How's The Training? Week 5

Eventually I'm going to do a post with all of our hand signals so that you can see what we do. Generally we stuck to the class, but with some commands we didn't (like DROP instead of DOWN and GIVE instead of DROP).

Here's what on the training menu this week:

Stay
Automatic Sits
Greeting

The Stay

What you'll need: tasty treats, lots of patience

Step 1. Have some tasty treats readily available - the goal of the sit is to work it up to 5 minutes. Yes, really, 5 minutes. We're going to work in 10 second intervals, then 30 seconds, then 45 seconds, etc... Build the time up gradually.

Step 2. Put Rusty in a sit but do NOT treat or praise - that's not what we're working on because he already knows how to sit.

Step 3. Show the hand signal (hand straight out, palm facing the dog) and say, "Rusty, stay!"

Step 4. Treat. Treat. Treat. But only if he stays in place. If he inches forward even one inch, start from the beginning. See if you can get him to stay for 10 seconds.

Step 5. Release and praise.

Step 6. Keep practicing! Do it in different locations around your house, your yard, at the park, on walks, etc...


And the STAY command brings us to the AUTOMATIC SIT command, which isn't really a command, it's more of body language.

So the automatic sit is this: every time you stop, the dog sits. And yes, it can be done.

The AUTOMATIC SIT

What you'll need: leash, very tasty treats, the dog and go for a walk

Step 1. Have tasty treats available, but don't have too many. The dog will only be rewarded randomly and when he sits automatically!

Step 2. Have fun. Go on a walk.

Step 3. Start off your walk with Rusty sitting, say "Let's go!" and walk about 15 feet.

Step 4. Stop and put the dog in a sit. Don't treat - he already knows how to sit.

Step 5. Start walking again with the "Let's go!" command.

Step 6. Stop after 10 - 15 feet. Don't say anything to Rusty, instead wait until he sits on his own (you can use the watch me command, but you have treats so you may have to hold one in your hand).

Step 7. When he sits on his own, treat, praise and jump for joy!

Step 8. Practice over and over and over. Do it at intersections, in front of houses, at the park, in front of buildings, in the pet store, anywhere and everywhere.

Step 9. After he now knows the automatic sit, you can slowly fade the lure (oops, I mean treat) by treating randomly and giving out jackpot treats. Then he'll know that he's going to get a treat, but not know when so he HAS to do what you ask of him.

Woo hoo! Got it??? Maybe...


But now we move on to the GREETING. This follows the automatic sit because, every time you stop Rusty should be sitting, right? So when you go to meet another animal, dog, person, you generally stop right? So then that means that Rusty should be sitting. Treats will do well here, because for greetings, you want treats every time until they're paying attention to you fully.

So The GREETING

What you'll need: the dog, another dog/cat/animal/person, LOTS of tasty treats, leash

Step 1. Find something to greet.

Step 2. Put your dog in a sit.

Step 3. Repeat as many times as it takes to either do it automatically or after you can ask the dog only once to sit.

And yes, this goes for children that would like to pet him too - always, always put your dog in a sit or drop position.

Eh, Rusty is ok. Now we can go running with him and he'll be at a run and drop in a sit to a dead stop. We've got the automatic sit down but we still have to work on greeting. Sounds easy, right? Not if your dog isn't tired or generally easily distracted.

Good luck!