Competing Instincts and Instinctive Drift

[This article is currently in draft. My intent is that when completed, it will introduce and provide a link to the Keller's 1951 article, "Misbehavior of Organisms". It will then discuss the concepts of competing instincts and instinctive drift, and relate them to the problem of training recall to a retriever.]

The Kellers give several examples from their own observation of instinctive drift in non-canine species. Melissa Alexander, posting on the PGD list, gave this example of canine instinctive drift:

Bloodhounds are bred to sniff. If you want to train "head up" for the ring, you're going to have to reinforce it regularly for the entire working life of the dog, because nature is constantly trying to undo that lesson. No amount of reinforcement will create a permanent change in that lesson.

Although Melissa did not go on to describe instinctive drift with respect to training recall to a retriever, the problem is every bit as difficult. Retrievers are bred for independence, and in the field, they have powerful instincts to explore, sniff, follow scent, swim. When wet, Goldens, and perhaps other breeds, instinctively roll in the grass. Having completed the outrun to the article, whether bumper or bird, some or all retrievers have instincts to keep the prey, parade the prey, even eat the prey.

All of those instincts follow the pattern that the Keller's described for instinctive drift. The young puppy may only be vaguely aware of such, so the competing instinct to return to the handler predominates, and can be readily reinforced and further strengthened by rewards offered by the trainer. But as the puppy matures, and especially if she is being trained for field work, she becomes ever more aware of her many instincts not to return, all compounding on one another. In time, those instincts overwhelm the instinct to rejoin the handler, easily exceeding in influence any amount of positive reinforcement the puppy might have accumulated for returning on the retrieve.

All the behaviors mentioned above are unconditioned responses to stimuli the dog encounters in the field. While not instinctive, a similar and equally powerful influence comes from factors that might have made the dog's outrun difficult and therefore trigger an instinct to avoid, or at least postpone, an equally difficult return — a confusing water entry, a long swim, a headwind, a hill, a patch of high cover.

In MoO, the Kellers offered no solution to the problem of instinctive drift. The modern 4Q trainer has a superb solution: the ecollar, which the young dog is trained to view as an aversive stimulus that it is within her power to turn off. Typically, even a retriever that has not exhibited a refusal in months or years still wears her ecollar, and if ever a reminder is needed, the trainer need only refresh the dog's memory with a here-nick-here.

The 2Q trainer, new on the scene, has no such tool. As with the Bloodhound's head-down sniffing, the retriever's reluctance to return on a retrieve is a constant factor. I've developed some methods that I've found helpful: the Walking Recall (WR), the Walk Out (WO), and the Assisted Walk Out (AWO). Even more important than those, I think, is a policy of management every moment of the dog's life never to allow self-reinforcement by refusing a recall, even when training around 4Q trainers who are comfortable with early transgressions, knowing that later, they'll be able to easily repair the problem.