Maxwell is the very best dog for challenging textbook solutions for dog training. He arrived with some very well practiced behaviours. One is hanging on to a toy for dear life. I can only imagine the episodes in his previous home that fed into that habit.
- Chase the dog to get the toy
- Yell GIVE! DROP IT! before actually teaching the dog what that means
- Rip the toy from dog’s mouth
We have managed to work out a system for exchanging toys during play and training, but it takes some planning. The Erin Crook workshop I participated in last summer helped me to fine tune these interactions.
Tugging
We tug with 2 identical tug toys, he wins the game over an over again, I ask for behaviours in between tugs, and I’ve put his turn to tug on cue “take it!”. So rather than teach “give” I have taught that “ready”, as I drop my end of the tug toy, means I’m about to give a cue to do something else, like run through a tunnel. He readily drops the tug toy, then returns and waits for me to say “take it”. We end the game by simply saying “that’ll do”. I drop my end of the toy but don’t ask for it. He eventually drops it…somewhere.
Flirt Pole
Maxwell will chase and “kill” the toy, then release it when I ask him to catch a different toy. It has to be a good toy, like his favourite squishy dumbell Kong toy. This doesn’t work if the second toy is a ball. He will not abandon his ball for a stupid flirt pole animal.
Discs
As long Maxwell he hears “ready”, and then a cue to do something (like run around me) he will drop the disc in his mouth to get ready for the next one. This works much the same way as tugging. He doesn’t do the same with balls.
Balls
Maxwell gets the ball. There’s no hope in hell anyone else can have it. And that is the full description of our ball game.
I think you get the point. Balls are supremo numero uno in his mind. I could put a steak in front of his face and he would choose the ball. Any kind of ball. My grandson worked out a system when playing in the yard. It mostly involves a bucket of so many balls Maxwell can’t keep track of anything. It’s fun for everyone! But not all that practical.
When we leave the yard, as we do at least once every day for our romps in fields and hikes, I bring along a ball for the return trip to the vehicle. I can’t resist because he loves it SO MUCH. Plus it gives him some aerobic exercise which can be hard to fit in during fawn season when leashes/long lines are a must.
The problem with balls, off leash, is that Maxwell will not come anywhere near me when he has the ball. This is a problem… well.. because he is off leash. How will I get close to him when I need to? Occasionally he will drop the ball and back up quickly, which is my cue that it is ok to pick the ball up and throw it again. So glad that Maxwell offers such clear cues!
Let’s Hook It Up
The workaround is a ritual called Let’s Hook It Up. I call it a ritual because that is the way the behaviour was developed. Leash on/leash off was another tricky area with Maxwell. Again, I can only imagine how his dislike for anyone reaching for his collar/harness or hooking up a leash developed. A reluctance to get back on leash, combined with hanging onto a ball for dear life, basically meant that I would never get near him when off leash with a ball.
The solution, in steps:
Around the house and in the yard (sans ball) I would make a habit of putting the leash on and taking it off randomly. Sometimes I’d leave the leash dragging. Sometimes I’d put the leash on then give him a meatball then take it off again. Mainly I wanted Maxwell to understand that a leash does not mean that the fun is over. As long as there’s not a ball in sight, Maxwell appreciates those meatballs very much!
We then carried on with that same practice away from the house. I wouldn’t even necessarily call him to me. I’d simply hook up the leash when he was near by. Give him some meatball. Then unhook it. Repeat. No consequences — just hook, yums, unhook.
Back to the yard. I put the leash hook up on cue. It’s not a cue I would necessarily recommend, but it happens to be what comes out of my mouth in the moment. It sounds like this “Leeeet’s (drawn out) hookitup (one word)”. I put the leash on, then take it off. Repeat. Sometimes I’d leave the leash on for awhile. That part became random for him. I didn’t want the leash to mean the end of fun, but I also wanted him to be ok with the leash left on. We practiced a lot.
Next I added the ball.
1. Throw the ball.
2. Leeeet’s hookitup!
It worked! It was no longer about returning the ball to me, or having to drop the ball. It was about coming to me to get hooked up to the leash. Frankly, I don’t want the ball anyway! If Maxwell decides to drop the ball and back up quickly, then I know it’s time to pick it up and repeat the the sequence.
Now Maxwell will chase his ball, then return to me to have the leash put on. I don’t even need the cue. He either goes between my legs, or turns around and backs up — his choice and invention. It has become a ritual, and a solution to multiple challenges. Here’s a quick video.
Note: It’s not so easy shooting a video with 2 dogs, a ball that needs to be thrown, a dog that needs to be rewarded for staying with me through it all, and 2 hands. The panting is all Maggie. 🙂