Basic Manners

Give every guest a bag of training treats so that your puppy will be inclined to like them from the outset. Show your guests how you use your puppy's dinner kibble to lure/reward train him to come, sit, lie down, and roll over. Ask your puppy to come. Praise him profusely as he approaches and give him a piece of kibble when he arrives. Back up and do it again. Repeat the sequence several times.
Each time the puppy approaches, have him sit. Say, "Puppy, Sit," and slowly move a piece of kibble upwards, from in front of his nose to between his eyes. As the puppy raises his nose to sniff the kibble, he will lower his rear end and sit. If the puppy jumps up, you are holding the food lure too high.
Repeat the procedure with the food closer to the pup's muzzle. When your puppy sits, say, "Good dog," and give him the kibble.
Now have the puppy come, sit, and lie down. Once the pup sits, say, "Puppy, Down," and lower a piece of kibble from just in front of his nose to between his forepaws. As the puppy lowers his head to follow the food, he will usually lie down. Don't worry if your puppy stands instead; just keep the kibble hidden under the palm of your hand until he lies down. As soon as he does so, say, "Good dog," and give him the food.
Now teach your guests how to train your pup to roll over. Once the pup is lying down, say, "Puppy, Roll over," and move the kibble from in front of his nose to his shoulder blade and slowly over his backbone. Once the puppy rolls over onto his back, say, "Good dog," and give him the kibble.
Repeat the come here, sit, down, and roll over sequence until the puppy responds reliably, and then help each guest practice these maneuvers until each one can get the puppy to come, sit, lie down, and roll over three times in succession for a single piece of kibble.

Training Your Dog in Drive

Once you and your dog have learned to play together and you have built your dogs play, prey and chase drive you can begin teaching your dog to work in “Drive”.

People ask me “Why is drive training important?  Why would you want to work your dog in drive rather than just rely on regular dog training methods?”

The answer to this is simple.  Drive training is more FUN for your dog.  And, hopefully if you are doing it right, drive training should be more fun for you too!

However, training and working your dog in drive is much more work than traditional “yank and pull” dog training, I think it is even more complicated than most clicker training.  It takes excitement and animation when you play, and it also takes superior timing.  Your praise and the release of the toy need to come in a timely fashion in order for your dog to understand what you want and to learn what your expectations are for his training.

It is more difficult for him to pay attention and have patience because you are playing his favorite game, with his favorite toy.  I liken it to taking a child to the zoo and expecting him to do math.  Although this would be a great reinforcer and would likely work well in the long run (he would learn to love math because of the reward he gets for doing it), it would be difficult for him to focus and be patient at first.

It would seem impossible to add structure and fun without frustration to this scenario.  However, with time, patience and learning that success brings the reward; the foundation to complex and reliable focus is built.

The key to this kind of dog training is “the game”.  Your dog must know with 100% reliability that when he does what you want him to (whatever that may be) you will get down and play with him.  This knowledge that as long as he performs correctly he will be satisfied keeps him willing to attempt perfect obedience over and over again.

This type of training gives you ideal, dazzling dog obedience and again it should be FUN for your dog!  Although it is a lot of work, it is certainly worth it especially if you ever have aspirations of competing in any sport with your dog!

Getting Started

The first step is teaching your dog how to play with you and build his drive.  If you haven’t read my previous article “Building Drive” I recommend you start there and practice, practice, practice.

The next is to bring some focus to your dog’s drive.  At first we build a wide array of what seems like wild and crazy play.  This is exactly what we want to accomplish.  The crazier your dog is for the toy (within reason and never aggressively) the longer your dog will be willing to obey you in between work and play sessions.

For example a dog that could take or leave his toy will not be willing to carry out a 20 minute flawless obedience routine for one game of ball at the end.  A dog that lives and dies for his toy and the game you play together would be willing to go 20 minutes or more, as long as you play his favorite game in the end.

Now, this is a step by step process and it take  A LONG TIME to get a dog anywhere near a 20 minute routine, but that is your long term goal!

First things first, we must now harness that drive we have created!

Keeping that in mind, we are now going to add some basic obedience to his game.

Make Your Dog Sit for His Ball

    Grab his toy and fling it passed his face again like you have been doing while building his drive.
    Once he is super excited and amped up to play with you; snap the ball or toy into your palm and ask him to sit.
    The exact moment your dog sits mark the behavior by saying “YES” or “GOOD” or use the clicker and then throw his ball or swing it by him and let him play.  You must mark the behavior the moment it happens and as quickly as possible toss his ball for him.
    He must now learn that in order to play his favorite game with you he must comply with some obedience.  This compliance with obedience paired with his favorite game makes obedience and listening to you FUN!
    When he is habitually listening and quickly sitting when you issue the command it is time to move on to the next step.

The next step is to switch the focus from the ball to YOU.  By this time your dog should be glued to his ball; his eyes, his body, his everything should orient to the ball the moment you take it out.  Now it is time to get that kind of focus on your face and eyes.

There are two ways to get good focus on you:

Get the Focus on YOU!

#1

    Hold the ball away from your body, in your palm and keep it completely still.
    Your dog will probably focus on it, jump, bark and do just about anything to get you to throw or activate his ball for him.
    Stand completely still and keep your eyes focused on his face.
    Eventually he should give up on all other behaviors and he should stare straight at your face as if frustrated that you won’t throw his ball.
    The MOMENT he stares up at you mark that behavior with your marker “YES” or “GOOD” or your clicker and throw his ball for him.
    Continue quietly and patiently playing this game.
    He will quickly learn to stare up at you and give you eye contact.



#2

    Hold the ball up to your eyes
    Although this seems easier, your dog’s focus will likely still be on the ball.
    You may reward and play with him when he looks at you, but he will probably have trouble giving you focus without the ball.
    Try to wait until your dog’s eyes make contact with your eyes, instead of just rewarding him for looking at the ball or at your face.

Some dogs require this step in order to be successful.  But the point of this type of training is to change your dog’s focus and make sure it is on you, specifically on your face!

Practice, practice, practice and when your dog understands you may then begin to extend the time between eye contact and when you throw the ball or play with your dog!

Keep up this training until your dog can stare at your face non-stop for several seconds if not a minute or more!  Once you have accomplished this, we can move on to advanced training in drive.

The Working Man or Woman Conundrum in Today’s Dog Ownership

I recently worked with a client at my house.  She had a lovely Pit Bull mix who was full of energy and excitement!  He was 10 months old and she and her boyfriend were at their wits end trying to deal with him and his excessive energy.  As I watch dogs bounce and fly around during training, I often wish I had just a fraction of their vigor and zest for life!

This couple’s problem is probably one of the most common problems I encounter in dog training.

They work 10 hours a day.  Now I realize that most of you are probably hackling in anger at the thought of a dog being left alone for 10 hours a day, but the truth of the matter is that this is a very common scenario.

I wish that you had to get a license, pass an ethical, knowledge and skills test, and promise to be able to spend a certain amount of time with your dog in order to own a dog; but the truth is that there are too many dogs and not enough good homes to involve such sanctions.  If requirements to own animals were stricter there would be an even higher and more astronomical rate of euthanasia.

Not all people who work are unfit owners; even those that have to work crazy long hours can make sure their dogs live fulfilling lives if they are willing to make some sacrifices!

I have had jobs where I had to work long hours in order to pay the bills and with the economy plummeting most dog owners are faced with long work hours and lots of commitments on their days off!

So What Can You Do If You Find Yourself Facing the Same Problems?

You Must Find Happiness at Work and at Home with Your Best Friend!

First:

Acknowledge that you have a problem and you need to make a change!  As difficult as it sounds if you want to keep your dog, not be abusive and ensure you are both happy you need to make some significant changes in you and your dog’s life.

Next:

Get up earlier!  I empathize with those of you who want or think you NEED to get as much sleep as possible, but your dog needs exercise and positive interaction with you as much or, dare I say it, MORE than you need your sleep!

In order to make sure your dog is ready for his day of solitary, you MUST wear him out and spend time bonding with him!  So, start running or biking or playing ball in the mornings until he is sincerely tired out.  That means that 5 minutes of ball playing probably isn’t going to cut it; you need to leave him exhausted!

The good news is this is just as good for you as it is for him and after about a week your body won’t feel as groggy anymore!

Then:

Make some efforts to make your dog’s day alone as happy and exciting as possible!

    Hide and leave treats for him to discover throughout the day.
    Make sure he has things to chew on and play with while you are gone.
    Stuff bones with peanut butter and give him novel things to chew on occasionally.
    Leave the radio or TV on to keep him from being overwhelmed by outside noises.

And Then:

If you are gone 8 hours or more get someone to come over and let your dog out to walk or even to play with him.

Neighborhood kids often love making a little extra cash and you can pay them to come and play with your dog afterschool.

If those are not options take your dog to a doggy day care!  Doggy day care, especially those that will walk your dog or let him play in play groups, are wonderful because when you pick your dog up he is already tired and ready for a nap when you get home!

But:

If you can’t do doggy day care and return home with an exhausted dog; it is your responsibility to exercise again him when you get home!

Remember your dog has been alone for the last 8 hours and he has probably spent most of his time sleeping, so when you get home he is filled with enthusiasm and full of energy!  In order to insure his life is fulfilling, you must spend time with and exercise him when you get home from work, too!

If you exercise him and wear him out immediately when you get home, then #1:  you won’t procrastinate taking him out and #2:  you can then cook dinner or spend time doing whatever you need to do to unwind after your hard day at work.

Don’t Forget:

Not only does your dog need exercise, he also needs mental stimulation and training!  You must spend time teaching him and working with him and the good news is that mental stimulation and training can be tiring to your dog so you “hit two birds with one stone” analogy!

You don’t have to spend an hour training, just spend a few minutes during commercials from your favorite show to get your clicker out and teach your dog a trick, or work on his down stay, or his attention and focus.  Any time you spend training will help solidify your relationship and will help him to listen to you throughout the day.

On Your Day Off:

Spend time together.  Go hiking or biking and include your dog in your plans if possible!  There  is no sense in having a dog if you don’t spend time enjoying one another and spending time together!

The reason my clients were having problems was because they were spending all of their time working but no one was really devoting time to Duke, neither before nor after work.  When they did spend time with him, they were yelling at him for jumping up on them and because he was not listening to their commands; but in truth they had never taught him obedience or even manners.

If they got up early and exercised him, left him with games to play during the day, had someone let him out then came home and took him for a walk or a run and then taught him a trick after dinner, I guarantee they would all be happier together!

I realize it is difficult to get up early and spend time working with your dog but if you want a dog and the companionship, love and devotion that goes with dog ownership you must make it a priority in your life!  You can have a demanding job and still be a kind and successful dog owner!

Great Dog Training

I have been living under a rock for the past couple months just getting classes and seminars scheduled, teaching every night and during the day and haven’t really had much to post about.
I just returned from NB for the third session of a five part mentor group series.  I have three different level groups that I teach there and all showed huge signs of improvement.  I walk away from most seminars I teach knowing so much more and being very motivated to go home and train.  Seeing students who didn’t have much knowledge of positive dog training or students who new little about handling improve so dramatically over a short period of time is really so inspiring.  The thing I enjoy most is seeing dogs enjoy working and thinking and gaining confidence and speed.  Agility is definitely a huge passion of mine but much more important is that there are fewer and fewer dogs who are trained and treated like crap, anyways I am going on a tangent here.
With the masters group in New Brunswick we ended the weekend with some courses and the first course we ran was not overly complicated and almost every dog ran clean.  So I told them we were going to run the same course once more but this time people were to put in as much effort as they expected from the dogs, everyone was lined up and tugging waiting to go into “the ring” they left their dog on the line and ran out to position and drove ever line and ran hard as if it were the steeplechase finals.  Well I almost killed myself laughing because half the dogs broke the start line, didn’t hold contacts, mislead the lead out, knocked way more bars and took way more off courses.  Which dogs do you think they will have in a trial?

When you go out to your clubs practice night it is usually extremely hard for me to watch.  People get lazy and just “practice” rather than training something specific and ensure that in that hour session there is huge improvment in both dog and handler.  This blog was inpired from the video below:
In this training session Greg gives the dog absolutely no time to be distracted or disinterested.  The transitions from reward to work and back to reward are flawless.  Even though this is not a young dog it gets 6 rewards in one sequence.  I think it every dog was trained this well not only would they show much more improvement in a short amount of time but there would be no unmotivated dogs.
So next time you go to class or practice be aware of how much time your dog has to lose that 110% effort and focus that we all aim for.  Think about the dogs rate of reinforcement, are you more worried about running the sequence or are you looking for specific things that you would like to see more often.
For the last month I have focused on keeping sessions short and having a plan of something I would like to improve within that one session.  I have tried to run every sequence as if it were the world championships so my dogs learn how to deal with that level of arousal and still respond to all cues and keep the bars up.  When my dog makes a conscious effort to turn tight, increase speed, respond to a cue such as deceleration or a shoulder turn I immediately reward.  Reinforcement builds behavior and the more you reinforce a certain behavior the more it will occur.   Which dog will be faster and which dog will learn more, one that receives a reward every 20 obstacles or every 5 obstacles?

Did I mention he’s Perfect

I know, I know, everyone think their puppy is perfect, but he really is the most perfect puppy in the world! He stayed up until 2 am last night playing with me, he is just so entertaining its hard to put him to bed.
This morning we went down to the river valley for some socialization.  What was supposed to be a short trip turned into 2 hours.  We met lots of new people and even a few other dogs.  We played tug in the forest, in the parking lot, beside the path, while skateboards went by, in the presence of children, bikes, and lots of joggers.  How do those 2 minute sessions turn into 2 hour sessions…im not sure
One of our biggest adventures was when a toddler came running and yelling at us with a 6′ long tree branch, waving the branch and all its leaves with all his might.  Summit stopped tugging, looked at the branch then took off leaping into the air and grabbing hold of the branch and enjoying a game of tug with his new found friend…it was hysterical.
After the river valley we went to a friends house to groom dogs and we got to play with 11 dogs running around in the back yard for a good four hours before we fell fast asleep.  After that we went to agility class and got to visit our new friends Fly and Rush, also border collie pups.  He got to spend most of the night in my arms while I instructed or with one of the students.
After class we did some restrained recalls, it was only his second session with recalls but already he knows the game!  I really wanted my border collie to be one of those dogs that screams the whole way around the course, it just makes me laugh.  Bounder is my only dog that is vocal around the course and its really not the same since she has been de-barked.  Well…my perfect little puppy is a screamer!  He goes crazy as soon as I start to lead out or as he tries to catch me, he even screams while tugging, too cute!  I will have to get some video of his restrained recalls up soon, but for now we are off to work on “sit” and some hand targeting.

No Need for Cable

Well the good news is that Summit is great about sleeping through the night, ironically that is about the only time he does sleep! He is good about hanging out in the crate (as long as I am close by) but he always keeps at least one eye open
So here was today’s itinerary:
-morning walk around the lake at the off leash park, lots of kids, dogs and playing with friend “Rush”.   Fell in the lake a couple times and met a couple big scary dogs.
-long drive to the doggie chiropractor
-recalls at the training field
-2 hours at Home Depot and Rona with buddy “Rush” where we hung out by the power tools center and played in the bumpy shopping cart
-Back to the training field to hang out
-Off to Pet Smart where we did recalls up and down just about every aisle
-Down to the river valley for a long walk with buddy “Will”
- hung out in a crate while I worked on the computer
-discovered the best kept secret in the puppy world – the squeaky ball!!!

I realize this cant be good for our retrieve training but it was just too entertaining   I know its long but you have to watch the whole thing!

Great Trial.

We had a great trial on Sunday, the weather was perfect and all the dogs did well.  Riot and Preston ran their dogwalks in every run, Preston had one bad one but the other two were great.  Riots were perfect except she was sucking to the dogwalk allot because she loves her dogwalk!

I definitely have stuff to work on with Preston, as I was driving to the trial on Sunday morning I realized I had never taught him the table so as you can see in his first run he got on and then attempted to target off the side of it   Also need more proofing on weaves and contacts before we trial again.  Other than that I was very pleased and he seemed to get more and more confidence in each run.  Here is a video of his first run and a few highlights from the day.Riot and Preston now have a couple weeks off training as we leave for Worlds tomorrow morning!