Try and try again



In last week’s blog I talked about inadvertently rewarding problem behaviors. I have also discussed on many occasions how these same behaviors could be extinguished if you were careful not to feed into them.



Last week on one of my walks, a problem arose and I had the opportunity to practice what I preach. It was a beautiful day and I had just finished what was a rather uneventful and pleasant walk with five dogs, one of which was a newbie to the group. When I opened the door to the car, all of my regulars immediately piled into the car but the newbie just stood there. I was a bit surprised because all along the walks his recall has been fantastic. Now however, when I went to grab his harness, he danced just out of my reach.



My first attempt to remedy the situation was to get out the really good treats and try to lure him into the car but he wasn’t having any of it. He wagged his tail and barked at me and ran away each time I would reach for him. Tiring of this game pretty quickly, (and that’s what it was to this little dog, a game) I got into the car and called him over to give him on last chance to hop in. Once again, he came close but refused to get into the car.



I decided that I would teach this dog a lesson. I was going to give him two choices: come with us or get left behind. I wasn’t really going to leave him behind but I was going to give him the illusion of him being left. I suspected that this avoidance behavior was probably something that he and his owners had gotten into and I just didn’t have time to play dodge and grab with him. I needed to get the other dogs home and pick up my second group.



Luckily, that day we were at Wainwright Fields, one of our favorite places to walk. Wainwright Fields is a series of open soccer fields in South Portland. Usually in the winter there is no one there and mine was the only car parked in their huge parking lot. I gave him one last opportunity to get into the car and when he once again refused, I said “too bad” and closed the car door. With my eye on him and moving at a snail’s pace so he was never in danger, I carefully backed out of my parking space. After backing out and with him safely behind me, I drove to the other end of the parking lot and turned the car off and waited. For a moment he just stood there and watched me drive away and then, a little panicked, he followed. When he arrived at the car, I opened the car door and invited him in. Again he refused and again I told him “too bad” and closed the door. I backed slowly out of the parking space and with him in my rearview mirror; I drove to the other end of the parking lot. We repeated this process 5 times. By this time, he was clearly tired but still refused to get into the car when invited. Finally on the 6th trial, he jumped right into the car, into my lap and we drove home. The whole process took about 20 minutes. When I dropped him off, his owner was home. When I explained to her what had happened she told me that he had started this keep away thing with them too. Just as I thought this was behavior that had been getting rewarded; not intentionally of course but he clearly enjoyed the whole chase thing and was trying every opportunity to play.



That was last week; this week when I picked up the little guy I knew enough to have him drag a leash so I could access him if I needed to but, interestingly enough, when I opened the car door and all of the gang hopped in, so did he, without any hesitation. He had learned (the hard way) that his new Auntie wasn’t going to play his game and that he had two choices at the end of our day: he could ride in relative comfort or he could walk. This time, much to my delight he chose to ride.