Life Skills Class week 3
Eye Contact
Eye contact out on a walk:
The best way to keep your dog engaged with you while out on a walk is to reward them every time they choose to give you eye contact!
Don't prompt him, just wait for your dog to choose to check in. As soon as they do mark it by saying "good" or "yes" then wait for them to come over to you for a food reward.
Loose lead walking
Adding duration between rewards:
Once your dog is managing to walk beside you on a loose lead reliably, you can start to increase the numbers of steps you take before rewarding your pup. Try 10 steps between rewards then start to increase to 20. I would recommend going for 35 steps as a maximum between rewards.
Training tips:
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Slow your pace right down to match your dog's pace.
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Keep an eye on the position of your lead clip on your dog's collar. It should be hanging low under their chin or slightly to the side. If the clip is all the way up on the top of your dog's neck then that is a clear indication that there is far too much tension on the lead.
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Remember to mark your dog every time before reaching for your food reward. Say the word "good" then reach for a treat from your treat bag. Doing this will help your dog to focus back on you and be ready for their reward.
Treat bags:
DogGone Good: https://amzn.to/2SGG6JO
Furkicks bag: https://amzn.to/2EOOCm9
Harness:
Ruffwear front clip: https://amzn.to/2V52vCi
Embark pets: https://amzn.to/2LnwzZz
Recall
Adding distractions:
Once your dog is reliably recalling to you every time in the house and in your garden, it's time to raise the criteria. Adding distractions is a way to proof you're recall for the real world. There will always be distractions when you are out on an off lead walk with your dog. This is the beginning stages of working in some fake distractions to help you set your dog up for success.
There is two ways of adding in distractions. One way would be to get another person to help be your distraction or by setting up a distraction with a barrier.
Extra person:
One person will be the distractor while the other person will be the caller.
Distractor:
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Grab a few low value food rewards in your hand and make a fist.
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Show the treat hand to your dog for 3 seconds.
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Move your hand, away from your dog.
Caller:
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Wait for the distractor to move their hand away from your dog.
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Call your dog.
Barrier:
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Place some low value food in a bowl behind a baby gate.
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call your dog away from the food bowl
Raise criteria by adding a more high value food reward or a high value toy.
Emergency stop
Basics of a stop on cue:
Teaching an emergency stop is a very useful cue to interrupt your dog from running towards something. It could be a busy road, chasing wild life, other dogs, people etc
Step one:
Place a treat in your hand
Put your hand up
Say the word "stop"
Throw the treat behind your dogs bottom
Step two:
Hold your hand up
Say the cue "stop"
Wait 3 seconds
Throw the treat behind your dog