32 - Sunday. February 21, 1999 —- North Shore News PETS Conditioning your log DURING my obedience classes the recall exercise l teach has been so suc- cessful that I have cho- sen to share it with my readers. For the besn en me g train u i tain at imme — vou getuny a bill in the ma Just Kidding! Mi intcanion waste help vou with one oF the most ditficult training traners whe may be reading this a new appreach to tr’. my. This is the final lesson on the recall. Let's start with a lit- us review. son We used soning to teach recall name. You were 10 sav vour dog’s recall name then reward him/her immediately with one of the treats vou held behind vour back, followed by a release command. ‘ou Were TO pracnse once 3 day for two weeks using ten treats cach time. What vou were doing at this stage was building an unconditional response; when vour dog beard the recall —a stimulus — it was rewarded for sitting in font of vou —~ the response. In the second lesson we used a type of learning where we could stretch and shape the recall exercise to positiveh reinforce it. This would strengthen the dog’s response. This was called operant condi- tioning. You were instructed to call your dog from a distance, canine cal " Way rant ofveu. Phe dog sal roma: vou said its recall nam rewarded no then ended with a release command. False sug sted ton ibout when vour dow was ina different: room in the house or in the yard when distractions were min mal. We now move on to the haal lesson. This part of the training contains more fine tuning. sort of an evervday Practical approach which vou can use while on a walk. Since the goal is to ensure your dog responds to the comifand even though dis tractions mav be high, vou can now train in an environment where the recall would nsor- mally be used. This doesn't mean that you run down to Ambleside park on a sunny Sunday aftemoon and train in the middie of dogmania. Instead, go down to Ambleside and practise but at the outskirts of che park where there is litle or no dog action. Then lirde be lirde vou bring the training Closer to the large distraction — one dav ata s call desensitiza- tion. You are not only training your recall but also training your deg to ignore ali the 1s Stepped 5 am wher dog thr rdog. Wher your deg mis ie vou it must sit and vou will reward as ahvavs, TMG foes GT ITs IMIPOraANt fo remain CoNMATENt in Maintaining veur traning. If vou letone pece of vour training slack off, vour dog will take advantaue of this and begin to slack off entirely. You may be asking if vou have to carry treats all the nme? Eventually vou can begin to use praise as a reward bur always try te throw a goodie in the reward hag once in a while. It’s like placing an ra cookie in vour children’s h — they appreciate it. Finaliy if there is ever a time when your dog does nor respond to the recall, go and get your dog. If you stand there and repeat the command ever and over the only thing being accomplished is teaching your dog to ignore your new recall. Think like a trainer and realize that this particular dis- traction was too great. Bring your training back a step to a point where success was met, then repeat that step to rein- force what you want vour dog to do. Then move forward with the training as before. — Joan Klucha ts a certi- fied trainer and owner of Sierra KY training on the North Shore. You cas reach ber ria the North Shore News or by c-atadl at . 1340 Pemberton Ave., Narth Vancouver, B.C. V7P 2R7 987-5255 GM says.... 7 Brand New. Surround yoursel with 2 surprising touch of twairy. This Buick is olfered 10 fire V6 160HP engine. 6 pass. seating. 4 spd auto tran.. 4-wheel anti-lock brakes, pwr wit duws/incks, ait cond. titt. cruise. enhanced traction system. remote keyless entry & much more. Was $26.159. COMPARE THE VALUE Forts Camry CE V6 Sedan 3.0L VG sod electonc Yes Yes NWA NWA WSS OR“16,293 ‘Prete based on 35 me iow ite lease 1933 GP + ‘St Security = taxes GAL Pts Daset on 36 ma tow um Mase TIBI DP ‘4st /secutay « tanes OAC Smits haved on 36 mo tow ion lease 4546 DP + Pres nased on 36 mo tow km lease 27300 2 + 2 DAC Tet “security + taxes OAC ‘161 ‘secunty « tax, ‘Pints. thasad on 36 mo. low om leane 4124 DP. « 251 /grcuney faves ORC a EXCLUSIVE CADILLAC. DEALER. Bree. Nan 985-6333 _