The Field Recall

[This began as a reply I wrote on the PGD list; it's been heavily edited to add content I thought of after I posted it, and in this version bears little resemblance to the original post:]

On Jan 26, 2010, at 4:28 PM, another poster wrote:

One burning question for you. Do you have a reliable recall? If so what is your secret?

Hi. I'm not the person you addressed your question to, but I'd like to offer my own answer because it's such an important question.

First, a disclaimer: Both of my 2Q Goldens had failures in their most recent Senior Hunt Tests because of recall, so I have not yet proven that I have a complete solution.

On the other hand, they both have JH titles, one has a WC and a WCX, both have won First placements in club trials, they both have several Senior ribbons, and they both have excellent, though not yet perfect, recall.

I won't be so presumptuous as to tell you what I think you should do. But I will give you the instructions I intend to follow with my next puppy, whom I will also train exclusively with 2Q methods:

(1) Use a standard, high-powered recall program designed for general trainers, and get as much benefit out of that program as possible. I invented a program I call the Walking Recall in 2010. I've had more success with the Walking Recall than any other program I've ever used, and I've used many.

(2) Minimize retrieves in the first few months of the dog's introduction to field work. She should be hungry to retrieve at all times, including at the end of a session. I want that hunger to grow and grow. For starters, it might be a single retrieve per session. After a week, maybe two. After a month, maybe three. That might be it for the first six months. (You can train several sessions a day, so the puppy could get perhaps nine retrieves in a day, but only a small number per session, and only if the hunger level stays high.)

(3) Do not train retrieve-to-hand until you begin formal retrieve training, which might be after six months of earlier field work. I believe that retrieve-to-hand works against the field recall and should be delayed until the pup's recall is really field-hardened.

(4) Never put the dog in a situation where she can self-reinforce by refusing a retrieve unless you are 100% certain that she won't do it. If that means you must sit out some of the retrieves other people in your group are running, so be it. This is a huge psychological barrier.

(5) Having the dog on a long line may allow you to run her in situations where her return could otherwise not be fully trusted. Don't use the long line to punish a failed return by jerking on it, just use it for management. A long line is at the heart of the Walking Recall program mentioned above.

(6) If the dog does not return on cue, do NOT let her complete the retrieve, but DO cue her to sit/stay, walk out, quietly and gently slip on her lead, bring her back to the start line (no training, just walk her back quietly), and give her another chance to do the retrieve correctly.

(7) If the dog does not return after a single recall cue (whistle or voice), do not continue to use additional recall cues, but rather use the Walk Out described in the previous paragraph. Repeated recall cues may work initially, but they quickly deteriorate for an interesting reason: The recall cue is a highly reinforced stimulus, both by the act of completing the retrieve (the retriever's most powerful intrinsic reinforcer other than sex) and by the trainer's many and varied methods of extrinsic reinforcement for a successful retrieve. A highly reinforced stimulus gradually becomes a conditioned reinforcer (a clicker is an example). This means that if the dog dawdles, and you use your recall cue, you are reinforcing the dawdling. If the dog continues to dawdle, and you continue to call the dog, you are further strengthening the dawdling. In fact, you are in effect shaping the behavior of dawdling. It's a vicious cycle that only gets worse over time.

(8) As in your recall program, develop a graded set of distractions and locations for which the dog's recall is to be proofed. Here's a hard one: a retrieve across a channel where there's no way for you to reach her. When she can do each location, add diversions like someone playing with another dog on the far side, or a training partner throwing a dummy on the ground nearby just as she's picking up the bird. No matter how many locations and diversions she's been proofed for, realize that if a novel one occurs, there's a good chance she'll fail with it. So keep coming up with newer and more difficult ones.

(9) Do not get lulled into a false sense of security by how well your puppy's recall is coming along, and by how easy it is for your buddies to train a high-quality 4Q recall to their dogs. That is not useful information to a 2Q field trainer if it leads you to take shortcuts with your own puppy's recall training. It IS fairly easy for them. It will NOT be easy for you.

(10) The declining field recall is a great example of what the Kellers called "instinctive drift" in their landmark article "Misbehavior of Organisms". The subject learns a desired behavior, gets huge reinforcement for it, is never once reinforced by the trainer for an undesired behavior, and yet begins to perform the undesired behavior more and more as the subject continues to practice. The more your pup retrieves, the more her instincts will beckon to her to fail on the recall, so even as you reinforce her success, she is still increasingly exposed to the suction of the undesired behavior. If you don't want that to defeat you (it DID in fact defeat the Kellers), keep up your guard and EXPECT a once-reliable and highly reinforced recall to start failing.

That's my list for now. It's not my complete training program, it just addresses the one subject of field recall.

Best of luck with your dog! I hope you keep us up-to-date with your adventures together.

Lindsay, with Lumi & Laddie (Goldens)