The same principles work for any size dog or person. A full explanation of how to stop a dog jumping up is contained in my new book Dog Secrets.

Why Won’t “Dominance” Die?

Many leading animal behaviourists are concerned that the “dominance” model of pet dog behaviour continues to survive, despite the accumulating evidence that it is at best unhelpful and at worst highly detrimental.

It is easy to see why trainers and owners alike are fond of the concepts of “pack” and “dominance” in relation to pet dogs. A pack means we’re all part of the same gang. “Dominance” explains our respective positions in that pack. We live in a pack with our pet dogs and they either dominate us or we dominate them. To be at the top of the pack with total dominance would make you the “alpha”, with all the esteem that entails, therefore dogs will strive for dominance unless you beat them to it. It’s a neat explanation.

Except that none of it actually bears scientific scrutiny. Prof Richard Dawkins described self replicating ideas as “memes”⁽¹⁾ that live in our minds and pass from one to another through no reason other than their popularity, or catchiness. Some are harmless, like that annoying song you keep humming long after you’ve decided you hate it, but others can be positively harmful, like the idea that combined MMR jabs cause autism, which continues to prevent many children benefiting from the protection they provide.

The “pack” and “dominance” theory of domestic dogs is a harmful meme. It prevents many owners understanding their dogs, causes untold misery for both and is perpetuated by well-meaning but uninformed dog trainers around the world. It is proving extremely resistant to extinction.

Origin Of Dominance Theory

This meme originated in the “dogs are wolves” theory in the late 1960s. It was spawned in the pond of genetics from the premise that if a dog is the same species as the wolf they must behave identically. The perceived wisdom at the time, emanating from L. David Mech’s book, The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species⁽²⁾, was that wolves pack and dominate each other, therefore dogs must also pack and dominate each other. The theories of wolf and dog “dominance” and the “alpha” firmly entered the imagination of not only the public, but also the scientific community. As a police dog handler in the 1980s I regularly tried to “dominate” my dogs using the best available scientific model.

However, as science advances our viewpoint changes and in Mech’s case, as he points out in his 2008 article Whatever Happened to the Term Alpha Wolf?⁽³⁾ more rigorous examination of wild living wolves revealed that their social behaviour was centred on the family unit, built around cohesion and co-operation, not conflict. A fight for pack dominance would mean striving to displace one parent in order to mate with the other. The model of the wolf’s supposed fight for dominance and alpha status was replaced with one where parents and older siblings guide and lead younger offspring in order to enhance overall genetic fitness.

In 1999 Mech published Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs⁽⁴⁾, in which he corrected his earlier mistaken ideas. He happily reports that in the 2003 book Wolves: Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation⁽⁵⁾ written by twenty three authors and edited by Mech and Boitani, the term “alpha” is only ever mentioned to explain why it has been superseded.

Studies Of The Domestic Dog

At the same time, studies of the domestic dog have also moved on. It has been well established that the social behaviour of the domestic dog is unlike that of the wolf. The domestic dog is a neotonised version of the wolf-type ancestor, a specialised variant that evolved into a newly formed environmental niche to scavenge the domestic waste of human settlements. These adaptations removed the need to operate as a true wolf pack and consequently there is little collaboration in hunting or in care of offspring, but much more cooperation with strangers, dog or human. Although dogs congregate in groups around resources, they do not form packs in the cohesive family way that wolves still do.

The concept of “dominance” itself has never been a quality of an individual, but the product of a relationship. Ethologists label an animal dominant over another once there is a trend towards the second animal deferring in encounters between the two. I can no more be born dominant than I could be born chairman. Because I can never be dominated if I don’t allow myself to be, dominance can only be the result of deference by others.

Preferences will become established in repeated encounters, but pet dog relationships are far too complicated to be defined through a simple, “one individual dominates another”. A smooth relationship is one in which each knows the other’s preferences and defers accordingly. This is often described in terms of resource holding potential⁽⁶⁾, but the important aspect of it is that it is emergent, not the result of pre-programmed “dominance”.

What we are witnessing in so-called “dominant” dogs is natural behaviour that has been modified through learning. Sometimes this behaviour is competitive in nature, but the majority of so called “dominance-related” problems are simply dogs behaving in a way that conflicts with owners’ expectations.

These conflicting behaviours are the result of the dog trying to secure something they know is going to have a positive emotional benefit – to facilitate a reward or avoid something unpleasant. How we deal with the way those emotions are satisfied determines our relationship with our dogs.

Individual dogs can be placed anywhere along the bold/shy continuum that exists in all species. In shy individuals behaviour that does not meet owners’ expectations is likely to be tinged with fear and in bold individuals the behaviour is likely to be joyously unrestrained. Most dogs’ behaviour will be a complex mixture of these two extremes.

Pet-ification

That complexity is increased because our pets do not continue to live in their original state as peripheral scavengers. They have been refined through selective breeding for specific purposes such as hunting, herding and guarding. By enhancing traits present in the original stock, humans have created dogs whose emotional balance depends on being able to fulfil their desire to exhibit these inherited predispositions, at least to some degree.

Although the working traits of these types are reduced during “pet-ification” – the breeding of more amenable individuals that are more suited to life as a pet (witness the current “pet-ification” of the Border Collie from a working animal) – the breeding stock continues to throw up specimens in which the original working temperament is strongly represented. This may be a predisposition to chase moving objects, to nip heels, to use aggression to solve conflict, to hold something in the mouth, or any other working breed disposition. The need to perform these behaviours, and their dissatisfaction when they are unable to do so, can steer pet dogs into conflict with their owners.

Family life can also be remarkably inconsistent for a pet, and dogs may focus their efforts on resources that are extremely important to them, but not necessarily to the owner. Lack of consistency proves to the dog that they are capable of deciding the outcome of many, albeit small, interactions. Add in the effects of either a bold or shy character, and other inherited predispositions that need to be satisfied, and you have a dog that can be extremely resistant to their owner’s efforts to control their behaviour.

If, as was the case when I was a young police dog handler, this behaviour is labelled as “dominant”, the perceived solution is to out-dominate the dog and bend them to your will. This often involved things like rolling them over and holding them down, or shaking them by the scruff. In dogs where the lack of compliance is motivated by frustration at being unable to fulfil inherited needs, or  where the motivation is fear, such as when the dog has developed a fear of being left by the owner, applying misguided ideas of dominance will increase that frustration and fear, and with it the probable use of aggression. Less confrontationally, standing in the dog’s bed to show them who is in charge will do little to prevent them barking when the owner is on the telephone, but it similarly fails to address the underlying emotional issues.

Dominance – The Meme

Scientific enquiry shows us that the “dominance” model is unsubstantiated. A recent paper from Bristol University⁽⁷⁾ is the latest to try to illuminate the construct if not for the general public, then at least for the professionals still left using it.

So why then does it persist? In part it is the “catchiness” of the meme sticking in the mind. In part it is also because, whilst the majority of practitioners at the highest levels are aware that it is inaccurate and unhelpful, and sometimes positively harmful, some are still advocating its use.

It could be that there are vested interests in continuing to promulgate “dominance” – books and DVDs to sell – and a reluctance to change one’s standpoint from the embarrassment of appearing to have been wrong. However, this shouldn’t stand in the way of informed change; as Keynes famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

In part it is because there are still papers being published that profess to be able to examine the concept, such as a recent offering from Cordoba University⁽⁸⁾. There was a more recent article in Veterinary Times⁽⁹⁾ pleading for the practice of evidence based medicine. The reasoning applies no less to the behaviour modification of pet dogs, and the Cordoba paper is a good example of why. Critical evaluation shows that it starts from an assumption, “Dominance aggression is the most common form of aggression…” and then compounds the error by allowing pet owners to define it in their dogs through the choice of two photographs of “dominant” and “fearful” expressions. Out of a total of thirty references only eight are post 2000, and four of them are the own author’s. The paper’s data analysis is also basic and shows associations rather than causation, but nevertheless some professionals feel able to use it to prop up their views.

In part it persists because it is still “seen to be working”. It makes good television to go head to head and dominate a dog.

Unfortunately, television is not real life and tends to show short interactions where the dog is forced to submit. It is not impossible for a “handy” owner to repeatedly force their dog into submission either, but these unpleasant and unnecessary measures are not how most pet owners want to live with their dogs. Lamentably the high profile of these programmes means the on-screen warning “do not try this at home” is often not heeded.

The final and probably most important reason for the persistence of “dominance” is because the debunking of the myth is relatively new. It is generally said to take twenty years for new science to permeate the public conscious, but now its time has come. More and better research is being conducted and more practitioners are, like Keynes, changing their mind as the facts change. More members of the public are actually seeing that there are better alternatives, and more and more people are realising that whilst the meme might be “catchy” it isn’t actually very satisfying.

“Why Won’t Dominance Die?”

The use of the model to explain dog behaviour is dying. If memes can be said to have an independent existence, we are witnessing the death throes of this one as it struggles to hang on to what little life it has left, existing only in the minds of the most stubborn or self-interested. As the groundswell of informed opinion moves against it, there will eventually be no hiding places left.

References

1. Dawkins, R. (1989) The Selfish Gene (new edition). Oxford, Oxford University Press.
2. Mech, L.D. (1970) The Wolf: Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species. Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press.
3. Mech, L.D. (2008) Whatever happened to the term Alpha wolf?
   http://www.wolf.org/wolves/news/iwmag/2008/winter/alphawolf.pdf accessed 29th September 2009
4. Mech, L.D. (1999) Alpha Status, Dominance, and Division of Labor in Wolf Packs. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 77(8): 1196–1203
5. Mech, L.D. & Boitani, L. (2003) Wolf social ecology. 1–34 in:  Mech, L.D. & Boitani, L. (eds) Wolves: Behavior, Ecology and Conservation. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
6. Parker, G.A. (1974) Assessment strategy and the evolution of animal conflicts. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 47. 223–243.
7. Bradshaw, J.W.S, Blackwell, E.J. & Casey R.A. (2009) Dominance in domestic dogs—useful construct or bad habit? Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research. 4 (3) 135-144.
8. Peres-Guisado, J. & Munoz-Serrano, A. (2009). Factors linked to dominance aggression in dogs. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances. 8 (2) 336-342.
9. Elsheikha, H.M. & Rossano M.G. (21st September 2009) Evidence-based approach is wise. Veterinary Times.

Note: An edited version of this article first appeared in the Veterinary Times Vol 40 No 7, 22nd February 2010 under the title “Dominance meme: out-lived extreme?” David Ryan

There is no mystical “secret” to training dogs, as professed by some dog trainers. Dog training and owning can be perfected through simple yet effective methods that are well known to science. Illustrated by real life examples of how they have helped others, Dog Secrets explains how understanding these methods can make you a better dog trainer and have a more rewarding relationship with your dog.

If you’ve enjoyed David’s talks, articles, or first book, you should check out his new book today.

What really surprised me were the people who profess to be professional dog trainers, or even worse the self-styled “behaviourists” who don’t understand dogs. Passing by “surprised” I quickly found myself “astounded”, and then careered round the corner into “annoyed”. Astounded at the explanations they come up with, and annoyed at the suffering they inflict on dogs and their owners in the name of their fanciful theories.

Understanding dogs, what they are, and why they do the things they do, gives an insight into what makes them tick. Understanding how they are affected by the things we do enables us to train, and live with, our pets more effectively.

These are the “Dog Secrets” that your dog wishes you knew.

There is no mystical “secret” to training dogs, as professed by some dog trainers. Dog training and owning can be perfected through simple yet effective methods that are well known to science. Illustrated by real life examples of how they have helped others, Dog Secrets explains how understanding these methods can make you a better dog trainer and have a more rewarding relationship with your dog.

“Dog Secrets” the book is out now.

“Stop!” – How to control predatory chasing in dogs

To get your dog to come back every time, you have to be more interesting than anything else on earth. A tall order perhaps? Yes, but certainly achievable.

Let’s start with how your dog perceives you in everyday life. Are you the apple of their eye, or can they wrap you around their little pad? Does your dog consider that you are someone to look up to, or do they ignore you when they feel like it? Do you provide affection when they demand it; can you be provoked into a response whenever they try hard enough? Do you have to repeat commands? Is their response variable depending upon what they are doing? If your dog thinks that they are controlling your relationship, they will not pay attention when you ask.  If they can take what you provide whenever they want, why should they come back because you say so? What’s in it for them? The answer should be “affection” or at least “attention”. If the answer is “nothing”, then your dog doesn’t value your affection and attention sufficiently, and you may need to re-examine your relationship.

Once you have your relationship on the right footing, you might just find that your dog pays you more attention generally and is far more inclined to come when called anyway. You might need to do no more than that for a better recall!

Most dogs, however, will benefit from learning a new set of rules about coming back when called and it isn’t rocket science, or a ’secret’, just plain ordinary training that all dogs can understand. To do that you will need to understand how dogs learn so that you can implement the training in a way that will work quickly, and work for you.

The first stage will be to teach your dog what ‘come’ really means. It means ‘if you come here you will be rewarded for it’, and like all dog training it is best started in a place with no distractions. Indoors is best to achieve fluency before generalising to the outdoors and this training is one of the best games you can play…

The Recall Game

To teach Sandy to come back, and have fun doing it, you will need Sandy, two or more human players and some tasty doggie treats.

• Ben takes hold of Sandy’s collar and holds it tight with one hand.
• Maisie shows Sandy a treat and runs away into another room.
• When out of sight, Maisie calls Sandy’s name and the chosen recall word – how about “Come” or “Here”?
• Ben lets Sandy go and she rushes into the other room to find Maisie.
• When she arrives, Maisie takes hold of Sandy’s collar and then gives her the treat (and cuddles and praise).
• After Sandy has eaten the treat (small ones so she just gets a taste and wants more!) Maisie continues to hold her collar and Ben shows her a treat.
• Ben then runs away to another room and calls whilst Maisie holds her.
• When she runs to Ben, he too takes hold of her collar before rewarding her.
• Turn it into a game of hide and seek, moving each time, so Sandy has to really look for the hidden person to get the reward.
• Play for as long as Sandy really wants the treat (stop before she gets too full up).

The recall game teaches Sandy to come when called, and not to mind her collar being touched, because both things predict a nice outcome. When Sandy is really good at the recall game, play it in the garden, or on walks.

The Dark Side

It’s understandable that people get very frustrated and angry when their dog doesn’t come back when called. However, when their owner is angry, a dog can tell from their body language and tone of voice that all is not well, and will be even less likely to want to go back to them. So, how do we go about convincing the dog that you are the best thing on offer? By never punishing a dog when they return, no matter how long you have been waiting, shouting and worrying, and always rewarding the dog when they come to you, however long it takes. Punishing includes smacking or hitting, shouting or berating, frowning or scowling, or even just ignoring.

Things to Make Your Dog Want to Come Back

Even if you have played the recall game and your dog is very good indoors, you will still have to compete with distractions outdoors. These are some things that you might consider to help keep yourself the most interesting thing on offer:

Rewards – Rewards can be praise, food treats, playing a game or with a toy, or cuddles. Use a high value reward for coming back outdoors. If you use dog biscuits indoors, use sausage outdoors.

Get Attention – If you haven’t got your dog’s attention, they won’t come. Use your dog’s name, clap or whistle (high pitches are more attractive to dogs than low ones); use exciting tones; crouch down to dog-height; lie on your back and wave your legs in the air if necessary, but get your dog’s attention!

Feedback – Once they start to come, praise, praise, praise. They’re not here yet, but they’re heading in the right direction!

Unpredictability – Don’t be a predictable bore on your walks.
Hide behind a tree or in a gateway; your dog will come and find you! The relief from the anxiety of losing you and the praise you heap on them will be a huge reward.
Run away. Just run in the opposite direction and your dog will come with you (it might be missing out on something). Both of these strategies will encourage your dog to keep one eye on you, as they don’t know what to expect.

Practice – Practice recalls on walks. Randomly call your dog, give them a reward and send them off again. Call them, clip on the lead, reward them and let them go again.

Think about the times when you call your dog. Home-time, end of the walk, to stop it meeting another dog/person, to stop it chasing something, to stop it eating or even sniffing something. From your dog’s point of view, being called often predicts the loss of something. It is an event that they associate with a negative outcome. You can change that by introducing positive associations.

Play – Playing games of any kind on your walks is a sure-fire way of keeping your dog’s attention. Practising some obedience is fun if there is a reward in it and it helps to increase your dog’s positive view of a recall.

Don’t grab – your dog as they run past. This won’t teach them anything except to give you a wider berth next time. Wait until they voluntarily come right up to you, take hold of their collar and reward.

Failsafe – If you really have no confidence that your dog will come back off the lead, you can practice on lead at first, or you can attach a long line (strong washing line?) to your dog’s collar and tie the other end to something sturdy, then play the recall game in a field. When your dog is very good at that, untie the other end of the line and play with it dragging on the ground. Your dog will still feel under control, but is free for a gallop (you can catch the end of the line in an emergency). As your dog becomes more dependable, cut the line in half, then half again and eventually there will be no line at all.

Conclusion

The more positively your dog views you and the keener they are to interact with you at any time, the more likely they will come back whenever you call them.

Dog Breeds

First we must start with what kind of dog you have.

All dogs come with the basic starter pack of genes – they instinctively know that food, company and a tickled tummy are nice. But added on to that are the things your type of dog was originally bred for. Dogs find any instinctive behaviour – the things they were bred for – fun to do.

Labradors revel in retrieving, Greyhounds get a kick out of chasing & Collies get high on herding. That is not to say you can’t train a Greyhound to retrieve, but expect it to be more difficult than training a Labrador. Anything your dog has been bred for will be easier to train because they already like to do it. The down side is that, for the same reasons, it can be very difficult to train a dog not to do something they have been bred for.

Mixed breeds can get a mixture of behaviour. This can actually be easier, for example a lab/collie cross may like chasing after things AND retrieving them back! What types of behaviour has your dog inherited?

What’s a Reward?

We are going to use rewards when training, but to do that we must know what is rewarding for your dog. Most dogs like food treats, stroking and praise, but breed preferences might mean that your dog would rather have a game of chase, or fetch, or a tug on a toy.

What does your dog like?

If you decide on food treats, make it something extra special, not just ordinary old dog nosh. After all, we’re expecting your dog to perform really well, so they should get a really good reward, too.

Right from Wrong

Dogs learn the right way to behave by experience. What they are rewarded for, they do again. But you can’t tell them, “This sausage is for not jumping up at me when I came in just now”.

They learn by associating what they are doing at the time, with the reward. This means the BEST learning takes place if we can reward the dog when it performs the behaviour we want. One second afterwards may be too late. So, if we can arrange for the dog to be sitting quietly by showing them a piece of sausage AND THEN GIVE THEM THE SAUSAGE they will understand that the reward is for sitting quietly – not for jumping up.

Fortunately, there is a way we can extend the timing of the reward. Add a word as you give the reward – I use “Okay” – and your dog will learn that the word means that it has done the right thing and the reward is coming.

Lure and Reward

We now have principle based dog training. To teach a dog any behaviour, we lure the dog into the behaviour we want and then reward them. It will work for any behaviour, provided we can think of a way of getting the dog into the position, or performing the behaviour, we want.

Wrong from Right

But what if they do the wrong thing? We take away not only the reward, but also the possibility of the reward. We do this by putting the reward away (back in our pockets maybe) and then also taking away our attention. Turn around, fold arms, look at the sky: your dog does not exist. Then turn back round and try again with the treat.

If you add a different word – I like “ah!” because I never use it in any other context – it becomes a signal that the dog has done the wrong thing and will not be rewarded. Eventually, the word alone will be enough.

New Behaviour

All dogs go through the same series of processes when learning a new behaviour.

The first stage is ACQUISITION. The dog learns that something new is happening. Raise a treat above your dog’s head and say, “sit”. When the dog sits, drop the treat into their mouth. Your dog learns that if they sit when you ask, a reward follows.

The second stage is FLUENCY. You practice until your dog sits immediately. These two stages are usually quite quick. The next stage takes the longest; maybe months. In GENERALISATION your dog must learn that “sit” means sit, regardless of anything else. Sit means sit when: you say it quietly, or quickly; when you are wearing a hat, or stand on one leg; when you are in the kitchen, or the vet’s; when you are near, or far away. Your dog learns that nothing else matters but the word “sit”. The final stage, MAINTENANCE, means that you have to practice every now and then, so your dog doesn’t forget.

Attention Span

Dogs have a short attention span and learn best with short, 5 minute, bouts of teaching, several times a day. Start teaching a new behaviour somewhere with no distractions. When your dog is FLUENT, introduce distractions gradually, so that GENERALISATION takes place. The quickest learning will take place when your dog can focus on you and the task in hand.

For example, start training in a familiar place such as the living room, where there is nothing else to interest your dog. When they are fluent, take the training into the garden, where it will regress. Become fluent again before introducing more distractions, like on a walk, and then take another step back to become fluent again. Finally, practice in as many different places as you can.

Punishment

There should be no need for smacking, hitting with a rolled up newspaper or any other barbaric practice. If your dog is misbehaving, ignoring it is the best thing you can do. If the behaviour cannot be ignored, disrupt it in some way and prevent it happening again. Like in our doorbell example, train an alternative, acceptable, behaviour in its place.

Progression

You can progress by: -

• No longer having the reward visible.
• Withholding the reward for all but the BEST performances.
• Changing the reward: instead of a food treat give praise or game sometimes.
• Rewarding intermittently: once every three, or five times, like a slot machine does.
• Doing all these at once.

And Finally, In a Nutshell -

• Take into account your dogs genes.
• Reward good behaviour and ignore bad.
• Disrupt any bad behaviour you can’t ignore, and then prevent it happening again.
• Substitute an alternative, acceptable, behaviour for the bad.

You now have the knowledge to train any dog to do anything. Give it a try.

These things are not that important for people, so we tend to go along with what the dog wants; it’s no big deal. However, if your dog thinks they are making important decisions, they will assume responsibility for ones we don’t want them to make. If your dog pulls on the lead they probably think they are taking you for a walk.

If your dog won’t stop barking when people come to the door, they probably think that they have the responsibility for deciding who comes in and who doesn’t. Dogs like rules. When dogs don’t understand the rules they can live under severe stress. Consistency is vital. If the rules are inconsistent how can they possibly comprehend them? You need to communicate to your dog, without using any force or confrontation, that you are in control of your relationship. To do this, you need to take ownership of the resources that are important to your dog, but not necessarily to you.

There are only three things of major importance to all dogs: food, toys/games and attention.

Food

It is only good manners for your dog to say “please” before they are given their food, or any treats. The way to do this is to control the food, not the dog. Show your dog what is on offer and ask them to “sit”, “down”, “stay”, “shake paws”, or any other command that they know, or you want to teach them. Don’t put the food down until your dog has asked nicely. Your dog should do something for you, before you do something for them. Do not compete or argue with your dog by using lots of commands. Keep hold of the food bowl and do not put it down until they have done as you asked.

Toys

There are two types of toy for dogs: ones that they play with by themselves or with other dogs, “Free Play Toys,” and ones that we play with them, “Interactive Toys” (it could actually be the same toy, but they are defined by how they are used).

Free Play Toys - It’s a good idea to keep all of these toys in a toy box, so that you have control over their use. Select toys to give to your dog when you wish, and put them away again when you want to. Rotate your dog’s toys: a couple today, a different couple tomorrow. This will increase the value of the toys and the amount of time your dog plays with them, because they are not always available, and it increases your value, because you provide ‘new’ toys every day.

Interactive Toys - When you play with toys with your dog, they also get your attention – a double whammy! The toy should come out when you want to play and go away when you are done. You own it. This gives your dog clear signals about playtime and gives the toy immense value.

Attention (including affection)

We have dogs because we like to interact with them. What we mustn’t forget is that our attention is ours to give when we want, not when we are manipulated into giving it by a puppy. This is not a “no attention” relationship, in fact you can give as much attention as you like. What you need to be aware of is exactly when you give attention, and what your dog perceives they did to earn that attention.

Remember, behaviour that is rewarded is likely to be repeated, and any kind of attention (even negative attention like being shouted at) is more rewarding than none at all. Give your dog lots of attention, but make it conditional on good behaviour. If your dog bites your knees and subsequently gets attention, they are likely to repeat the behaviour. If they are ignored when they sit quietly on the mat, they are less likely to repeat that behaviour.

When your dog pesters you for attention, actively ignore behaviour you don’t like. Stand up, turn your back, fold your arms, do not speak and look away (attention = speech, eye contact or touch). If it is really bad walk out of the room.

Alternatively, reinforce behaviours you do like. Tell your dog to fetch a toy and then reward them with lots of fuss. Ask them to sit, or lie down, or any non-invasive behaviour, but DON’T FORGET TO REWARD them. This will mean that behaviours that you like will become more frequent, and other behaviours will decrease.

If you are retraining non-invasive behaviours at the expense of previous undesirable ones, it may get worse before it gets better. Your dog has always had a response before, and now doesn’t get it, so may do their particular “attention seeking” behaviour more, or even try new behaviours.

Once your dog knows you are in control they can relax.

• “Pushy” dogs are given firm boundaries are so there is no point in constantly testing the limits.
• Relief from the pressure of making decisions reduces stress: “Who shall I let in? Can I eat that road-kill? Can I still get attention when I want?”
• Timid dogs gain confidence. Once they know what the rules are they never have to be worried about offending someone.
• Dogs know you are in charge, so will look towards you for guidance, making training so much easier.
• Dogs shouldn’t have to bear the burden of looking after us; we should be looking after them!

This philosophy comes in many guises, but it is universally accepted as the kindest way to explain rules to dogs; punishment often disappears altogether. In behaviour modification programmes it is often called “Learn to Earn”. You may also hear of it as “Lifestyle Training”, “Holistic Training” or “NILIF” (Nothing In Life Is Free). Regardless of what you call it, when you are in control of the relationship, you are in control of your dog.

In order to find the answer though, we need to ask a different question. It’s not, “How do I stop my dog chasing…”, or even, “Why does my dog chase…?” but rather, “What does my dog get out of chasing?”

Update:
As a result of the very successful APBC predatory chase seminars and the frequent requests for more information on the subject, I’ve expanded this article into a full book, “Stop!” How to control predatory chasing in dogs.

Find Out More

Like any good detective, you always have to look for the motivation. There are a number of reasons a dog can seem to chase, including things as diverse as fear, territorial behaviour and social interactions.

Because these motivations are all different, the solutions need to be tailored to suit each one, but true chasing is predatory behaviour and we need to identify it as such before we can address the problem. Check the list. If you can tick any two plus the last one, it is almost certain that your dog is predatory chasing.

Predatory Chase

• It will often be exhibited towards more than one target (cars, ankles, rabbits, cats, sheep, joggers, bicycles?).
• Dogs will actively seek out opportunities by going out of their way to find it.
• They will become excited at the sight, scent and sound of their prey items, perhaps even making small ‘yipping’ noises.
• Chasing may be preceded by stalking or searching.
• It can happen anywhere.
• It is stimulated by movement.
• They look like they are enjoying it – not anxious, scared or worried

What Do Dogs Get Out Of It?

The answer lies in internal reinforcement. Dogs inherit instinctive behaviour that is too complex to be learned by every generation. You don’t have to teach a dog how to dig, he doesn’t learn to lift his leg to pee, they are instinctive actions, called “motor patterns” by ethologists.

Chasing behaviour is part of the inherited predatory hunting sequence. The sequence is genetically “hard wired” and prepares wild canines to catch prey in order to survive, for example, by searching for or stalking it.

“External reinforcement” is the way we usually train dogs: we give them a biscuit or a pat when they do the right thing.

“Internal reinforcement” is when the brain gives the body a feeling of pleasure. It is similar to the buzz we feel when we score a goal, win a race or achieve that top exam result.

Each part of the inherited hunting sequence is internally reinforcing. Dogs don’t need a biscuit as a reward for performing it; they do it out of sheer pleasure. In brain chemistry terms they get a buzz of dopamine every time they perform an inherited motor pattern. This is the same reward system abused by people taking Cocaine or Ecstasy, so you can imagine the addictive possibilities!

In original canine terms, the wild animal inherits exactly the right amount of each part of the sequence to lead it into the next. Because domestic dogs have been selected to exhibit exaggerated parts of the sequence and omit others, the whole predatory hunting sequence is rarely in balance in modern breeds. Variation appears both between and within breeds. Spaniels benefit from a huge internal reward from searching, but little or none from stalking. Pointers get huge internal reward from stalking, but not from a killing-bite, because of hundreds of generations of selective breeding. Individuals within each breed will inherit more or less of each part than others. This is the variability that makes some spaniels better at searching than others, or some pointers hard-mouthed.

“Chase” is a motor pattern, or behaviour, that is inherited. Dogs that chase are being internally reinforced just by doing it. They don’t need to be externally reinforced with a biscuit or a kind word, because the behaviour is rewarding in itself.

Why they won’t stop

Put simply, they enjoy it. Hugely. They enjoy the “high” they get from endorphins buzzing around their body to such an extent that they close down other senses to concentrate upon it. All focus is on the target as the source of pleasure. This is the first reason that owners cannot recall their dogs when they are in full flight. Their dogs simply don’t hear them.

Dogs with a high inherited drive not only derive great pleasure from chasing, they also need to perform it. They are driven to perform the behaviour to receive the boost to their feelings that it provides. They are constantly looking for outlets for it.

A dog with chase drive towards the top end of the scale is not easy to control because it is very difficult to counter internally reinforcing behaviour with external reinforcement. A dog will not stop chasing for the promise of a biscuit simply because a biscuit is not as valuable as the internal dopamine boost from the chase behaviour. In fact, nothing is more valuable than the thrill of the chase. Neither can you punish them into stopping for good.

Dogs with lower chase drives will comply for a while, but if they are not given the opportunity to express the chase behaviour in some way, the drive to chase will eventually outweigh the value of the biscuit or the pain of the punishment. The second reason owners cannot control dogs in full flight is that there is nothing the dog wants more than what it is doing now.

Understanding why dogs chase is crucial to controlling them; knowing that they take massive brain-chemical induced enjoyment from it; that they aren’t deliberately disobeying us, but obeying a stronger internal urge; that they can’t actually help it; that they’re fulfilling a hunger inside them, because they were bred like that.

Once we see chasing from the dog’s point of view it becomes easier to understand how to control them, because training a dog not to chase is not like training one to sit. The desire to sit for a reward is more or less the same for every dog, but each dog’s urge to chase can be negligible, immense, or anywhere in between.

If your dog is of a breed that was originally bred to chase it’s a safe bet they have the genetic hard wiring in their brain that makes it so enjoyable, but it’s also possible to ‘accidentally’ inherit a strong chase tendency in exactly the same way some pups inherit too long or short legs for their breed.

Dogs of this type seek out opportunities to chase because of the enjoyment they receive from it but unfortunately, if we leave them to it, they often direct it towards what we consider to be the wrong target. Children, rabbits, cats, cars, joggers, livestock, aeroplanes, deer, cyclists… remember, they are actively looking for opportunities to chase because it is so nice to perform. They often have a primary target, the one they use the most, and then a hierarchy of others.

The First Step

You can’t deal with a long standing chase problem in isolation. Because we are working within the parameters of internal reinforcement and a need to perform the behaviour, we are interfering with the balance of the dog’s emotions. Dogs have a limited number of ways of improving their emotions and if we temporarily deny them an opportunity their emotional balance may plummet, leaving them stressed and anxious.

The first step therefore is to scan your dog’s environment for anxiety; take out as many challenges as possible and introduce as many emotional improvers as you can. Challenges will include any fears that your dog has, for example noise phobias, separation issues and social concerns. Emotional improvers will include things like chew toys, a dog walker, or Dog Appeasing Pheromone, where appropriate. Reward based obedience training invariably improves relationships and the opportunities for positive interactions.

It seems strange that to stop your dog from chasing things you first need to address something that appears as unrelated as a fear of fireworks, but think about it for a moment.  The fear of fireworks makes a dog miserable, and the anticipation of that fear causes deep anxiety. Chasing is a way for the dog to cast off those anxieties and enjoy huge pleasure, improving their emotional bank balance. If we remove the challenges, the need to dispel the anxiety through chasing reduces accordingly. If we can’t totally remove the challenges, and sometimes that just isn’t possible, adding other things that improve the emotional balance will go some way towards reducing the need to chase.

Conducting an environmental scan for anxiety is not a simple matter and beyond the scope of most dog trainers. If you are not sure how you can help your dog in this way, you may benefit from contacting a qualified behaviour counsellor.

Control the Opportunities

Having established a reduction in background anxiety levels, we can start to look at how to control the actual chasing behaviour, for which there is now less need.

The problem arises because we have no control over the behaviour. To control chasing, we need to control the dog’s primary target. But we can’t control cats and rabbits, can we? No, so if we want to control chasing, we change the primary target to one we can control.

Initially we have to prevent the dog from continuing to reinforce the unwanted behaviour. Many owners make the mistake of trying to train their dog when it is actually chasing. Forget it. You can’t. The competition for the reward is too great.

What is your favourite exhilarating activity? Hang gliding, ballroom dancing, cuddling your grandchildren, alligator wrestling, strip scrabble, or extreme ironing? Imagine you are halfway through and I say, “Stop that now and I’ll give you a biscuit.”

Would you?

No, and neither will your dog.

Conversely, some trainers recommend that punishment through devices like electric shock collars will stop your dog from chasing, and they might, temporarily, but let’s examine what is happening. The dog chases as a way of improving their emotions. They need to chase something to maintain the positive aspects of their life. It fills an emotional hole for them. Punishment not only restricts a source of enjoyment, but also introduces pain and more anxiety into the dog’s life. One of the few ways in which the dog can enjoy themselves has become a source of pain. The overall effect will be to increase frustration and stress, and to make chasing even more important to the dog! Relate that to taking an electric shock in the throat every time you cuddle your grandchildren or glide across the ballroom floor.

If you want to stop your dog chasing rabbits, start by preventing them now. This is not optional, it is essential. Every time your dog chases a rabbit they stay in an addictive feedback loop. “I get a brain boost from chasing rabbits – I need the brain boost – I need to chase rabbits.” Do not take your dog anywhere near rabbits. Change your walk, take them swimming instead, at the very least keep them on a lead, but find a way to stop the continued addiction now. Imagine a little part of your dog’s brain that is labelled, “Got to chase” and another part that has a picture of a rabbit as a label. Every time your dog chases a rabbit, there is an extra connection between the two brain centres. The more connections, the more difficult it is to prevent.

Changing the Target

If the strength of the neural connections are represented by the red arrows in the pictures, we need to get to the position where…

Start to focus your dog on a toy, but not in competition with the problem. Change the chase context; play in a different place. Indoors is always good, or the garden if there are no rabbits. The new chase toy may depend upon your dog’s old preferred target. Many dogs will chase a ball, but inveterate chasers may be so focussed on their primary target that they ignore toys. Be inventive; make the new target sufficiently like the old one to stimulate your dog to chase, but sufficiently unlike it not to increase the brain connections with the old target when they catch it (if the dog still thinks they are catching a rabbit, the neural connections with rabbits are strengthened).

This is pure dog training, so use short bouts and lots of them, in a place with absolutely no other distractions; always stop before your dog gets bored and always end up keeping the toy yourself. Build up those neural connections between the “Got to chase” centre and the one with the picture of the new toy as a label. Play, play and more play.

Once you’ve got your dog’s attention, work on teaching a retrieve. Check here (link to Teaching Your Dog to Retrieve) if you have difficulty in teaching your dog to retrieve a toy.

Do not allow access to your dog’s favourite toy at any other time. Keep it special and always retain it when the game finishes. Your dog will be quite keen to play with the new toy so long as there are no rabbits about.

Keep practising in a place with no distractions until your dog is desperate to play the game. Because you are continuing to prevent other chasing your dog’s chase drive will be high, but focussed on the new game.

Predictive Command -- The Best Recall Ever

Now introduce your recall command. Call, “toy!” in a bright and breezy voice every time you throw the toy for your dog. Pretty soon your dog will associate the word with the unconditional arrival of the toy. Start to use it when your dog is not expecting it. Call, “toy!” and as soon as your dog looks, throw it behind you. The word becomes predictive that there is a game on offer.

This is the time to take your training up a notch, for the best recall ever. Always work in a place with no distractions when you are training something new. Take two identical favourite toys and ask your dog sit/stay while you throw the first one as far as you can without using “toy!” command. If your dog won’t sit/stay, keep them on a lead or hold their collar. Wait for a count of five, then give a “fetch” command and release them. Immediately call, “toy!” and throw the second toy past their nose. As the first toy is dead and the second still moving, they will choose the live toy to chase. Go pick up the ‘dead’ one, then ask for the ‘live’ one back and repeat.

In this clip I’ve progressed a little to rewarding “looking at me” with the throw of the second football. I’m also using Belle’s name as the predictive command but your dog will probably respond better to a brand new one like, “Toy”…

If your dog doesn’t stop for the ‘live’ toy but pursues the ‘dead’ one, substitute the first thing you throw for something less valuable, to make it less attractive. Don’t worry if they go searching for the ‘dead’ one after they’ve picked up the ‘live’ one, you have achieved your goal by focussing on them on the second toy.

After three or four throws, your dog will not set off after the first one, but wait for you to call, “toy”. Don’t. Send them for the first one. Start again. This time wait until your dog is a third of the way to the first one before calling “toy” and throwing the second.

Next time call, “toy” but don’t throw the second one immediately. Wave it above your head for your dog to see and when they start to come back, reward with the throw.

Occasionally, your dog won’t chase the first toy, waiting for the second. Don’t reward that with the second toy, but send them on, going with them to find and play with the first one if necessary. You control the game; don’t be manipulated by your dog.

Leave it later and later to call your dog back and then start to reduce the time the first toy is ‘dead’ before sending them. Your final aim is to throw the first toy, immediately send your dog, wait until they are almost there, call, “toy!” and wait until they come all the way back to you, before playing with the second one. It’ll take a little time to achieve, but that’s what I call a recall!

In this clip I’m leaving it very late to stop Belle, but rewarding immediately.

Slowly introduce non-competitive distractions, for example for rabbit chasers, play the game whilst other dogs are about, or where children are playing football nearby. You are not yet ready to compete with the old problem. If you have difficulty finding a good place or if you just need a little more confidence, you could tie your dog to something sturdy with a long line before playing the game. When you feel ready to progress, untie the line and let it drag, making sure there are no loops in it to get caught. Your dog will feel slightly inhibited by the pull of the line and you will have more control. Shorten it by degrees until there is none of it left at all.

Total Control

Eventually the neural connections between “chase” and “toy” will outweigh those between “chase” and “rabbit”. Your dog will come to prefer the toy to chasing rabbits. The time will vary with each dog and how much previous reinforcement they received, but persistence will pay off.

When your dog spins round and looks eagerly for the game every time you call “toy”, you can test how well you are doing by taking them to a place where there are rabbits, but in the distance. Keep your dog on a long line and when they look in the direction of a rabbit, before they start to run, call, “toy” and play the game in the opposite direction. Do not at this stage wait until your dog is in full flight; remember they close down senses they don’t need, like hearing, when they are chasing!

If they play with you, inch closer to the rabbits next time. If they don’t, back to the garden and reinforce the new toy some more.

Even if your dog responds by ignoring rabbits completely, which they all will eventually, you can never give this up. If you don’t satisfy your dog’s chase needs, they will revert to finding their own targets again. But now you have the ultimate reward! Your dog wants the toy more than anything else on earth and can be asked to perform any behaviour to earn it. Recalls, sits, downs, eye contact, it is the ultimate training tool!

Not only do you have full control over your dog’s chase behaviour, you also have the rapt attention of your dog any time you want it.

Our use of names has two distinct functions. Firstly we use names in the same way that we use other nouns, to describe the article in question (in this case another person) to a third person.

In this way, when I say, “Elvis Presley” everyone knows exactly who I mean and I don’t have to go to any greater descriptive lengths. If I didn’t have a name for Elvis, I would have to describe him in a way sometimes used when I forget someone’s name, “You know, that girl who married him that used to work in the butchers before he fell off his bike, drunk on Shrove Tuesday, broke all his fingers, you know, brown hair in a bob, used to wait for the bus in the morning with her mate, the one with the pretty nose and the limp…?” Much easier when I can remember her name is Sharon.

The second use of a name is to inform someone that these words are intended for them. “Claire, you put your feet up for a minute. Stuart, this is for you.”

In both purposes they identify a particular person, either to a third party, or to themselves.  There is some evidence that dolphins have “signature” whistles, identifying themselves to other dolphins that know them, but this isn’t quite the same as referring to a third dolphin. It is the equivalent of saying, “This message is sent by Dave Dolphin…” but not, “Did you see the size of the fish that Dave Dolphin caught yesterday?”

There is no evidence that dogs communicate to other dogs about third parties by using personal names, but our dogs can understand the use of names in identifying individuals, be it themselves or a third party. Hence they understand, “Bob, leave. Belle, fetch.” And also, “Find Dan for me.” So long as they know who Dan is.

Understanding “Dan” is much the same as understanding what a ball or a bed is. It, or he, is an item that is identifiable by using a noun, and our dogs often learn third party personal names in the same way. This can take a long time, particularly if we let it evolve rather than set out to specifically teach it. In fact, people are usually better at teaching “ball” and “bed” because we intentionally teach them, but we let personal name recognition evolve. We produce a ball and say, “Ball”, and we take them to their bed and say, “Bed”, but we don’t actually produce Dan with a treat and say, “Dan”^[1]

But what about their own name? What does a dog’s own name mean to them?

Most people let their pet’s own name evolve in the most confusing way, because they use it for a huge variety of different things. One word, “Sandy!” is assigned many meanings. These are some of the meanings I have heard assigned to dog’s names:

• Come here.
• Stop what you’re doing.
• Don’t do what you are about to.
• Good dog.
• Bad dog.
• Would you like to eat this?
• Don’t eat that.
• Get off the sofa.
• Get in the car.
• Get off my knee.
• Get on my knee.
• Be quiet.
• Stop pulling.
• You! Not you!
• Don’t use there as a toilet.

It is no wonder the most popular answers to, “Does you dog respond to their name?” are, “Sometimes” and “When they feel like it.”

So, how do you get a dog to respond to their name? Not by confusing them for a start! First you have to decide what your dog’s name means to them. If you think about it, if we want to communicate with our dog, we use their name to tell them it is only them we’re talking to. This is the same use of a personal name as, “Claire, you put your feet up for a minute. Stuart, this is for you.” It is a way of gaining their attention, before giving an instruction or providing information.

It is simply a way of gaining their attention, and it’s dead easy to teach. The “secret” to getting your dog to respond to their name every time is to assign it one meaning and one meaning only: “Look at me, something good’s about to happen.”

For the first week after you adopt you pup (or adult dog – age doesn’t matter) carry a bag of treats with you everywhere you go. At random, call your dog’s name, bend down and give them a treat.

Unconditionally.

Make sure that you don’t tie it in with any other behaviour, for example if pup is about to run off. Bend down, so that they don’t learn to jump up. Occasionally throw them the treat after calling their name, so they don’t become fixated on your hand. Once pup is reliably looking at you in expectation of a treat when you call their name, don’t throw one. Substitute lavish praise and cuddles instead.

From now on, any time you want to give your pup something nice, call their name first. Before picking up their lead, or going out the door, before playing any games, or mealtimes, or stroking and petting. Their name quickly takes on only one meaning: Look at me, something good’s about to happen.

If you are sharing your pet with other people, get them to do the same.

The different value that your dog puts on the varieties of rewards they receive for responding makes them even keener (it’s called a variable reinforcement schedule) and more reliable. You don’t even have to reward every time you use their name, you can substitute the possibility of earning a reward instead. For example “Sandy” gets her attention, and “Sit” gives her the opportunity to gain a reward for sitting. Even the “Sit” doesn’t have to be rewarded every time, so long as it is rewarded occasionally to keep the possibility alive.

There is, of course, a proviso with this. Your dog’s name has now become a valuable commodity. Don’t waste it unnecessarily. Don’t repeat it, unless they obviously haven’t heard; don’t even say it in their hearing unless you want them to respond. That’s right. Long conversations where I describe how “Sandy did this, then Sandy did that…” within their hearing devalues their name unless her responding is rewarded. Tough? Not really, just make sure you’re fondling their ears whilst you’re talking about them!

In a nutshell: If your dog’s name only means, “Look at me, something good’s about to happen”, they will respond every time. To preserve the meaning, keep it precious.

^[1]Try it. Sit three people on the sofa, all with treats. Say “Dan” and let your dog go. When they choose the right person, Dan rewards with a treat. When they reliably go to Dan, change and say, “Sue” and only reward when they choose Sue. It works! If you spread the people out a bit more, it becomes a great game of hide and seek.

There are probably as many ways to train a dog to retrieve as there are dogs, including some quite unpleasant methods, but I am going to concentrate on a few that I have used successfully in the past. Each works best for different types of dog, so try to find the one that suits yours.

Like all dog training, the start of the process is best done in a place with no distractions, before trying to compete for your dog’s attention with other things. The ideal would be an empty room, but we don’t live in an ideal world, so draw the curtains, switch on the lights, turn off the TV, take the phone off the hook, lock the doors, put the kids in bed and teach. Just you and your dog. What if you have more than one dog? Separate them until they are really good at it, then you can bring them back together again.

Let’s start with the easiest and work our way upwards.

The “Lazy Bones“, for dogs that really want to retrieve:

Throw the toy and then wait until your dog brings it back. Act like you are not interested. When your dog nudges you with the toy, take it like it is the best gift ever and immediately throw it again. Repeat.

The “Grass is Always Greener“, for dogs that like to be chased more than return with it:
Throw the toy and as your dog picks it up, immediately turn your back and play with a second, identical toy. Ignore your dog. The toy has to be identical because the only difference in value is the fact that they don’t actually have this one. Kneel down and play gently with the second toy by yourself, bouncing or rolling it back and forth between your hands. Your dog will not be able to resist coming to see and will probably drop the first toy when they get close. Immediately reward the dropping of the first toy with a throw of the second. Pick up the first, turn your back and repeat. You are teaching your dog that if they drop one toy, you will throw another for them. Build up to the point where you can show your dog the toy as they are on their way to you, say, “Leave” and as they drop the first, throw the second. Next, keep the second in your pocket, say “Leave”, then produce and throw it as your dog drops the first. Eventually you will be able to say “Leave” and pick up the dropped toy before throwing it again as a reward, doing away with the need for two.

The “Gentle Touch“, for dogs that are really reluctant to give it back:

Tie a length of curtain cord to your dog’s collar, about eight or ten feet should be enough indoors. Throw the toy and wait until your dog picks it up. Call once then gently but silently reel them in, hand over hand with the cord. This is not a competition, just an inevitable outcome. When they arrive, gently take the toy and immediately throw it again. Repeat. As they become keener to return, leave the cord on, but change the game to the Grass is Always Greener method.

The “Combined Effort“, works for dogs that want to keep it:

Combine the last two by using the cord to get them in close, then showing that the second toy is more attractive. Never fight your dog for the toy in their mouth. Take hold of it firmly and play with the second toy until they let go of the first.

In all of these examples you can immediately reward giving the toy up with another throw, either with the fetched toy or another identical one, until your “finished” command signals the end of the game and all toys go back in your pocket. If your dog is particularly food orientated, you could exchange the toy for a treat (make it something really tasty, not just ordinary dog food). When should you finish? Not surprisingly, this is dictated by your dog’s preferences. Some will go for hours and others will get fed up after three throws. Try to judge when your dog is losing interest and pack up just before they have had enough. Always keep all toys at the end of the game to prevent your dog controlling the game.

When your dog is proficient indoors, take the game outside, but don’t go somewhere with too many distractions, like scents to investigate or birds to chase. Build in the distractions slowly, so your dog is always keen to play with you. You can take little breaks in your walks and play a short game, move on, then play another. It helps to keep your dog focused on you and willing to come when called if they think there is the possibility of a game on offer.

All of these methods presuppose that your dog wants to chase a toy, but what if you’ve adopted a dog that hasn’t played before? Some dogs don’t know that it is permissible, or even how to play. Well, you need to start even further back and examine what your dog finds attractive.

Making Toys Attractive

Try a Kong, a ragger, a Frisbee, a shuttlecock, a football, a dog biscuit, a gravy-soaked tennis ball, a sock on a string, or a squeaky toy. Lob it high, whiz it across their field of vision, roll it between their legs, bounce it between two people, drag it through leaves, make it jerky and unpredictable… think, “How can I make a toy that my dog will want to chase?”

If your dog likes food, pick a time when they are hungry, show them a biscuit and roll it across the floor. Progress to showing a biscuit inside a Kong (or any other food-toy) and roll that across the floor. Soak a tennis ball in gravy, dry it out and roll that (exchange for an even tastier treat).

For less food orientated dogs, make it move like prey. If your dog loses interest because the toy ‘dies’ when it lands, pick one that will keep moving, or roll it across their line of sight rather than away from them. Or tie a toy to a piece of string and pull it along the ground, or reel it in on a fishing rod, through leaves in the garden. Get your dog’s attention by using a squeaky toy, or throw a ragger that flops about as they ‘kill’ it on the way back. Be inventive!

Progress

Sometimes you can put too many obstacles in your dog’s way for them to succeed, and breaking the training down into little chunks can help.

In retrieving, the best way is to split the training into what David Appleby calls the “three Ds”: Distance, Duration and Difficulty. Only ever increase one at a time, never all at once.

By breaking the training into compartments you can monitor how you change the task for your dog, and keep it fun, rather than daunting!

Distance: throw the toy further, so your dog has to ‘work’ harder through travelling – “It went down this hole!”

Duration: more throws are also more tiring; build up the number slowly. It is better to finish whilst your dog thinks it is a fantastic game, rather than when they become bored – Practising with big stuff is tiring too!

Difficulty: can be either in terms of where the toy lands, so you introduce an element of searching, perhaps in longer grass (try to throw it into the wind so your dog can use their nose), or in terms of the object you throw. We have already seen how the type of toy can affect your dog’s enthusiasm; try similar toys to their favourite and eventually widen their scope to anything that isn’t harmful to pick up – Carefully retrieving a lost mobile phone

But only progress one ‘D’ at a time.

It would be silly to jump from rolling a tennis ball across the living room carpet straight to throwing your keys into a hedgerow, but there’s no reason why a thoughtful series of in-between steps won’t get you there one day. Throw farther today, shorten and throw two more tomorrow; the day after, shorten, throw three less, but in longer grass. Pick ‘n’ mix, but never make it too hard for your dog to bother.

Keep it interesting and fun, and you may never have to get up to look for the TV remote again!