Dog Hiking Foundations (Wk 5)
This is part 5 of a 6 part series on group hike prep for your pups! If you’re looking for part 3, click here, and for part 4, click here!
This is part 5 of a 6 part series on group hike prep for your pups! If you’re looking for the previous posts click here for part 1, here for part 2, here for part 3, and here for part 4! (link to each blog post)
This week we’re talking a bit about two of the most common and most important tricks we use with our hiking pups every single day: the recall, and the stay!
A reliable recall is such a valuable and key part of off-leash group hikes. Without it, the dogs can’t enjoy being off-leash safely and legally. Most of our training hike inquiries come from dogs who need this specific skill grown and taught. If you want to jumpstart your pup’s recall training at home, you can by using a few fun, quick, easy games. We’re going over one of our favorites here, the restrained recall since we think this one can help ANY dog and can be played by solo owners as well as with human helpers!
Our focus on “stay” or “wait” is because we share the trails with so many other people, dogs, horses, bikes, and more than being able to control our dogs is paramount. So we ask them to stay at the side of trails, in the car when the doors open, or in their doorways before heading out onto the street to help keep them safe and keep everyone around us feeling safe, too.
*Practice 4 restrained recalls a day for the next week!*
Either by using a helper human or a long line attached to your pup and then wrapped once around a tree or fence post (see the attached video for examples), you will be holding your pup back from you, recalling them, then running away from them in a game of chase until they catch you and “win” their recall prize! Their prize should be something they always LOVE and don’t get all of the time, like bits of cheese, hot dog, or deli meat, OR a fun toy if they’re a dog who loves to play more than they love to eat sometimes!
If you have a helper human, they will hold your dog around the chest or by their collar to restrain them. If you’re alone and have a long line, make sure it is wrapped just once around something the leash can glide around when the dog runs. The dog should be “stuck” at the post or tree, and you should hold onto the other end of the leash, and hold onto it as far ahead of your pup as possible.
Get that prize ready in one of your hands, tease your dog with it just a little bit, get into a “game on” position crouching in front of your pup, then start to run away with their prize.
As you start to run, recall your dog with their special recall cue. “Fido, come here!! Here here here!” for example. Keep running away as you either drop their leash (giving them access to now run towards you) or your helper releases your dog.
Play a bit hard to get, but when your dog reaches you, start to heavily praise and celebrate with them, hold onto their collar, and then feed them their treats or start playing with them for a bit! That order of operations is important: Tease/taunt, run, call, release, catch (grab collar), and then PARTY at the end!
You can call back and forth, switching roles with your helper human, which can help your dog generalize the concept to other people who call them over. If you’re alone, move your leash tether spot to different locations and practice in multiple spots so your dog knows to come running no matter WHERE you call them from!
Have fun and reward your dog heavily!
*Use these tips to teach your pup a reliable “stay” or “wait” behavior!*
Teaching a “wait” is relatively simple, but requires some patience and persistence from us owners for it to become reliable. We like to teach wait by using platforms or “places” AKA mats or beds or cots that the dog comes to recognize as their “place” to go when asked to relax and stay put. If you have something like this, it helps your dog learn to wait and stay by acting as a sort of visual reminder or barrier for them to remain on while in “stay” or “wait.”
We tend to use “wait” as a cue word more often than we say “stay,” so if your goal is for your pup to join our group hikes, we suggest using the word “wait.” Start out by first getting your pup into the position you want them to stay in. As we said before, we like to use a “place” so let’s say you direct them into their bed, either with hang gestures, asking, or using a bit of food to lure them there. Praise and reward them when they get into position. You can ask your dog to lie down or sit now if they know it, as this can help them stay put since they’re in a more comfortable and sedentary position.
Once your pup assumes the position (let’s say for this example we get them to their bed and ask them to lay down), say the cue “wait” out loud, and count to one second while stills standing right in from of your pup. You’ll praise them and give them a treat every other second at first, then if they’re staying there happily eating their treats, you can start to go every other two seconds, then three seconds, then four. When your dog can stay and wait there while you’re counting to four to earn their treat, you can start to move around!
We like to still count out loud as we begin moving since this helps the dog understand what’s going on just a bit better. And anything to help our dogs understand what we want is good. Start moving around by simply taking a step backward, then to either side, then take two steps, then three steps, etc, rewarding every few seconds as you go.
Have them in their “wait” position for no longer than a minute or so before releasing them to get OFF their bed or place or position. Give them a moment to sniff, look around, do whatever they need to at that moment, then ask them to do it all over again a few more times! Make it harder every time they repeat it, unless they struggle and try getting up before being released. In that case, block them from getting out of position with your body or hand, have them return to position, and start over, but this time make it a little bit easier on them by either not moving too much or not waiting so long between treats. We want them to be successful more often than not!
You can practice this at the doorway, before they get dinner, on a walk, etc. Ask them to remain in place randomly throughout their day in tiny increments, reward them for doing so, then release them to get back up or move again after a few seconds. This helps them understand the concept much faster and more thoroughly than if you were to just practice in one spot at the same time every day.
