Your Smart Pup

Your Smart Pup

with Amanda Abresch

We recently inherited my mother’s dog when she had to move to an assisted living facility. He is a really sweet older lab, about 11 years old. My mom got him as a new puppy, and since she lived in some acreage, he got lots of time running and playing free. I don’t remember her ever having an issue with him coming when called, but now that he’s in our house, I think he’s ignoring us when it’s time to come inside. We live in a development with neighbors fairly close, and while I know he would never hurt anyone, I don’t want him to wander off and get lost or hurt. What can I do?

It sounds like he had 11 years of free play and lots of room to roam, which is the dream life of lots of dogs. Moving to the suburbs is a tough adjustment, and it may just be that he wants to do what he has always done and stay outside to enjoy the great outdoors. He may also not have much experience with you calling him back and therefore no reinforcement from you when he does come when called. For now, I would recommend to leash him when outside, even with a long line, and practice a “catch and release” recall. Call him to you, give a treat and lots of petting and praise and then...let him play again. You can even add a release cue, like “free”, “all done” or “go play”. By repeating this, he gets to practice coming when called, and he learns that coming when called doesn’t always end the fun. By keeping him on a leash, he can’t just wander off to find rabbit poop and ignore you.

2. He is an older dog, and with age comes hearing loss. It is entirely possible that he has a fantastic recall but cannot hear when you are calling him. In my experience, the best and possibly least scientific way to test your dog’s hearing at home is to open a bag of chips, dog treats or to shake around some dog food in a scoop while your dog is in another room and cannot see you. Do this a few different times of day and try a few times during the next week. Try not to make it the same time every day, or he may learn that you are always opening chips at 10:00 am. If your dog is responding by looking up or coming to you, his hearing is probably ok. If he consistently ignores it or looks around in a confused manner, he may have a hearing problem. In that case, teaching him a recall with a vibrate-only collar (we don’t want an accidental shock) can be a fantastic option. I have worked with deaf dogs using vibrate collars with really great success. The key is to train is a positive cue that causes him to look at or come to you for a reward. By starting at a short distance and building up, he can learn to come back when you need him to, even if he can’t hear you. Please keep in mind that what I am talking about here is not using the vibrate as an aversive- it is not meant to startle or “correct” them when they go too far; it is meant to remind them to come to you when they feel it.

3. There is always the possibility that his recall was never as great as you thought, but your mom never had a problem with it since she had land, and he would eventually come back on his own and never wandered too far. For this, I would recommend looking back at #1 here- he needs to learn a reliable recall and practice it. Often, a change in environment brings out hidden issues in our dogs.

I have heard people using the words “leave it” and “drop it” for their dogs when they grab something. Which one is better to use when she grabs sticks on our walks?

Ooh, that is an excellent question and one I get from clients often. In general, it does not matter what words we use, since, in training, we are teaching a dog English- we are teaching them to associate our words with their action. Those words don’t matter as much as our consistency when teaching them. That said, I do often train the “leave it” and “drop it” to have a different meaning. When I teach a dog to “leave it”, I want them to look away and disengage from that stimulus. I find this much more useful than a dog who just stares at something they want but cannot have, especially if that something is another dog or a squirrel. By looking away, she can move on and away from the situation. “Drop it”, on the other hand, is that dog opening their mouth and letting something they are holding fall out. To me, “leave it” is for before she grabs the stick, and “drop it” is for once she has it. To teach this, I start with a simple trading exercise and build up to dropping it when they see the visual cue and hear the words from the person. Think about it, can you look away from something in your mouth? Of course, but it can also still be in your mouth. I have seen some very smart dogs try just this! I always have clients teach both cues since they are different behaviors, and there are plenty of dogs for whom the cues can be interchangeable, but this way, we have a clear set of expectations for our dog from the start, which helps to ensure success.