-
Is Your Dog Caching? What’s a Pet Parent to Do?
In this video, Bond buries an edible chew in a chair cushion. This instinctual behavior can pose problems when done in inappropriate places. How might we address this, so the dog can still engage in the behavior without it being an issue for the pet parent?
0:45
-
22 Replies
-
Wow! What! a fun topic and video to watch! Seems like such a strategic and smart move on the dog’s part!
I agree that a couch is not a place to store food (ha! Don’t look under my couch cushions…I can’t even blame a dog, LOL!)
I might be off-base in thinking this…but a sandbox outside would obviously be a great choice for a yard…but perhaps if the dog prefers caching INSIDE the house, maybe providing a tub or box filled with some dry beans (and maybe an extra large litter box mat to catch anything the dog dogs up while caching)…or providing a mound of old blankets or towels in a laundry basket that you can train the dog where it’s appropriate to cache?
Thanks for sharing Bond and this video, @catherine
-
@bernerlabreclectus Paula – this is a GREAT idea – I could see this working well for some dogs:
providing a mound of old blankets or towels in a laundry basket that you can train the dog where it’s appropriate to cache – Paula M.
-
@catherine– Any ideas in how to teach a caching dog where to hide it? If we are brainstorming ideas where it might be appropriate, just curious if you can communicate that to the dog or if he/she needs to figure it out in their own!
-
Ooh-can we communicate that it’s OK to cache here by spraying a particular scent the dog loves (no idea…just brainstorming!) and eventually fading that out (if humans are not nose blind to it)? @catherine
-
@bernerlabreclectus I’ve never tried this, because I’ve not had this issue (yet!) but my brain goes directly to: “antecedent arrangement” – that is, setting up the situation and environment when and where the behavior is most likely to occur and such that it is exhibited as I would prefer. Questions I would ask myself are:
- What types of material does the dog normally choose to bury the cache in?
- How far away from where the dog gets the food to where the dog normally buries it?
- What behavior precedes the dog’s caching behavior? (That is, does he have a “tell” so I can predict when he’s going to cache vs. simply eat the food?)
- Does the dog avoid being observed when caching?
And then, observing all that, I would set up a scenario likely to illicit the behavior and provide the materials for caching, while preventing the dog from going to areas I don’t want them to dig. I might use doors, gates or other barricades to prevent them from going.
All that said, I recognize that caching is deeply instinctual and those behaviors can be extremely difficult to change, and often pop up in other ways… for example, the dog might not dig in the chair any more but may choose to shred the middle of a sofa cushion…
If I had a client who didn’t enjoy their dog’s caching behavior, I would likely recommend management to prevent the dog from accessing the area without the owner being present, then teach a simple interrupt/redirect cue with high value, non-food rewards such as a tug game or ball chasing for giving up the food rather than burying it.
-
-
-
I personally have never had a caching dog – but I remember testing one little dog years ago for a hearing dog program… we were doing a food test and had put out 5 different types of food (hot dog, cheese, liver treat, kibble and a dog biscuit). She swooped in, ate 4 super fast, grabbed the dog biscuit and ran to the other side of the gravel kennel run and buried it – all in less than 10 seconds. We named her “Speedy!”
I wonder what makes some dogs prone to caching and other dogs not so much? Anyone have any theories?
-
Last year I had a Corgi that when I gave a reward he would take the treat and bury it right in front of me then come back to train. If we did training inside, he would put the treat under the owners bed. It was a first for me and I had no clue how to solve it.
-
Isn’t that so fascinating, Bruce?! What did you do to keep the dog working with you? Or, was he just as happy to have a stash to come back to, later? What did the owners think? So many questions!
-
-
Thank you so much for posting this. My dog was caching and it would become a problem when the other dogs would visit the house because they would find the bone. How I eliminated the problem is I gave my dog garlic a word cue and taught him to learn cue. I would let him hide it where ever he wanted and for any reason I needed him to go get the bone, I would tell him the cue and he would go retrieve it . It has helped so much with avoiding the resource guarding when other dogs came over! It kinda turned into a “game” like how the k-9 In the police force retrieve the evidence from scenes.
-
Hi Brittany, what a great idea, to teach Garlic (such a cute name!) to retrieve the cached item. Very clever of you! Such a simple solution. Once he brought it to you, did you have any trouble taking it from him? Or, how did you reward him for giving it up? @britt
-
When I first taught him the cue I would reward him with high value rewards, just so he would be interested in bringing it back. Again I am not telling him to retrieve it everyday so since I wasn’t working on it all the time I really needed to implement what I wanted when I was working. Sometimes it would be 2 weeks that the bone was hidden and I never saw it! He is very gentle when it come to toys and treats so he would just drop it, however at the beginning I just took it from him and 100% he was fine. I have never had a problem with him resource guarding from me. Sometimes I feed him and then have to take his bowl to add something . When I take his bowl I 1. Do it to teach him not to guard I just have him sit while eating them I take it and he is fine. Obviously if it was other dogs I would do things differently but I have been with him for a year and am still careful about it . 2. I take his bowl to add things I don’t want to eat hahahahah.
Thank you for the name compliment.
To make you laugh even more his full name is
GARLIC KRUTON ( crouton)
-
@catherine ^ sorry I forgot to @ You! My reply is above
-
GARLIC CROUTON is an awesome name – and now, I’m hungry! haha! These are very dramatic photos, too – what a supermodel.
Your prevention plan is a sound one – occasionally reinforcing giving up treasures with HIGH value rewards -well done! I usually teach my puppy classes to give back the item if at all possible, as much as possible, so that when we do actually have to keep whatever they gave us, it’s not a big deal.
It’s “gimme that thing and I’ll give you something better, and GIVE IT RIGHT BACK!” For guardy-prone dogs, I think this is a really good technique and I’ve seen it transform pet parent-dog relationships.
But I never thought to use it in a caching scenario until you posted! Thanks so much for bringing that up!
-
@britt -I think Garlic is beautiful! Thank you for such an awesome idea and training method to work with caching. What was the cue word you used? Also, how did you communicate to him that you needed him to go get that great thing he hid?? I totally love this idea and would love to learn more! Thank you!
-
Thank you . The cue I used was “bone” because he only caches with the dog dental bones and to communicate with him from the start when I first realized it was a problem with the other dog came. To start I would put the bone on the floor and mark and reward when he touched it or sniffed it . After he learned what the word cue I then had him in a sit-stay cue and I would throw the bone at close distance in front of him . I would say my break cue and then follow it with a bone cue bc now at this point he is approaching it I would mark and reward once he touched it increasing the distance everytime when appropriate. Once he learned to go get it I would add little games in the mix such as take 3-5 items and and one was the bone I would put them under shirts or buckets or anything as if it was hidden! I would give the cue bone and he is at a close distance from the hidden objects ! But they are hidden so he needs to use his nose to sniff them out he would have to sniff or touch the right bucket to see if the bone was under
Then I would mark and reward we would increase the distance everything from where we started to where it was hidden under the bucket! Eventually we didn’t have to use the bucket any more and now he just hides it,when the other dog comes I just say “bone” and he will either bring it to me or if it is at a place where he can’t fit his snout into he will show me where it is and I can grab it! Everytime I reward heavily though because I am not working this cue daily!
-
@britt – I love the steps you took with Garlic, and that makes a lot of sense to increase distance and difficulty at finding it. Also, great cue word, since that is what he caches! Truly a fabulous job and he is such a handsome boy!!! Well done! ????
-
@britt – what a great, elegant training plan!
Have you thought about teaching him to find your keys or phone in the same way!? Now, that’s something every pet parent would appreciate, I think! ????
-
@catherine that is eventually the plan but I’m not there yet! I have watched a lot of YouTube videos regarding scent detection the process of it . I don’t know if we are allowed to post on this . But if we are allowed to I’d love to share my videos I recommend to you
-
Hi Britt, thanks for checking! That’s really thoughtful of you.
????We love to see your work in progress and if you’d like to post more video of whatever you are working on, that’s strongly encouraged. If it is in a YouTube already, you can post the link and it will show up as a preview; that’s great too.
If you are posting someone else’s video as a resource, BEFORE doing so, please double check that it is in alignment with our Community Rules and Guiding Principles. ???? We have these in place to ensure that Digging Dogs remains a safe space for dogs ????and their people.???????????????? Thanks!
-
I don’t have videos of me working the dog with the bone cue! I will get some soon! This is the inspiration I used on how to find a solution for my dogs caching! https://youtu.be/ltN_hthCAkE
-
@britt Very nice share! I like how he is focused on using the ball as the primary reward. And these are clear steps for progression. Fun for handler and dog. I also thought it was funny on the last step, where he sent Ari to “search” and she alerted on the stack of tennis balls on the platform. “What about those!?” she seemed to be saying. But then she kept walking because he kept walking. And just like that, we handlers can pull dogs off of scent. Good to remember! Thanks again for sharing.
-
-
-
-
Log in to reply.