Basic Obedience - Week 5
Extra Leash Walking Activities
The Two Step
A good activity to help improve your dogs focus on you during leash walking is a fun “game” we call the two step. If you think of the Two Step it goes slow slow quick quick, and this is exactly what we want you to do. Start off walking with your dog, now slow right down (think how a 95 yr old grandma walks, she should win a foot race with you right now), now speed up (faster than your normal walk, not quite jogging). Repeat this, mixing it up between slow, normal, and fast. Make sure to reward your dog often for GOOD walking.
Turns
Another good activity to practice when working on leash walking is your turns. You can do this “free for all style” or you can set up a square (use cones, chairs etc) in an open area. If you are doing it “free for all” begin walking at a normal pace and then turn around by turning IN TOWARDS your dog and then continue walking as normal, now turn again but this time turn AWAY from your dog. If you are using a square practice walking around it one way (this will result in your turns being either in towards or away from your dog depending what side you walk your dog on) and then switch directions (effectively switching if you are turning towards or away from the dog). This activity helps to clean up our turns as often when we turn IN towards our dogs it can get a bit messy and we start tripping over them as they walk in front of us. If you are struggling with the inside turn practice holding your dog back a bit via leash pressure to get them used to waiting for you to turn before they follow suit.
A good activity to help improve your dogs focus on you during leash walking is a fun “game” we call the two step. If you think of the Two Step it goes slow slow quick quick, and this is exactly what we want you to do. Start off walking with your dog, now slow right down (think how a 95 yr old grandma walks, she should win a foot race with you right now), now speed up (faster than your normal walk, not quite jogging). Repeat this, mixing it up between slow, normal, and fast. Make sure to reward your dog often for GOOD walking.
Turns
Another good activity to practice when working on leash walking is your turns. You can do this “free for all style” or you can set up a square (use cones, chairs etc) in an open area. If you are doing it “free for all” begin walking at a normal pace and then turn around by turning IN TOWARDS your dog and then continue walking as normal, now turn again but this time turn AWAY from your dog. If you are using a square practice walking around it one way (this will result in your turns being either in towards or away from your dog depending what side you walk your dog on) and then switch directions (effectively switching if you are turning towards or away from the dog). This activity helps to clean up our turns as often when we turn IN towards our dogs it can get a bit messy and we start tripping over them as they walk in front of us. If you are struggling with the inside turn practice holding your dog back a bit via leash pressure to get them used to waiting for you to turn before they follow suit.
Handling Skills
This is a useful command for directing a pup to go somewhere and teaching it a boundary.
To teach this command you will need either a blanket, dog bed, mat or towel. Using a treat lure your dog to the spot and then reward when they are one it. Bring your dog off of the spot and repeat. Some cue words that people have used for this are: place, go to bed, mat, spot, up.
To teach this command you will need either a blanket, dog bed, mat or towel. Using a treat lure your dog to the spot and then reward when they are one it. Bring your dog off of the spot and repeat. Some cue words that people have used for this are: place, go to bed, mat, spot, up.
Door Manners
This command is similar to Leave It but the timing for each is different. Leave it means to NOT touch it, whereas Drop It is used when your dog already has the item. It can be used when you dog has something they shouldn’t, such as a slipper or TV remote, or when you are playing and want them to release their toy.
To teach this command you will need two similar items -balls, toys, sock etc - and will use a barter system to teach your dog to give you the item you ask for. Start by playing with the first item then say Drop It and stop playing with this item and begin to play with Item Two making it very interesting. Your dog should drop the first item to get the second item. By using this method we are teaching the dog that giving up the first fun item they get to continue playing - helping eliminate the game of “keep away”. It is important to remember to STOP playing with the first item, hold it very still and try not to tug it away from the dog as we want this item to lose its allure in place of item two. Repeat this until your dog begins to readily drop the first item for the second item.
To teach this command you will need two similar items -balls, toys, sock etc - and will use a barter system to teach your dog to give you the item you ask for. Start by playing with the first item then say Drop It and stop playing with this item and begin to play with Item Two making it very interesting. Your dog should drop the first item to get the second item. By using this method we are teaching the dog that giving up the first fun item they get to continue playing - helping eliminate the game of “keep away”. It is important to remember to STOP playing with the first item, hold it very still and try not to tug it away from the dog as we want this item to lose its allure in place of item two. Repeat this until your dog begins to readily drop the first item for the second item.
