This page is to help as a reminder for those who have taken a class with me. It can be helpful to all but lacks detail.
Name- Dogs, like people, don’t come into this world understanding the concept of a name. You can teach your dog that when you use their name you are referring to them and expect their attention. We can do this by capturing and rewarding the behavior of looking at you when you say their name and by reserving the use of their name to times when you know that it will achieve the desired response. To aid in maintaining a high response to their name you must always use it in a positive way (especially early on). Anytime you use your dog’s name you are either adding power to the name or you are taking power from it. Using their name in a punishing way will weaken the response to it. Be sure you are not overusing your dog’s name and do not repeat if you are being ignored. Remember your dog’s name is not a command. Why do you want their attention? Follow their name with a formal command. “Close”, “Come here”, “Sit”, or “leave-it” are some examples.
Look/watch me- If your dog is not paying attention to you and looking at you, you will have very little command of him, especially with high energy, distracted and most certainly reactive dogs. Practicing every day and capturing the behavior of looking at you, as much as possible, is imperative for dog owners to garner trusting, loving and respectful eye contact from their dog, especially in early stages of training. Extending the duration of the behavior helps raise your dog’s comfort level and increases the chances that you can establish it under all circumstances.
Attempting to force your dog to look at you or sternly demanding it only works against you. Our goal should always be that our dogs are very comfortable and even eager to look us in the eye. After all eye contact is the foundation of your relationship with your dogs.
SIT- Sit is the foundation of your training program. A “well-proofed” sit gives you much greater overall control of your dog. Focus on creating successful repetition and avoid using sit like a punishment, especially early on.
If you build up a strong reward history behind sit and you create an environment where good things happen when your dog sits, you will be able to get a sit out of them anytime you need or want one. Matter of fact, if you are really good at it, it will be difficult to get your dog to stop sitting.
DOWN- For a dog “down” can be a submissive position. Therefore it can also be used as a "positive punishment."
STAND- Help build rhythm, generalize your Stay command and expand on your distance training.
HAND TARGETING- Practice luring your dog around with a treat and a pointed finger or open hand.
Lure them in a squiggly line toward you or in a big circle.. Use commands “Turn around” and “Spin” for turns in that direction. “Touch” for touching your hand with their nose. See Visual Cues video on the home page .
WAIT- Begin introducing the word wait into your training and teaching your dog that ‘"good things come to those who wait”. Think of “wait” as a mini stay. Wait means quit moving forward and/or I’m coming to you. While teaching your dog to wait, be aware and take advantage of opportunities to stop your dog’s forward movement. Reward waiting and try not to use the leash whenever possible. Be creative and use "body blocking" to stop your dog in their tracks. While walking, use aids like buildings, fences and retaining walls if necessary. Or block them behind you in hallways or on a single track hiking trails. Practice waiting at meal time with food and with treats you throw on the ground.
Control space- doorways, gates, hallways, kitchen, stairs etc.
Going through doors first, gaining eye contact and releasing your dog at doorways is a fantastic way of reinforcing your leadership position. Controlling door space ensures safe and calm entrances to homes and other establishments and ensures safe and calm exits into the world. Doorways are a helpful reminder to implement our relevance training. Don’t forget car doors!
STAY- is the most important command you can teach your dog. Teaching your dog to “Stay” is a bond building and impulse control exercise. It strengthens your Leadership and helps you begin to get comfortable working with and trusting your dog at a distance. Begin adding Duration by holding on to the treat just a little bit longer as you move along. Add Distance and Distractions very incrementally. Begin by teaching stay inside. Build good duration (1-1.5 minutes on sit stays and 3-5 minute down stays), and distance (10 feet with sustained disappearing) into your stay before taking it outside. Stay makes any command (Sit, Down etc.) a stationary command and a release cue must be used to release your dog. Use the phrase “go ahead” or “ok” to release. Early on in training do not call your dog from a “Stay”. On occasion you can capture a release if they are already standing up. Practice success! Set your dog up to be successful but if your dog gets up you must start at the beginning and use “finger targeting” to guide them back to their original position. ” Be sure to release your dog before she stands up. Remember to use visual cues (hand signals) to increase your success rate. You can occasionally capture a “Stand” or a release if they are already standing up.
RECALL/ "COME" COMMAND - For safety sake, is the most important behavior you can teach your dog. The effectiveness of your “recall” command is highly based on the strength of the relationship that you have with your dog. It's based on the quality of the leadership skills that you possess and your dog’s innate desire to want to be with you. Strengthen your bond and you strengthen your “recall” command. Just like with other commands, successful repetition and building up a strong reward history is key.
Important: Do not call your dog from a “stay” at this point in your training!
Helpful hints for successful recalls
In teaching your dog to come to you they need to learn why it’s worth their while to do so. Make it extra motivating (high value treats and high value Life Rewards) Show the dog the treat. Move away from the dog and you can use rapidly repeating notes like “pup, pup, pup” or a whistle, clap, smooch or clicking noise. For now you should always have treats when you call your dog. Practice small (short distance) recalls throughout the week and never call your dog if you think he will not return to you. (see Value Scales And Competing Motivation on the Cornerstones To Success page)
The behavior of dog coming to you must always be positive and rewarding. Try not to call your dog for negative things like crate, bath, nail trims or an end to playtime. Be sure to set the dog up to be success.
Practice success, build on successes and work on name strength and your stay command. (see name and stay above).
Leave it- ("Call off” command). A dogs prey drive and scavenger nature promotes a strong desire to chase, to search out and to find “stuff”. The ability to successfully call your dog off “stuff “ is handy, to say the least, but could also someday save your dogs’ life as In many cases it could have saved the lives of others. Leave-It is an impulse control mechanism and an important “leadership cue”. A good call off command has a built in recall command. Not only do we want the dog to stop focusing on whatever it is they are focusing on, but we want them to come back to us.
Start with the treat in your hand then on the ground. Use body blocking if necessary.
Off- Four (paws) on the floor and/or off a certain object (furniture, street, project) or person (including you)
Walking on a loose leash
“Let’s go”- Let’s go means I’m moving and want you to come with me.
“This way”- Remember to give your dog a warning right before you change directions.
If your dog starts to pull you be an Oak. Stop! Stand firm until there is slack in the leash. If necessary match your dog’s intensity by backing up slowly until your dog turns toward you (capturing “close”) and if necessary turn and walk the other way. Remember to reward the behaviors you want. Checking in with you or catching up to you.
Heel- Begin shaping the behavior of being next to you. Finger target your dog into a “heel”. Practice sitting next to you and walking next to you . Heel is a stationary command and must be released.
Practice capturing desired behaviors- Turning toward you, making eye contact, sitting, walking next to you etc. Also capture common everyday occurrences. For example: “Come inside”, “Go outside”, “In the Car”, “Out of the car”, “Upstairs”, “Off”(four paws on the floor) etc.
If things are a little awkward or uncomfortable at first they should be. You are both learning new skills. Like with any new skill it takes practice to master (or just be good at). Our goal is to establish smooth and confident communication with our dogs and practice is the only way to get us there.
Beginner/intermediate footnotes