Pinkwhip

Hi guys,

I would like to get your ideas on the situation below - keeping in mind that Belle and I are about to take up tracking together ---- here's the issue:

Both Gunther and Belle are great loose leash walkers. Gunther loves to smell and lick stuff and stand under pine trees and he only rarely becomes overtaken with a bunny scent trail. Belle on the other hand LIVES for bunnies. She lives with her nose on the ground. So on morning and evening walks when the bunnies are out in force it can be tough to get her attention - actually impossible. I don't pull on her leash - except when desparate - although she will pull to follow a scent or sniff every speck of ground - and just dig in and lean until she falls on the ground.

What I want is to be able to let her smell, but when it's time to go forward, to be able to get her attention back.

She's great at watch me. She's great at let's go. I treat her with chicken or other treats and it totally works BUT when she is on a scent I can put a big piece of chicken right on the end of her nose and it's like she is in a parallel universe - she doesn't even see it and she won't eat it.

Basically, what I do now is hold the leash and say let's go. As soon as I feel the tension release, I get excited and tell her she's good - and then we walk two more steps and she stops again. THEN I go over to her and hold her head and talk to her until her eyes unglaze and then we move forward.

I do let both dogs wander and smell A LOT - seriously all the time - so I feel like when I need to get them back home - for work or some other insignificant thing - I should be able to get her off a scent much easier and have it not be frustrating for her.

Any thoughts? What tricks have you all used to get your smell-crazy bassets off a scent. Obviously, because of tracking, I don't want her to think scenting is wrong.

Susan O.

walosdad

That's a tough one. I've had the same problem with my Bassets, and it's just their nature. I'll be watching for any input as well.

pinehawk

if she is not spayed you can sell her to me and i'll make her a Field Champion!!! if she is not for sale i'll help you make her a Field Champion any way!!! calling them off a hot line is hard,but if they know their name and if when they where young they were taught to come it is easier.i started by giving Ike a treat everytime i called him and he came to me with lots of praise and petting, now when he is in a trial and if he is working a line when he gets into a check area i can call him off about 90% of the time,but i can get him to down all the time when he is near also.

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jasperspet

Hello,

Jasper is only a family pet, no field trials or breeding, etc.; so I just say, "Jasper, move" as I pull on his leash and he comes willingly until the next scent fascinates that nose of his. Then, I go through it again. He comes willingly enough most of the time. I don't know how to field train at all so no advice, sorry.

Betsy Iole

A solid recall, as Billy mentioned, is one way to handle these situations. Teaching a Leave It! command is another. It's a good idea to train both behaviors (and more). In certain situations, for whatever reason, the dog may respond to one command and not the other.

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Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006

Pinkwhip

YES!!! Help me make her a champion! She is going to be an amazing tracker - well, she already is just not officially - she never gives up and she always has her nose on the ground.

So, here's the thing - she has a good recall as long as there is no bunny scent. I give her treats every time she comes to me. She will even leave other dogs at the dog park and come running when I call her. OR when she is running away from me out in a field or something - I can ask her to wait and she stops or call her and she comes back. She is really very good EXCEPT with the scent - she doesn't even seem to give any indication she hears me.

So, - if you had a dog that did come when you called most of the time - how would you start to work on that behavior when there is a monster distraction like a scent.

I'm going to work on her "leave it" --- I hadn't thought of that. That is a great idea - with your thinking behind it being: have different ways to call her off a scent.

Betsy Iole

You could give these a try...

Magic Emergency Recall Cue
Recall Success

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Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006

Mikey T

It boils down to the level of distraction. You need to work your recall upto and including scent distractions see:

DEPOSITS INTO THE PERFECT RECALL ACCOUNT

DISTRACTIONS FOR YOUR RECALL

LIST OF REINFORCERS


All is pretty simple just find a reinforcer that is more motivating than the distraction. Often time self reinforcing behaviors like hunting are the strogest motivators for a dog., then what do you do?

Premack Principal of Reinforcement

In laymans terms you can use the sniffing behavior to reinforce the recall. It works something like this. After a recall give the dog the opportunity to hunt as a reward. When recalling the dog while it is hunting reward with food and then let it go back to hunting. As long as the rate of reward when recalling from the hunt is 80 percent or higher the few times it does not get to return to hunting should not effect recall performance.

The thing to keep in mind reinforcer do not have to be things like food or praise. It can the oppurtunity to engage in a prefferred behavior like play, or sniffing. What motivates each individual dog is different so you need to work this out for your particular dog but hopefully you have a few more tools to do so.

Dean

I have a different idea on getting a champion title -- field trials or rabbit hunts -- sounds like she has the qualifications, and she will enjoy these events more

Pinkwhip

I'll look up field trials (I don't know what they are) AND by rabbit hunt do you mean actually hunting rabbits with a gun? Or is it an event set up for dogs?

You are right --- she would love something where she got to go after the smells she really likes more.