door is left open, she got out of her harness. When she’s an escapee, she becomes hyper focused on a scent, bird, or other dog and does not hear or see anything else. If she happens to look at me in her “free” run, she’ll start to come or run away. When she looks, I’ll click and yell treat, and run away from her as if we are playing a game. This only seems to work when she’s gotten off her harness and she’s within a few feet. If she comes, I give her a treat. What do we do for distance and her being hyper focused?

Answer: Welcome to the world of scenthounds! Dachshunds are a working hound and can be difficult to recall when on a scent line or when in hot pursuit of game. However, I have had success training all my Dachshunds to recall when I call them.

First, let me say congratulations because you are doing absolutely everything right. Keep up the good work!

While this is a training issue it is also happening during adolescence which can be a challenging period. During adolescence most dogs are more independent and becoming more confident. Many of your trained behaviors may seem weak during this period, keep training through it, but know that it is very normal for dogs to be particularly challenging at this age.

You say that your dog "does not see or hear anything else" and I am really glad that you can recognize that because many people can't. I hear lots of people labeling their Dachshunds (other breeds too) stubborn or disobedient when they have a hard time with recalls. If the dog is in hunt mode they probably aren't even hearing you, so it's better to try and call them before they get too into the scent or distraction if you can.

Also, I would continue to do a lot of long line recalls (possibly using a lighter line) and upping the value of the reinforcement (in other words, use a WAY better treat). What is happening is that the environment is more reinforcing than the reinforcer (treat) you are offering, also since she off lead you cannot get her back and she gets to practice running off. So, I would use much better treats. Some really good choices for recalls are canned sardines, beef, liver or some sort of really high value reward. Also, continue to train on a long line until you get really reliable on line recalls (like 85 - 90% reliable) in lots of locations THEN start doing them with low level distractions off leash but not until she is ready.

Another thing I like to do for recalls when I can is what is called the Premack Principle. The Premack Principle is a learning theory that states that a high probability behavior can reinforce a low probability behavior. What this means is that you can use something your dog really wants to do as a reinforcer for what she really doesn't want to do. Here are some examples:

I am training my dog Cowboy for rally at the park. He REALLY wants to sniff, I ask him to do a few behaviors on the rally course then say "good boy, go sniff" and run over to a tree for him to sniff. He does what I ask and I give him what he wants. He will eat treats and I will give them too, but he would really prefer to sniff so I use that as a reinforcer for the behaviors he did.

Another example:

I am watching my puppy Carrot play with her friend. They are running and playing and I call her out of the play. If she comes I click and treat AND then say "go play" so she is then rewarded with being released to the play.

So, if you do some long line recalls with sardines and your dog is getting really good, go to the park and when she gets on a scent line call her to you (start rewarding the minute she turns her head) by encouraging her and moving away (do this on a long line until she is very good at it) when she gets to you give her the treat then run back with her to where she was sniffing and tell her to "find it".

During her training it is very important that she not get out of the house or out of her harness. You will need to manage the situation. Of course, you could also beef up her stay training and do waits at the door so she learns not to run out the door. You could get her on leash and have her stay or wait and then AFTER she stays reward her with going out the door (Premack again).

Finally, IF you can do it properly negative punishment can also be used for not calling when called (make sure you have done all the other stuff first to ensure she has it). Negative punishment means you take away something the dog wants to make a behavior go down in frequency. Here is the training plan we put together for one of my client dogs (not a Dachshund, but a gun dog):

They take her to the park (enclosed, safe area), she is on a long line most of the time, but nearly ready to be off. They call her and reward with sardines every time she comes. When playing she is called out of play rewarded and sent back to play (premack). Then, one time they call her and she doesn't come, they say "uh-oh too bad for you" immediately after she doesn't come, they go get her and with no emotion and no more words, they take her home where she goes in her crate for 20 minutes. No time outs don't make the dog hate the crate, it isn't the place that is punishing it is being removed from the park and her off leash play. With your dog you could carry her out of the park with this retriever we had to park really close so she wouldn't get rewarded with sniffing and walking out of the park. This is a very powerful technique but you just have to do it everytime.

Keep working and she WILL get it. Recalls off of interesting things can take a while, but if you work at it she will get it.

Leslie Nielson has a great video and booklet called the Really Reliable Recall (you can order it from www.dogwise.com) you migth want to check that out too.