Basic Obedience - Week 3
Settle
This command is useful for situations in which your pup might get excited.
To teach this command, let your pup get excited and then tell it to settle and as soon as it calms down some give it a treat and tell it good settle. Practice this every chance you can get - reward any time your pup is calm. This helps teach the pup that being relaxed is a good thing. Some cue words that people have used for this are: settle, calm, chill, chillax, relax.
To teach this command, let your pup get excited and then tell it to settle and as soon as it calms down some give it a treat and tell it good settle. Practice this every chance you can get - reward any time your pup is calm. This helps teach the pup that being relaxed is a good thing. Some cue words that people have used for this are: settle, calm, chill, chillax, relax.
Handling Skills
Handling is extremely important, especially in young dogs. Every chance you get, make sure to be playing with their ears, toes, muzzles, tails etc so that they become used to being handled. It is also good to practice full body exams because it gets your dog used to being touched all over and allows you to feel for bumps, injuries or anything abnormal. By teaching your dog that handling is not a scary thing your groomer and vet will love you and you will appreciate if you ever need to give meds, clean ears or teeth, or cut toenails.
"How Many Sits" Game
Games can be a great way to work on different skills.
This is a game we call "How Many Sits".
Step 1: Set a timer for 60 seconds
Step 2: Begin asking your dog to sit
Step 3: Count how many sits you can get before the timer goes off
First and foremost it allows us to have an idea of how while our dog is grasping the "sit" command. On average, night 3 of classes, most dogs sit around 12-14 times. We have seen some dogs that only sit twice and some that sit as many as 25+ times. There is NO right number, this is just to show you where your dog is at, at this particular time. We also like this game as it helps build some speed. When we say a cue word our dogs should (relatively) immediately listen, not take forever to think about if they WANT to listen.
You may choose to reward as much or as little as you think you need to during this. Feel free to move around, use the treat to lure your dog up and down or do whatever needed to get them sitting for you.
This is a game we call "How Many Sits".
Step 1: Set a timer for 60 seconds
Step 2: Begin asking your dog to sit
Step 3: Count how many sits you can get before the timer goes off
First and foremost it allows us to have an idea of how while our dog is grasping the "sit" command. On average, night 3 of classes, most dogs sit around 12-14 times. We have seen some dogs that only sit twice and some that sit as many as 25+ times. There is NO right number, this is just to show you where your dog is at, at this particular time. We also like this game as it helps build some speed. When we say a cue word our dogs should (relatively) immediately listen, not take forever to think about if they WANT to listen.
You may choose to reward as much or as little as you think you need to during this. Feel free to move around, use the treat to lure your dog up and down or do whatever needed to get them sitting for you.
Leash Walking
We have 3 preferred methods for teaching a loose leash walk. Please try all three and see what works best for you. It often is a mix of the different methods. For the purpose of this class we are simply looking for a loose leash, meaning the dog can be slightly in front of you, behind you or beside you. It is up to you want you would like but ideally we just do not want the dog to be pulling. Some tips that also help are do not be afraid to talk to your dogs, it helps keep the attention on you and makes you fun and interesting. Also don’t be afraid to use your “leave it” and “focus” cues to help during your walk.
Method 1 - Luring the dog - using treats lure the dog beside you and reward while walking. It is important to hold your treats in the hand on the side you would like your dog to avoid your dog crossing in front of you for the reward. Some dogs will become very bouncy to get the reward. You either need to hold the reward lower so they do not have to jump to get it or try rewarding after walking a couple of steps.
Method 2 - Stop walking when you dog pulls. Wait for you dog to focus on you and come back beside you before continuing to walk. This teaches the dog they do not get to control the walk and that they do not get to go where they would like.
Method 3 - When your dog pulls switch the direction you are walking in. This helps to keep the dog paying attention to you and wondering what direction you will go next.
Method 1 - Luring the dog - using treats lure the dog beside you and reward while walking. It is important to hold your treats in the hand on the side you would like your dog to avoid your dog crossing in front of you for the reward. Some dogs will become very bouncy to get the reward. You either need to hold the reward lower so they do not have to jump to get it or try rewarding after walking a couple of steps.
Method 2 - Stop walking when you dog pulls. Wait for you dog to focus on you and come back beside you before continuing to walk. This teaches the dog they do not get to control the walk and that they do not get to go where they would like.
Method 3 - When your dog pulls switch the direction you are walking in. This helps to keep the dog paying attention to you and wondering what direction you will go next.
