Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hi from sunny Wales, I prefer to keep my info to a minimum, this is only due to my current job. Sorry! I have a working two year old brindle Dutch herder, who has massive drive and carisma! He is an excellent working dog, and he has had some fantastic results in his field. The only issue I have is he chases anything given the opportunity! This has effected his emergency recall (called a call off over the pond) I have tried a variety of techniques, from using a training line, embarrassing noises! Amongst others! He is as safe as houses and we have no concerns with him, but recall has proved difficult in the training environment. We use the bite jacket, and this seems to send his drive through the roof! When searching for a subject who has a bite jacket on he seems to react differently. We believe its the chase element that causes him to go into hyperdrive!
Has anyone got any weird and wonderful things they have used ?
Gaz

Welcome to Wales Man!

Can't help with your issue (my ideas would be similar to the ones you received on the other post), but glad you joined us and hope you can figure it out.

When she does do a successful emergency recall, do you reinforce the heck out of her? I would guess the bite is so reinforcing that it'd be difficult to come up with something that's really reinforcing for this behavior, but I'd let her lick at a JAR of peanut butter or something like that (don't let her lick out the whole jar, just have access to it for several really good licks ). Maybe she doesn't care for anything edible when she's this hyped up...but you've gotta find something that's incredibly reinforcing to her when she's in this mode and deliver it pronto (really great tug session? etc.).

I often think that's one of the most challenging parts of training something; coming up with a strong enough reinforcer, especially when you're fighting a self-reinforcing behavior.

Welcome Gaz from sunny (?? really?) Wales.
I know some good suggestions were already made elsewhere, but allow me to ask you this. Did your get your Dutch Shepherd in Holland? KNPV lines? (I assume, since you seem to be working him professionally)
If so, know that there is not a lot you can do to reach a dog that was bred for work, when they are hard AT work. Removing him from temptations (at first) might be a longer road, but probably more successful than any other tool available on the market. (And some that are not -legally- available)
For example: I have dogs that love cats (oops!) but if given a choice between a cat or the decoy (for the sake of discussion, I do not feed my dogs cats) they would still opt for the fight with the decoy any day of the week. Remove the decoy, and the cat is the best thing they ever laid eyes on. So practice your recall in a more sterile setting, reward with something tempting, then add temptations, and keep going until you get back to the decoy. With that being said. I have seen many recall techniques, some of which I would not repeat on an internet forum. Unless the dog has been under some manner of control from early on, it can be a real challenge. I admire the French and Belgian ringers for their recalls. Mine never are that reliable and I certainly don't manage to call off a hot K9 when he is within two feet of the decoy. The intensity of my dogs bite (and fight) is much higher than most ring dogs though. I allow them to take the bites more personally and to really oppose their decoys. And yes, I do tend to lose some control in the process of making them street worthy. You still need that recall though, no doubt. So once you can practice your recall in front of the suited decoy again, maybe have the decoy refrain from giving the dog too much fight/stimulation?