Tag: emergency recall

Inching our way back up to off-leash distractions: difficult distraction (liver) in location THREE/3; taco and release to the distraction as a reinforcer!

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Distraction recall, iteration 6L3: 1/2.0/3.C: 6th training plan adaptation, 3rd location (L3), levels 1 (hand-held long line), 2.0 (tether) and 3 (off leash) with distraction C (liver; difficult).

October 25, 2023: upwards and onwards to our third and last real-world location!

Tacos de canasta! Chai prefers them filled with chicharrón. My favorites are de papas y frijol.

We restocked on delicious tacos de canasta de chicharrón (¡5 por $MX40!) and did an easy taco recall at the Urban Enrichment Jungle yesterday. Today, it is time for the next step on our game board: recalling away from the liver distraction on a long line!

I had hoped I’d get away with Chai not knowing it was a set-up, but she did, resulting in a funny video: after my release, she went straight to the tripod (that wasn’t hidden this time) and looked for the distraction there before finding it under the trash cans (where I had put it because she keeps finding food around there in off-leash park contexts). Her long line toppled my tripod, but the phone kept recording and I picked it back up just in time to show you Chai actually finding and enjoying her liver. Achievement unlocked!

… and here’s our progress on the board:

Jumping back into the ocean where an easy taco recall awaits to recharge for the swim!

October 27, 2023: the little Border Collie keeps moving towards the treasure!

After yesterday’s easy taco recall at the Urban Enrichment Jungle, we did the tether (front-clip alternative to back tie) session in park #3 today. Chai nailed it once again! She knew it was a set-up. In the video below, you can see her check in with me twice – knowing there is a distraction has become a cue for her to ask me to call her! I wanted to let her get closer today and didn’t call in either of these instances. When I finally called, I got a turn on a dime. And then an amusing search for the distraction Chai knew was there … it just wasn’t where she thought (right by the tripod).

Plan for the next session

For our most difficult and final recall session – off leash in location #3 – I will call Chai earlier again – the first time she looks at me or at the latest when she’s at the spot she looked back the second time today. I’ll also place the camera right with the distraction next time. Chai knows these are set-ups, so why not give away the location. If we still get a single-rep success … we get to open the treasure chest!!

But first things first: let’s not forget that the very next formal recall needs to be an easy taco one. We need to charge back up for that last big challenge of the Tacos & Border Collies game!

Tacos & Border Collies: the game I didn’t know I needed but clearly did!

I better not get too cocky just because we can already see the shore! If Chai doesn’t nail a recall, her avatar will have to go back to the free taco behind the closest LL field behind and work back up from there!

October 29, 2023: wooohooooooo!

After yesterday’s easy taco recall at Los Dinamos, today, we DID it! Easy, says Chai: recalling away from a slice of dehydrated liver – a difficult distraction – at our third location is a walk in the park! She got a taco de canasta de chicharrón and an immediate “Okay” release to go find her distraction as a double-reinforcer.

I bought a second extra taco – I’ve decided that the key to the treasure chest is one last easy taco recall. Then, finally, we get my BIG reward: giving Chai off-leash freedom in the streets. I haven’t opened the treasure chest, but I know that off-leash street freedom is what’s in there!

Off-leash freedom in an urban area

If I hadn’t needed off-leash freedom as a motivator to keep me working on the formal recall, I’d have let Chai off leash on the sidewalks several months ago already. But a while ago, I said my criteria for off-leash freedom included finishing my distraction recall protocol – thinking I’d get there much faster!

When I didn’t get there as fast as expected AND decided to make my distraction recall training goal harder (not just kibble, but also liver), I also decided to wait on the off-leash freedom: I wanted something to keep me working through the protocol!

It would have been easy to allow Chai that kind of freedom sooner: she is a friendly/shy-in-the-face-of-startles dog in an off-leash world where not having a great recall on your off leash dog is culturally okay.

But no: I wanted to show my students that I could modify my protocol to teach Chai to come when called away from a VERY difficult distraction – not just kibble – with positive reinforcement. And today, I did: I met my goal!

One more easy taco recall to unlock the treasure chest, and Chai is FINALLY going to go on REAL off-leash city walks! Go puppy! Go me! Here’s to the power of the taco!

Inching our way back up to off-leash distractions: difficult distraction (liver) in location TWO/3; taco and release to the distraction as a reinforcer!

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Distraction recall, iteration 6L2: 1/2.0/3.C: 6th training plan adaptation, 2nd location (L2), levels 1 (holding on to long line), 2.0 (back tie) and 3 (off leash) with distraction C (liver; difficult).

October 18, 2023: on to our second location!

New location – new post! Yesterday, Chai got an easy taco recall at the Urban Enrichment Jungle: I called her when she was already looking at me, tongue-clicked as she came running and ran away to make it more fun. She got a taco de canasta and lots of praise when catching up with me!

Today, recharged and ready for the next step in our game, we found ourselves a new location – the second one I want to proof the difficult distraction in. In this first round, Chai does not know it’s a set-up. The tripod is hidden in a hedge and I sneakily placed the liver slice when she was ahead of me; then caught up with her, long-lined her and meandered back towards the distraction. I wanted a spot that wouldn’t need a visual target this time, so we played on mowed grass. You can see Chai find the distraction by means of following her nose after recalling. I suspect it was the smell of the distraction that prompted her to check in when she did (which I used as a start button; calling her earlier than I had planned on).

(She knew to take the gap in the hedge on her way up the hill because that’s where we had come down as well.)

Difficult distraction – long line – location #3: success!

October 20, 2023: tether success (and SQUIRREL success!)

Yesterday, Chai got an easy taco recall at Urban Enrichment Jungle (no video). Today, we tackled our next distraction stage!


After our tether success – I would call it a back tie but it is actually a front tie because Chai is wearing her front-attachment harness! – we looped through the park off leash. As we were nearing the exit, I called her back informally and she didn’t come – I didn’t see the distraction that held her interest, and for some reason, my formal recall came out of my mouth. Chai turned on a dime and shot back to me; I saw she was turning away from A SQUIRREL! and emptied out the kibble left in my treat pouch for her (since I was all out of tacos) and then cued “Birds!” (the release to chase critters) and went looking for the squirrel together with her. It took us 30 seconds, but we found it and Chai had a good chase.

I wasn’t planning on using her formal recall in this kind of situation and without a taco reinforcer – but she rocked it! However, I will definitely do an easy taco recall next! Recharge, recharge, recharge!

October 21, 2023: easy taco recall in a new location

I bought tacos de pechuga de pollo con frijol y nopales at a subway stop and played at a park nearby that we’ve never been to – not the very best of ideas, it turned out, since Chai’s inital reaction told me that the meat may still have been hot when she took her reward.

I decided to make up for the potentially hot taco with another easy taco recall tomorrow before going back to our last distraction stage at location 2/3: off leash, unprotected liver!

October 22, 2021: another easy taco recall

I did another easy taco recall in the house – just calling Chai from the couch to the kitchen and surprising her with a delicious, chicken-breast-stuffed taco (no video). NOW we are ready to tackle our next challenge!

October 23, 2023: we DID it! Chai just nailed an off-leash liver recall at location 2/3!

Look how far ahead this puts us in the Tacos & Border Collies game! We’ve ventured across island #2!

Despite our detour (2 easy taco recalls before today’s off leash one), we are well on our way towards the treasure!

Our next recall will be an easy taco one – time to recharge at the shore before jumping into the ocean again! – and then we’ll tackle our third real-world location in the next post in this series!

Distraction recalls, iteration 6L2: 1/2.0/3.B: working up to off leash recalls with our medium value distraction (kibble) and high value reward (taco) in location 2/3

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Before Game and I left to travel, we finished Chai’s (latest) distraction recall protocol in our first location (Toy Play Plaza). This is the plan I made for our next distraction recall steps:

Chai’s distraction recall plan – all the way across the finish line!

  • Next recall: easy taco recall (whenever possible, get tacos from the stand across the street from the community center).
  • Repeat long line/kibble, back tie/kibble, off leash with empty visual target (if the location calls for a target), off leash/kibble in 2 more locations.
  • Intersperse all distraction recalls with an easy taco recall and always release Chai to the distraction after the recall.
  • Then, go through 3 locations, using all the same splitting steps, with a high-value distraction (chicken or liver). If it turns out to be necessary, test out what Chai prefers and, if it’s not a taco, switch to a different and even higher value street food reinforcer.

September 27, 2023: getting back into the groove – supercharging “Schnee” with an easy recall followed by a taco reinforcer

Location: Urban Enrichment Jungle

Tacos de birria from Octavio for our first 3 recall rounds!

I’m going to make this park the second location for kibble-distraction recalls. Since we go there most mornings, I’ll have plenty of opportunities to train!

We’ll have our next session tomorrow morning:

+ Approach kibble on a long line, call when the leash is still loose.
+ Aim for an immediate response on a loose leash.
+ Make sure Chai can’t reach the kibble in case she does not respond.

September 28, 2023: Long line/kibble success!!

Location: Urban Enrichment Jungle (a different spot than yesterday)

We started our morning outing with a recall on a long line. Chai was a superstar – but unfortunately the video doesn’t show things well because the angle isn’t quite right and I didn’t bring a tripod. In any case – here’s the superstar rocking her recall!

Our next recall will be an easy taco one again – and the time after we’ll move on to the backtie stage I am doing as a fail-safe instead of stepping on Chai’s leash!

September 30, 2023 – back tie loose leash recall success and tacos de canasta!

Yesterday, Chai got an easy taco recall (no video).

Today, it was time for the back tie! I believe Chai knows this is a set-up. In any case, we got a beautiful recall on a loose back tie! Only hickup: the jogger bumping into her. But she doesn’t seem to mind! Her reinforcer today was a taco de canasta – the first one she has had, I believe – with chicharrón. I’ve got two more for the next recalls, and I had two for lunch myself: one with frijoles and one with papas. Yumm! It’s safe to say we are fans!

October 2, 2023: empty target success!

Chai successfully recalled away from an empty kitchen towel (visual target) at the Urban Enrichment Jungle off leash! Go puppy! I took video but most of the action happened off screen, so I won’t bore you with it.

October 3, 2023: off-leash taco recall away from intermediate distraction – check!

… we mastered the off-leash taco recall!!

The video above concludes our intermediate distraction sessions in location 2/3. For our next sessions, the plan is:

+ Easy taco recall.
+ Recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) on loose hand-held long line in location 3/3.
+ Easy taco recall.
+ Recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) on back tie in location 3/3.
+ Easy taco recall.
+ Off-leash recall away from intermediate distraction (kibble) in location 3/3!

Deciphering this post’s iteration code: 6L2: 1/2.0/3.B:
6th plan, location 2, levels 1 (hand-held long line), 2.0 (back tie) and 3 (off leash), distraction B (kibbel).