Week 4 Notes, Homework, and Maintenance

  NOTE 1:  ALL TRAINING SHOULD BE DONE WITH TRAINING COLLAR AND TRAINING LEASH ON.  THE EXCEPTION BEING WHEN YOU GET USED TO THE ELECTRONIC COLLAR.

NOTE 2: (IMPORTANT)  DO NOT LEAVE TRAINING COLLAR ON WHEN YOU ARE NOT ACTIVELY TRAINING YOUR DOG.  UNSUPERVISED, THE CHAIN COLLAR COULD GET CAUGHT ON SOMETHING AND CHOKE YOUR DOG.

NOTE 3:  BE SURE THAT YOU CONFIGURE YOUR METAL TRAINING CORRECTLY BEFORE TRAINING ON IT.


NOTE 4:  ALSO ALWAYS BE SURE YOU ARE HOLDING THE LEASH PROPERLY.  REMEMBER, THIS IS A LIFELINE FOR YOUR DOG.  BELOW IS A LINK TO ARTICLES ON THIS ON MY BUSINESS BLOG.

https://www.mainedogtrainer.com/blog/leashes-how-to-hold-them-and-how-to-fold-them

NOTE 5:  IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH ALL THE EXERCISES IN ONE DAY, YOU CAN JUST BE SURE THAT THE EXERCISES YOU DID NOT GET TO ARE DONE THE NEXT DAY.   THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE, I THINK, IS THE MOLDED SITS.   HOWEVER, THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER TO START TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR.  THE TARGET IS TO DO ONE HOUR EVERY DAY.

NOTE 6:  THE GOALS ARE PLACES TO WORK TOWARDS IN THE FUTURE.  IF YOU DON'T MAKE THE GOAL, DON'T WORRY AS LONG AS YOU PUT IN THE WORK TOWARDS THE GOAL.  PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN CALL OR EMAIL ME WITH ANY TRAINING PROBLEMS THAT COME UP BETWEEN LESSONS.

NOTE 7:  DON'T FORGET THAT BEING ABLE TO PERFORM 4 IN A ROW FOR MOST OF THESE COMMANDS IS WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE TIME YOUR DOG CAN HOLD THE COMMAND.  YOU CAN ALWAYS BUILD UP IN DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS AND SETTINGS.  IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO LEAVE ANY HOLES BEHIND.

NOTE 8:  AS OR IF DISTRACTIONS GET HARDER, DO NOT FORGET YOU ARE ALWAYS WELCOME TO REDUCE TIME AND/OR DISTANCE.  YOU CAN ALWAYS BUILD IT BACK UP IN DISTRACTIONS, AND IT WILL BE EASIER IF YOU DO IT THIS WAY FOR BOTH YOU AND THE DOG.

NOTE 9:  ALSO, AS DISTRACTIONS GET HARDER, YOU CAN HELP YOUR DOG WITH FOOD REWARDS AS WELL.  BE SURE YOUR DOG IS NOT TOO EXCITED TO EVEN FOCUS ON THOSE THOUGH, IF YOU DO THIS.  YOU WANT TO SEE HE CALMS DOWN AND IS FOCUSING ON YOU.

NOTE 10:  DON'T FORGET TO USE YOUR MARKER WORDS AS APPROPRIATE.  GOOD = GOOD JOB AND KEEP GOING (IF YOU SAY THIS IN THE MIDDLE OF A STAY COMMAND, THE DOG IS NOT EXPECTED TO RELEASE)  NO = THAT IS NOT WHAT I WANTED TRY AGAIN (COLLAR CORRECTION USUALLY FOLLOWS IF THEY DON'T TRY TO DO THE COMMAND AFTER THE VERBAL CORRECTION) YES=GOOD JOB AND NOW YOU ARE ALL DONE (YES IS A RELEASE COMMAND AND SOMETIMES AN INDICATOR THAT A FOOD REWARD IS COMING.

NOTE 11: I USE THIS ATTACHED SHEET TO TRACK WHAT I WORK ON.   IDEALLY YOU WILL BE DOING AN HOUR A DAY, WHILE REMEMBERING THAT OBEDIENCE EXERCISES ARE USUALLY KEPT UNDER 15 MINUTES.  ON WALKS YOU CAN USUALLY GET AWAY WITH MORE, BECAUSE THEY ARE HAPPY TO BE OUT AND ENGAGED.

JUST COPY IT TO YOUR COMPUTER OR YOU COULD EVEN USE IT WHERE IT IS.  ADDITIONALLY, IF YOU WANT TO PRINT IT OUT WITH THE GRID THEN YOU COULD UPDATE IT MANUALLY.

TRAINING WORKSHEET

NOTE 12:  TEXT IN BLUE GOES TO DIRECTIONS AND VIDEOS.


Behavioral Calming Exercises:

NOTE:  ROTATE THESE EXERCISES EVERY OTHER DAY (ALTHOUGH IF YOU WANT TO DO MORE THAN ONE, YOU WOULDN'T BREAK ANYTHING. (SO FOR INSTANCE MONDAY SIT ON THE DOG, TUESDAY LONG PLACE (OPTIONAL WE DID NOT PRACTICE)  RELAX FOR EXAM.

  1. Sit on The Dog 30 + minutes  Goal:  To have your dog able to settle into a down (not the down command, your dog's chosen position) in less than five minutes inside AND (weather permitting) outside. This exercise can be done at parks with benches.  You would want to set up a little out of the way from people, and it takes longer.   Done in distractions like a new outdoor place, busy with people, and other dogs.

  2. Long Place  30 minutes  Goal:  To have your dog able to stay on their place for a half hour while you sit (you can occasionally get up and do things too at this point), and other things may be going on around the house.   Eventually, you want to build this to include more distractions, like the doorbell ringing or knocking on the door (I usually have my husband begin sneaking outside and knocking on the door).  That is for later, though, just work now on your dog containing your dog's impulses and staying on the place.  Additionally it would be good if you could do this outside on a long line while your kids are around.   Remember that it will probably take some days before he works well with you but it will come about faster than if going from scratch.  NOTE:  THIS IS BOTH A COMMAND AND A BEHAVIORAL EXERCISE.



  3. Relax for Exam 15 minutes Goal:  To get your dog very used to being touched by their family all over.   This is not the same as being at a groomer or a veterinarian, but it will prepare them for handling from other people later.  If you do this really well, he will probably go to sleep while you are doing it.   

Basic Obedience Exercises:

  1. Sit with Correction (COLLAR CORRECTION ONLY IF NEEDED)   7-10 min Goal:  To be able to do three sets of four in a row (without correction) in common environments in less than five minutes.   If he can't do something in five minutes, don't get frustrated; it just means he needs more practice in that environment going forward. NOTE:  THESE CAN ALSO BE PRACTICE WITH HEEL.  SO YOU MIGHT GET SOME SESSIONS IN HEEL (WHERE I WOULD DO THE AUTO SIT=WHEN I STOP YOU STOP AND SIT) OR JUST RANDOMLY IN A REGULAR WALK.  YOU WANT  YOUR DOG TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS IN THE DISTRACTIONS THAT HE WILL FACE IN REAL LIFE. (NOISES, CARS, CHILDREN, AROUND FOOD, AROUND CATS AND ON OUTINGS)


  2. Circle Sit Stay (or if going to a new environment, still sit stay)   7-10 + minutes  Goal:  Is to build this from any amount of seconds you need to start to one-minute stays four times in a row (without needing a correction).  Additionally, you want to build this goal up to where he can easily do it inside with the leash on the floor and outside with you at the end of the long line.



  3. Send to Place 7-10 minutes  Goal:  For send to place for three sets of four in a row (without needing to correct or hold tension on the leash once on, so try and block any attempts off with a leash correction or body bump).   This is the exercise he usually rebels on.  I would like you to build it up so he can do it with his leash dragging inside and easily on long line outside.  Remember that you can use play with this if he starts to be difficult.



  4. Circle Place  5-7 minutes Goal:  To be able to get four well-done 1-minute circles in a row.  If you have more time or want more difficulty, you can build these to 5-minute circles (in which case I usually only do three and don't restart.  I just notate whether we made our goal or not once the exercises start to get really long. Also get to where you can do this in a room with his leash dragging and distractions, while outside able to do it on a long line with distractions.


Leash Training for Walks and Additional Exercises on Walks:

I forgot to video us on the walk, so I am going to use another dog's video here to demonstrate.  Also, we did not practice some of these strategies in the exit lesson.

Walks Outside (or inside) 15 + minutes (remember you can work on stay, let's go, and lured heel on these walks.  You do not need to do exercises twice.)  Goal:  To get your dog used to walking on a loose leash.  Also to get the dog and owner working like a team. The methods on here are (1) Slack Leash Moving and Tight Leash Stand Still, (2) Lured Heeling and Sits (3) Leash Behind Leg NOT FOR SHAWN, and (4) Sit Stays.  The videos below are the strategies I use (None of the walking videos came out on my phone, so I am going to use Maggie for this.

  1. Keeping the leash slack when the dog puts no pressure on it, but stopping if the dog goes to the end of the leash.  In Chewy's case, we want to keep up that auto sit when on walks.  In the beginning, I usually keep count of how many steps I can go without the dog pulling by starting to stop every five steps (four times in a row, 3 sets of 4 in a row if your dog is being difficult).  If that goes well, then I might do 10 steps (4 times in a row).  You can take little sniffing breaks if you want to in between (although that usually makes it harder).  If I can do that, then I might do 20 steps.  I eventually want to easily be able to do 40 steps or more.

  2. Sit and Sit Stay Practice while on a walk.   Remember your goals are to be able to do 3 sets of 4 in sits in a row, eventually in 5 minutes or less, and 4 in a row sit stays (circle or still) in less than 6 minutes, eventually.

  3. If in a very distracting environment (which will be up to your dog by the way they are acting or not focusing), the behind the leg leashed heel is a good cheat and short cut.  NOTE:  THIS SHOULD ONLY BE DONE ON FLAT SURFACES NEVER DOWN STAIRS OR EVEN A SHARP HILL.   NOBODY WITH BALANCE PROBLEMS SHOULD ATTEMPT THIS.

  4. Practicing actual heeling while on the road.   So this is the most difficult to do, especially with Chewy as he does not take food (I normally start clients off with something called "lured heeling" on the road.)  So instead, I usually do the loose leash walk, then some sit practice, and then either the stays or a short heel session.   So at first, I want maybe three well-positioned steps until I stop for an auto sit.   That is not just 3 steps, that is ending on 3 well-positioned steps to auto sit.  I build this up similar to loose leash above.   However, I don't expect the dog to do this for an hour-long walk, and I try to keep the heeling to 15 minutes or less.  NOTE:  THE WAY I WOULD BUILD UP TO ON THE ROAD HEEL IS MAKE SURE I CAN DO THIS INSIDE, THEN MAKE SURE I CAN DO THIS IN THE YARD, AND FINALLY ON THE WALK.  EVERY TIME YOU GO IN EVEN A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT BUT NEW AREA, IT IS GOING TO BE HARD FOR HIM TO FOCUS AT FIRST.  




Play Training if you want to add that in:

You can play train outs, send to place, circle place, sits and sits stays  5-10 minutes (you really want to stop the game before he is too tired and uninterested anymore)  Goal:  Just to have your dog engage with you and be able to practice your dog's commands as part of the game.   Also, if you can start getting 4 clean outs in a row, that would be a big bonus.  It takes time, though, as there is really no corrections made in the game.  It is mainly powered by canine motivation.

NOTE:  THE PLAY WE DID STARTS ON MINUTE SIX OF THIS VIDEO.



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