BEYOND BASICS
This 6 week Intermediate Level course is designed for dogs who have basic training skills and is perfect for graduates of the Behavior Basics class. It concentrates on refining the basic skills and challenging the dogs. Class covers behaviors on cue at a distance with increasing distractions, instant recalls away from distractions, college level "leave its", advanced (and fun) impulse control exercises, a few impressive tricks, "go to place", basic matwork, and more. A portion of the class is conducted off leash.
(See below for sample week one class exercises and homework.)
(See below for sample week one class exercises and homework.)
Sample Week One Class Excercises and Homework
Attention
Warm up exercise. Cue eye contact (by saying "look at me" or "watch me!") and click or say "yes" the moment your dog looks at you. Follow the click with a treat. You can hand your dog the treat or toss it on the floor for her. Do this for a few reps. You can do this when you are introducing a more difficult version of the behavior.
Warm up exercise. Cue eye contact (by saying "look at me" or "watch me!") and click or say "yes" the moment your dog looks at you. Follow the click with a treat. You can hand your dog the treat or toss it on the floor for her. Do this for a few reps. You can do this when you are introducing a more difficult version of the behavior.
Attention With Distraction
Looking Away from Treat/Toy
Hold a high value treat or chewy in your hand at arm's length. Make sure your dog can see the treat. Ideally your dog will be very interested in the treat.
Wait for your dog to look away from the treat to you. Click or say "yes" the moment she looks at you. Reward her with the distraction treat or a treat from your other hand. Repeat.You can begin to cue "look." After several a few minutes of practice make the exercise a bit more challenging by waiting for two seconds of eye contact before marking and rewarding.
Challenge: At home you can practice this with your dog's favorite toy, chew toy, or most highly valued treat. Try holding the prized object or yummy treat closer to your dog. Cue attention mark and reward. Jackpot occasionally.
Looking Away from Dog/Human Friend
On leash warm up with an easy attention exercise for a moment. Ask a friend or family member to run into the room and stand near your dog. Cue attention and mark the moment your dog turns to you. Reward. After a few reps do not mark and reward until your dog actually looks at your face. Repeat. Indoors or outside, on leash, let your dog greet a dog friend. Cue attention. Mark the moment your dog looks away from her dog friend and reward lavishly (do not do this if the proximity of treats could cause either dog to guard it). Repeat.
Challenge: Allow your dog to play a bit on leash with her dog friend. Cue attention. Mark and reward any look away from the dog back to you.
Looking Away from Treat/Toy
Hold a high value treat or chewy in your hand at arm's length. Make sure your dog can see the treat. Ideally your dog will be very interested in the treat.
Wait for your dog to look away from the treat to you. Click or say "yes" the moment she looks at you. Reward her with the distraction treat or a treat from your other hand. Repeat.You can begin to cue "look." After several a few minutes of practice make the exercise a bit more challenging by waiting for two seconds of eye contact before marking and rewarding.
Challenge: At home you can practice this with your dog's favorite toy, chew toy, or most highly valued treat. Try holding the prized object or yummy treat closer to your dog. Cue attention mark and reward. Jackpot occasionally.
Looking Away from Dog/Human Friend
On leash warm up with an easy attention exercise for a moment. Ask a friend or family member to run into the room and stand near your dog. Cue attention and mark the moment your dog turns to you. Reward. After a few reps do not mark and reward until your dog actually looks at your face. Repeat. Indoors or outside, on leash, let your dog greet a dog friend. Cue attention. Mark the moment your dog looks away from her dog friend and reward lavishly (do not do this if the proximity of treats could cause either dog to guard it). Repeat.
Challenge: Allow your dog to play a bit on leash with her dog friend. Cue attention. Mark and reward any look away from the dog back to you.
Moving Attention
Warm up excercise. Walk with your dog (on or off leash) and click and treat when she looks at you as you move. Practice this for a few moments
Cue attention while walking or running with your dog. Mark the moment your dog looks at you. It is ok if you have to slow down or even stop to deliver the treat. But try to mark the moment your dog looks at you when she is moving.
Homework: Take it on the road and try this on a walk.
Warm up excercise. Walk with your dog (on or off leash) and click and treat when she looks at you as you move. Practice this for a few moments
Cue attention while walking or running with your dog. Mark the moment your dog looks at you. It is ok if you have to slow down or even stop to deliver the treat. But try to mark the moment your dog looks at you when she is moving.
Homework: Take it on the road and try this on a walk.
Jump Prevention, Sit for Exciting Greetings
You can do this by yourself or with friends. Hold your dog on leash. You can work on attention exercises if you’d like.Then your friend can approach your dog and say "hi" very calmly and walk to greet your dog. If your dog jumps your friend walks away. If your dog sits you click and treat; your friend can pet your dog quietly, and then walk away. You can do this exercise by yourself if you tether your dog. Walk up to her when she is tethered and click the moment she sits. If she jumps turn around and walk away and approach again. As your dog gets better at this you can increase the excitement level of the greetings.
Challenge: Approach your dog happily and speak to her in an excited voice. Mark and reward if she sits. Turn your back and walk away if she jumps. Repeat. Tone your greeting down a bit if she repeatedly jumps on you. Turn up the enthusiasm if she sits easily for each excited approach.
Sit for Greetings at Doorways
Practice this at home at your doorway. Your dog should be inside your apartment and you should enter the apartment through the front door. You can open your front door yourself or ask someone else to open the door and let you in. Take a step towards your dog. Mark and reward when your dogs sits. Walk away if your dog jumps. Go back out into the hallway and repeat. You can make the exercise more difficult by knocking on the door before you enter. Next week we will work on greeting visitors.
You can do this by yourself or with friends. Hold your dog on leash. You can work on attention exercises if you’d like.Then your friend can approach your dog and say "hi" very calmly and walk to greet your dog. If your dog jumps your friend walks away. If your dog sits you click and treat; your friend can pet your dog quietly, and then walk away. You can do this exercise by yourself if you tether your dog. Walk up to her when she is tethered and click the moment she sits. If she jumps turn around and walk away and approach again. As your dog gets better at this you can increase the excitement level of the greetings.
Challenge: Approach your dog happily and speak to her in an excited voice. Mark and reward if she sits. Turn your back and walk away if she jumps. Repeat. Tone your greeting down a bit if she repeatedly jumps on you. Turn up the enthusiasm if she sits easily for each excited approach.
Sit for Greetings at Doorways
Practice this at home at your doorway. Your dog should be inside your apartment and you should enter the apartment through the front door. You can open your front door yourself or ask someone else to open the door and let you in. Take a step towards your dog. Mark and reward when your dogs sits. Walk away if your dog jumps. Go back out into the hallway and repeat. You can make the exercise more difficult by knocking on the door before you enter. Next week we will work on greeting visitors.
Sit Stay, Down Stay and Intro to Stand Stay
Duration
Slowly increase the duration of the sit stay and the down stay at home.
Cue "stay" and wait five seconds before marking and rewarding. After several successful sessions withold marking and rewarding until the 10 second mark. Increase duration by 3-5 seconds after your dog is ready to increase duration. Work on getting a reliable 30-60 sit stay and down stay at home.
Challenge: Cue sit stay and walk a quarter of a way around your dog in a circle. Mark and reward. Return to face your dog and cue another sit stay. Repeat walking a quarter circle around your dog and mark, returning to the front to reward your dog. Cue sit stay and repeat several times. Then follow the same directions but walk a half circle around your dog. It is okay if your dog turns to look at you when you are behind her. But if she gets up to look at you use a no reward marker, such as "too bad," and return to face her. Cue sit stay and try again. After several half circles you can try doing a complete circle around your dog when she is in a sit stay.
Classroom Challenge: We will do this in class and you can try it in the park, or at home, on leash, with dog friends. Handlers and dogs should stand next to each other in a row. The first dog should do a sit stay. The next a down stay. The third dog should do a sit stay, and so on. This is challenging because it is difficult for dogs to stay with other dogs so close to them. This is even more challenging because every dog in a sit stay is next to a dog in a down stay. It is tough to do a sit stay when other dogs are in a down stay. If your fog breaks the stay , simply say, "too bad," and put your dog back in the stay.
Stand Stay
If your dog does not know how to do a stand say, you can begin like this: Lure or use a hand target to get your dog into a stand. Mark and reward a stand for several reps. Now withhold the mark for a second before marking and rewarding. If your dog goes into a sit, ignore and place your dog into a stand. Repeat.
Try to get a 3 second stand before cueing a stand stay. Cue a stand. Cue a stay. Mark and reward after 5 seconds. You can work on duration at home. This is a challenging behavior you can use to keep your dog on her toes and really paying attention to you. You can cue a stand stay when she is expecting you to cue a down stay.
Duration
Slowly increase the duration of the sit stay and the down stay at home.
Cue "stay" and wait five seconds before marking and rewarding. After several successful sessions withold marking and rewarding until the 10 second mark. Increase duration by 3-5 seconds after your dog is ready to increase duration. Work on getting a reliable 30-60 sit stay and down stay at home.
Challenge: Cue sit stay and walk a quarter of a way around your dog in a circle. Mark and reward. Return to face your dog and cue another sit stay. Repeat walking a quarter circle around your dog and mark, returning to the front to reward your dog. Cue sit stay and repeat several times. Then follow the same directions but walk a half circle around your dog. It is okay if your dog turns to look at you when you are behind her. But if she gets up to look at you use a no reward marker, such as "too bad," and return to face her. Cue sit stay and try again. After several half circles you can try doing a complete circle around your dog when she is in a sit stay.
Classroom Challenge: We will do this in class and you can try it in the park, or at home, on leash, with dog friends. Handlers and dogs should stand next to each other in a row. The first dog should do a sit stay. The next a down stay. The third dog should do a sit stay, and so on. This is challenging because it is difficult for dogs to stay with other dogs so close to them. This is even more challenging because every dog in a sit stay is next to a dog in a down stay. It is tough to do a sit stay when other dogs are in a down stay. If your fog breaks the stay , simply say, "too bad," and put your dog back in the stay.
Stand Stay
If your dog does not know how to do a stand say, you can begin like this: Lure or use a hand target to get your dog into a stand. Mark and reward a stand for several reps. Now withhold the mark for a second before marking and rewarding. If your dog goes into a sit, ignore and place your dog into a stand. Repeat.
Try to get a 3 second stand before cueing a stand stay. Cue a stand. Cue a stay. Mark and reward after 5 seconds. You can work on duration at home. This is a challenging behavior you can use to keep your dog on her toes and really paying attention to you. You can cue a stand stay when she is expecting you to cue a down stay.