The Trick Is In The Training

Everyone enjoys a well behaved dog but it takes time. You can go to classes - a bonus as they also get exposed to other dogs and you learn all the tricks of the trade or you can teach them yourself. It's easier after you have taken classes - it just is.

We all know that to fool a dog into a 'sit', you take the treat in front of the dog and draw it back over their head forcing the dog to go into a sit. (see how nicely Abigail is sitting next to Nathan here.) The sweeping you do with your hand with the treat will also serve as your hand command. Then it's all in the timing. You should associate the word with the command by saying 'sit' and praise/treat immediately. You can use a clicker or not but by doing both hand signals and voice and testing later on you will cover all bases if your dog is across the park. Plus in later years, if their ears aren't all they should be in the hearing department, they will already have the hand signal in place. Bonus even if you don't have to use it. You may find yourself in a place where a loud voice is not appropriate and a hand signal is best used. So - teach both.

If your dog is a tad stubborn, you can take their rump and gently put it into position and say the 'sit' command and praise even though you had to place them in this position. Do it over and over again and when they do it on their own give them several treats at once - called a jackpot to reinforce that the goal is to sit not be placed into a sit.

Training should be daily on one command at first and move on to adding another after the first is solid then adding the solid command in at the end after teaching them a new command. This way you end on a solid note and your dog enjoys it, you enjoy it.

Just the simple 'sit' command can be used in so many ways. If your dog barks at the door and you want him to cease the behavior after the announcement, a 'sit' command will refocus your dog and get them to settle. You can practice sits on walks at streets where you want them to wait for the signal to change. We do this when we cross Bayview or any busy street at each corner giving a 'sit' command and a 'stay'. They get rewarded and then we use a 'heel' command to cross the street. As you go along, you will find a number of ways to practice the commands in every day life therefore a strict training session will not be necessary unless introducing a new command. Training sessions should only be 5 to 10 minute sessions. We do them in our kitchen with one dog at a time.

We are now into teaching Fiona as she has yet to have all her shots but she will be ahead of the game when it comes to her turn to go to classes and yes, she will go so she can be exposed to other dogs in a positive and controlled fashion.

After sitting, teach your dog to pay attention to you with a 'look at me' command. Take your treat to their nose, bring the treat up to your eye and use the moment where he follows the treat to your face to click (if you have a clicker) say 'watch me' or 'look at me' - or even simply their name - whatever you are comfortable with and reward. This command comes in handy when you want to draw their attention to you instead of something that you don't want them paying attention to. You can also practice this on your daily walks. Sounds like a crazy command but really useful in many situations after you have it pretty solid.

Then after this, you can move on to 'stay' As you can see Nathan is teaching an 'advance' form of 'stay' to Abigail but when you first start, you wave the hand in front of their face in a sweeping movement and say 'stay;. Then you walk directly in front (close)and return to their side and reward. If they get up, you quickly place them in a sit position and start again. Do it till you get a success and build on it going further and further away and then ultimately around the back of them and then trying it with distractions.

A fun command to teach is 'come' and we should remind you never to get your dog to come to do something they do not want to do. If you do, you end up reinforcing why they shouldn't follow the command. As this is such an important command, you should do it with enthusiasm. After your dog has learned a 'stay', put them in a 'sit' and then a 'stay' and go out in front of them. Sweep your hand down and towards you and in an upbeat voice say their name and the word 'come'. Reward them when they come.

We are working on a 'finish' this week but we will elaborate on that one later. We will also add our own fun ones that we aren't doing in class just to mix it up over the next week and keep it interesting. Remember, if you skip too many days in training, you are usually back at square one with the 'new' command. Try to do it daily. You will see amazing results if you do.

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