Category: Performance Events ¤
  Author: Ellen Landingham ¤
   Title: Drop on Recall ¤

> > What are the steps to teach a "drop on recall" -  ie. in an emergency
> > situation where you want the dog to stop in his tracks to prevent an
> > accident?
> >
> > Is there a "fun" way to teach and reinforce this (eg. an "at home" or
> > dog training class game)?

Well, I'm no expert, but when I tried my very first for-real DOR last
week my dog dropped like a stone.  And unlike some of the dogs in the
group who seemed intimidated by the exercise, Gemma was grinning and
wagging the whole time.  So for what it's worth, here's how *we* did
it (your mileage may vary, of course).

Assuming that your dog already knows how to lie down on command, the
next step is to work on fast drops.  It's easy to make a game of this
at home; just turn to your dog when he's not expecting anything, give
the Down cue and/or signal in a happy voice, click as soon as he hits
the ground and drop a treat between (or on) his paws.  Once you're
sure he understands what's wanted, c/t only for the fastest responses;
you may still want to offer mild praise at first for the slower ones
so he doesn't get confused about what behavior you want, but save the
*good stuff* for the fast drops.  Pretty soon he'll start hitting the
deck whenever you turn to look at him -- but not to worry, he'll get
over it if you only c/t when you've *asked* for the down.  Be sure he
knows how to down from both a sitting and standing position (the ones
from sitting will be slower, of course, so adjust your criteria
accordingly).

When you reach the point where All Downs Are Quick Downs, start giving
the cue from farther away.  Just a step or two at first; this is
probably gonna confuse him, and he may try to come to you and lie down
at your feet.  Just take him back to where he was (stand right by him
this time) and down him there.  After a few tries, he will probably
get the idea that he's supposed to drop in place.  If he doesn't seem
to catch on, put a visual barrier in front of him (a 2x4 on the floor
works), leave him on a stand-stay, step to the other side and drop him
from there.  Since most dogs are disinclined to lie down on a 2x4,
this usually stops the forward creep.  You can also do this very
effectively with a baby gate or other barrier across a doorway, with
one of you on each side of the barrier.  Once the dog has the notion
of dropping in place, practice varying your distance and direction
from him until he'll drop even if you're behind him (he may turn to
face you, but he shouldn't move forward much).

You can also start working on drops from motion in the same time
frame, but I wouldn't do them in the same training session as the
distance drops (if your dog seems really befuddled, save the drops
from motion until he thoroughly understands the drops in place).  Wait
until the dog is just meandering around the living room, or following
you hopefully toward the kitchen, and down him while he's walking.
His response may slow down at first if he's not quite sure of what you
want, but if you had fast drops to start with, they'll come back
pretty quickly.  When heeling, occasionally ask for a Down as you stop
(where you would ordinarily expect an automatic Sit).  Then you can
start encouraging him to chase you (don't run very fast until he
understands the game); as he catches up to you, turn to him and give
the Down cue.  Reward with a big jump-up release followed by cookies
and/or another chase game depending on what your dog likes best.

When the dog is really getting the hang of this, you can challenge him
by doing abrupt stops from a Fast while heeling, asking him to drop
rather than sit just as you stop.  This is a good one to do during
heeling practice in training class, and both of my dogs think it's a
great game -- "Oh, you can't fool me, I can drop faster than you can
stop!".

The trick to getting this far, I think, is to make your voice happy
and enthusiastic when you give the cue.  Many people tend to sound
lugubrious when they say "Dooown!" (and some increase their volume as
if that will make the dog drop faster), which causes the dog to think
he's in some kind of trouble.  I'm sure it's unintentional, but some
people sound downright threatening when they teach this exercise, and
the dogs usually respond accordingly.  Using a BIG hand/arm signal for
the drop is also a good idea; in an emergency [or a Utility ring :-)]
you want your dog to be able to recognize the signal from a distance.

Once your dog can drop while you and he are moving pretty fast, it's
time for the acid test: call him to you and drop him just before he
gets to you, about 1 or 2 feet out.  He will probably hesitate briefly
at this unusual request, take another half-step, then amaze you by
falling to the ground.  Go to wherever his nose ended up to deliver
his jackpot and tell him he's a genius.  After this, you're usually
home free; just start varying the distance at which you drop him so
that he doesn't start to anticipate.  Also be careful to do a lot more
straight recalls than DORs (many people recommend a 10-to-1 ratio, but
I think even that's too low for my dog) if you don't want to slow down
the recalls.

For competition, it's a good idea to alternate between releasing him
where he drops and calling him the rest of the way in to you; if he's
never sure where the end of the exercise is, you'll be less likely to
get automatic finishes in the ring.  If you're teaching this *only* as
a safety exercise, you might consider never calling him in from a DOR
at all; always go to him to deliver the reinforcement, and you'll condition
him to wait for your arrival after the drop.

One of the great things about clicker training is that you can make
darn near anything seem like a fun game to the dog -- even serious
stuff like emergency drops.  If your dog has never been loomed over
threateningly, forced to the ground, or run unexpectedly into the end
of a check line, he will learn to drop instantly just as happily as he
shakes hands or dances Swan Lake.

Sorry to ramble on so long; I hope some of this was helpful.

ellen & the Perfect Puppies(tm)  [Down is our favorite position!]
ellen%ekrus@uunet.uu.net


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