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It's not easy to characterize the course, as I taught it. Dogs with different needs and
problems were brought together in the same training class. Most dog owners simply
wanted to teach their dogs to be good companions—they were taught the basic course.
Obedience, agility, tracking and hunting devotees worked on skills that gave their dogs a
head start for doing those specialized tasks. Some dogs already had some advanced
training, but were not yet under good control—they took the regular course, but did it on
an accelerated schedule. Puppies were put on limited play-training.
In class, each student demonstrated what he or she worked on the previous week. The
other students then critiqued how the student performed the task. I intervened with
comment and aid only when needed, or when asked.
Some students used the instruction material as self-study—they only came to class when
they needed assistance. The described training procedures are precise and detailed, and
photo sequences (photos are not yet available in this version) clearly show how they
should be done. But, when training by yourself, you may unknowingly perform some
procedures incorrectly. For the best training result, then, I recommend that you either
work informally with others or use this course material with professional instruction at a
participating dog training club.
The Companion dog, however, lives in a diverse social milieu. He must observe some
social niceties. Misbehavior and disobedience by the Companion dog in a social setting
can be punished, and usually are. Punishment can take various/many forms: • If the dog
tries to exit an open door to the outside before he's told he may, the door is closed and the
dog loses the chance to play outdoors on that occasion. • If he fails to come when called
during a social period, he can be given some penalty work, such as close-order drills for a
minute or less. • The same drill penalty can be given to the dog who tries to step off the
curb at a street corner before he's released to go on. • The dog who disobeys your
command to "sit" or "down" when guests arrive or continues to annoy them in any
manner can be made to spend a short time-out period in his home cage. • The dog who
nips a person, no matter what the provocation, is given a serious "talking to"—nipping is
unacceptable.
A Gentling Effect on Temperament
Some dogs are shy or fearful and may show some defensive aggression. The gentle
approach that's taken in this course has an ameliorative effect on the dog's temperament.
In addition, if you are training in a class setting, your dog has a chance to meet old
friends and become acquainted with new ones—making him more outgoing and friendly
from the experience. The Game-playing class setting especially helps those dogs who
don't yet know how to act with others—they may have had only limited friendly close
encounters with other dogs. Socially deprived dogs gradually adapt to this friendly class
setting, and are usually playing with other dogs after one or two sessions.
However, on rare occasion, you'll find a dog that is unfriendly with another in class. Fight
they might, if given the chance. Though the course experience has a gentling effect on
dogs, this type of aggression is handled more quickly with behavior therapy; a counter-
conditioning procedure is usually all that's needed. Counter-conditioning helps to change
an "aversive" circumstance into a "friendly" one (See Chapter 15. Behavior Therapy):
You'd arrange for pleasant things to happen whenever the two dogs meet.
The Governing Principles of the Program
The Dog: (1) learns a new strategy to get the things that he wants, and avoids their delay
or loss. (2) learns that he gets most of the pleasures of life by working for them. (3) learns
to recognize the occasions (signals, cues) and opportunities when he can earn rewards.
(4) learns that he is not required to work, and that he may quit at any time without penalty
beyond the loss of reward on that occasion.
The Handler: (1) takes the dog to places where he can earn rewards. (2) informs the dog
when a reward-filled session is about to begin (the sound, READY, is the signal for doing
that). (3) gives the signals and commands that tell the dog what to do when he is working
for rewards and shows him how to perform. (4) delivers the rewards and/or nonphysical
punishments when earned by the dog. (5) calms and relaxes the dog whenever he
becomes anxious, fearful or aggressive. (6) gives the dog love, affection, and care at any
time—the dog doesn't work to get them.
Dog-Handler Relationships: During training, or at any time for that matter, treat your dog
as a close friend, rather than as an adversary. Avoid doing anything that will cause your
dog to be anxious or apprehensive. Relax in his presence. Whenever you talk to the dog,
do it in a soothing, quiet voice. Actively work towards improving your dog's quality of
life with playtime, pleasure strolls, and plenty of pets and hugs.
The Leash Rule for Class Time: Keep your dog on leash while in class. Do not leash-
correct or scold the dog for anything that he does during this time. Aggressive dogs must
be kept out of reach of other dogs and people, until they become more friendly - with
behavior therapy, if necessary.
The Course Exercises
The core exercises for the companion dog are Sit, Down, Rise, Stay, Come-when-called,
Halt, Send-away, and Casual Strolling on Loose Lead. Additional obedience exercises
that anyone cares to do for fun or competition are heeling drills, Sit-front and finish-at-
heel and Long sits and Long downs.
If you perform the training procedures as given, without modification, the control that
you will get over these behaviors will be impressive. You will get that kind of control
without stressing either you or your dog emotionally. The training thus has a positive
effect on both you and your dog's disposition and temperament. Your dog, however, may
have stressful moments. Whenever they arise, you will be shown how to deal with them
with calming and relaxing techniques (see Chap. 15. Behavior Therapy).
Learning Principles
Knowing how to correctly reinforce and disable behaviors is necessary for the training of
any dog, by any training method. The reinforcing sounds, GOOD and OUT, are used in
this course to reinforce (strengthen) desirable behaviors at the moment when these
behaviors happen; while the disabling sounds NO and TIME are used to disable (weaken)
unwanted behaviors. Try to limit the NO and TIME disabling mostly to social
misbehaviors and only scarcely to training miscues in this first course.
You'll find this to be a highly sophisticated training method, but one that you can learn to
use effectively. With it, you'll be able to get your dog to do anything that he is physically
capable of doing, provided that you use the reinforcing and disabling signals correctly,
and use the kinds of rewards that will get the dog to perform with enthusiasm.
Reinforcers: The reinforcing sounds, GOOD and OUT, tell the dog that the response he
just made will be followed by a reward. To be effective, the reinforcing sound must come
on at the exact moment the correct response is made. In that way, the sounds clearly tell
the dog which responses are in his best interest to make. Following the reinforcing sound,
the dog is rewarded.
The Reinforcement/Reward Rule: "First reinforce the response, then reward the dog."
Never try to reward the dog without reinforcing the response first, otherwise you might
find his response drifting into something different from what you had in mind. And never
start any reward-delivery movements before you give the reinforcing sound.
Also, as a rule, always follow a reinforcer with a tangible reward. If your dog doesn't get
a fair payoff for the work he performs, he likely will quit on you. If adequately
compensated, your dog will be eager to perform. The rule holds even when the dog is in
Obedience competition: when all exercises are completed in the ring, the dog is "told"
that he will be rewarded after he leaves the ring.
Disablers
The disabling sounds, NO and TIME, are used mainly in advanced training work. They
tell the dog that the response he just made is unacceptable for rewarding, and that he may
have to do the task over again from the beginning (punishment). Dogs that are being
campaigned for Obedience competition, for example, may do a minute or so of precision
heeling as a penalty for doing a careless performance on any exercise. To be highly
effective, the disabling sounds must come on at the precise moment the incorrect
response or misbehavior is made. The disabling sounds in this first course are used
primarily to disable social disobedience and misbehaviors.
The Disablement/Punishment Rule: First disable the behavior with a disabling sound,
then punish the dog. Don't move to punish, until you've told him first that he misbehaved
or disobeyed. Punishment in the training setting is usually in the form of delay or loss of
reward or a light work penalty, and is rarely physically aversive.
Training Guidelines
Do not urge your dog to perform. Your dog must be permitted not to respond whenever
he wishes—or to quit working at any time, without penalty. Mistakes are ignored, and, if
necessary, the trial is simply repeated. The dog's refusal to respond only forfeits the
chance for him to earn some of the good things of life. If you do the procedures precisely
as given, and use attractive rewards, your dog will begin and continue to perform well
without urging.
Don't talk to the dog during the work session, except for giving commands and
reinforcing/disabling sounds. Also, be as inconspicuous as you possibly can while doing
the trial procedure. Don't do anything out of the ordinary to get the dog's attention. Don't
even use the dog's name in any of the early training sessions; His name will be learned
later to mean: "I want your attention. Expect to receive a command or signal to do
something." The chance for earning rewards is a powerful persuader—let that work for
you.
Allow the dog to beg. If your dog noses the food-containing hand, you must allow it. A
normal impulse might be to say NO, or to move your hand out of the dog's reach. Don't
do it. The behavior will disappear on its own, because the dog is never rewarded for
doing it. Wait until he stops the objectionable behavior, and then resume the training trial.
We're going to start with a clean slate. Assume that your dog has not been taught any
work skills. Don't give the dog any commands or use any procedures that haven't been
taught yet in this course. Dogs who have already been trained to some extent before
entering this course won't lose any of the skills that they already know—they will do
them again, later, with a newly learned work strategy.
Team Training (optional, but encouraged)
In Team Training, two or more persons are involved in the training of a single dog—at
the same time. Team Training resolves, to some extent, the problem of getting you to do
all of the trial events correctly, in the proper order and with good timing.
The persons doing Team Training are Team Players. In Team Training, Team Players
have defined roles in the training trial—each Player controls one or more trial actions.1
As an unlikely example, one Team Player may call the dog to work, another may tell him
what response to make (with commands and/or signals), one other may show the dog
how to respond, another may tell the dog about the "goodness" of his response, and yet
another may reward the dog. However, in all probability, you alone, or with just one
other person, would do all of the trial actions with your dog.
You will control a number of actions in the training setting—actions that the dog can see,
hear, smell, taste or feel. For training to be efficient and effective, trial actions that you
deliver must be done in the correct order with other actions—must never appear
simultaneously or overlap with a start of any other action. In addition, correct timing of
some trial actions is crucial.
In this course, no Team Player uses force techniques to get the dog to do anything. To do
so would risk arousing some uncontrolled behavior-affecting anxiety, annoyance, fear or
apprehension in the working dog. Moreover, the training outcome from negative
intervention would be hard to duplicate by others, even if such interventions occasionally
happened to work.
It's not correct to say that a trainer (or Team Player) controls the dog. Cues, signals and
commands control behavior. Behavior control comes about from the way the dog reacts
to actions that have been programmed by a trainer or Team Player.
CHAPTER 2. EVERY DOG LEARNS
The Association Model for learning. The Association Principle can explain virtually all
learning. Learning happens when new actions are associated with old ones. Actions are
events that trainers arrange in the dog's training setting. You will teach your dog the
meanings of some useful actions that the dog can sense going on in his surroundings. To
be an action, it must affect the dog in some way, i.e., make an impression, be perceived,
rouse the dog to activity, and/or stimulate an emotion. An action can be a voiced
command that is heard by the dog, a touch that is felt, a human scent that is smelled on a
track…
The Association Principle is defined in a way that makes it useful as a training procedure.
For our purpose, the principle is expressed as the close pairing of two distinct actions.
For association learning to work, two requirements must be met: 1) the two programmed
actions must appear in the correct order; (2) the interval between the start of the first
action and the start of the second must be quite short, yet not overlap.
A0 is followed by A1
Consider this example: Suppose you suddenly snap your fingers (A0). Your dog may
show a mild reaction to the sound when you first do it. But when you do it again, the dog
might not react at all. From this, you know that your dog hears the sound, but apparently,
it has no particular meaning for him. Do it a third time, but now after you snap your
fingers, get up quickly, grab the leash, attach it to the dog, and proceed outdoors. You
have just performed an association procedure: the finger snap is A0, and going-out-of-
doors (a pleasurable action) is A1. When you do the pairing one or more times, your dog
should be leaping with excitement whenever he hears the finger-snap.
If the dog is to learn the meaning of the first-appearing action, A0, he must at least be
aware of its presence. When you see that your dog pays no attention to one of your
actions during an early training period, you must emphasize the event in a way that it's
noticed, i.e., by giving a louder voice command, exaggerate a signal, etc.…
Speed of learning an action is most favorable when the time interval between the start of
action A0, and the start of action A1, is in the range of several milliseconds to about one-
half second. You will show good training technique when you start the second action
about one-half second after the start of the first. Do not begin both actions at the same
time—that is, don't overlap the beginning of both actions. Also, do not do them in the
reverse order, otherwise the desired learning will be delayed or not occur at all.
If you don't have the knack to "time" the actions too well, you may increase the time
interval between actions to one second. Training will just take a bit longer. Better yet, do
Team Training with your dog (see the section, Team Training, in Chapter 1). Have
another Team Player deliver one of the actions in any pairing.
Again, by Association Learning, you have the ability to change the meaning of an action,
as perceived by the dog, by properly sequencing and timing it with an action that has the
desired effect. The procedure is used extensively in dog training.
Accidental Associations
We know that associations between actions can be made by chance. Consider this
coincidence: With outstretched arms, you call the dog to you. When he comes, and a split
second after you touch him in a petting gesture, a frightening noise sounds. You can
imagine what the dog will do when you reach out to pet him again the next time.
Arranged Associations.
Arranged associations are what you will be doing in this training course, where it's
assumed you have control over the training setting and training actions, and,
consequently, over what the dog learns. In this instance, associations between actions are
made by design, and not by accident.
When you arrange an association between two actions, the first appearing action can be
said to become a predictor of the second, as was cited above in the finger-snapping
instance. One of the first associations that you will make in this course will be between
the voiced GOOD and a food delivery—in which case, GOOD will become a predictor
that a food tidbit will follow.
Altering an Emotion
With the Association Procedure, you also have the ability to change the emotional
character of a first-appearing action to that of a subsequently appearing, more desirable,
one. That is, if the first-appearing action of a pair is fear-eliciting (A0), and the second
action is pleasure-eliciting (A1), then the consistent and close pairing of the two actions
in that order will result in the first-appearing one, A0, also eliciting pleasure.
As an example, hunting dogs that have a fear of gunfire can be helped to overcome that
fear: Something pleasant can be made to happen to the dog whenever a gun is fired
nearby. For instance, a tasty morsel could appear immediately following gunfire. The dog
would soon look forward, with anticipation to hearing a gun sound.
If you reverse the order of the two actions, then the pleasure-eliciting action will become
fear-eliciting. That is, suppose the trainer fired the gun immediately after giving the dog a
tasty tidbit. In only a few such associations, the dog would fear to pick up the tasty
morsel. So, watch the way you order the actions (provided you have control over them in
your training setting). It makes a difference.
In the Reward System, the dog develops a strategy for turning on pleasant events. The
system is quite versatile and works exceedingly well with dogs of any age, size, and
temperament. It does wonders for dogs that show fear, shyness, aggression, or any other
emotional or temperament problem that the owner may feel is disabling; for dogs that
need to be motivated to perform; and for those that require confidence building.
Reinforcement in the Reward System
Reinforcement happens when you "tell" the dog that he made a good response, at the
moment he made it. Thus, behaviors are strengthened (reinforced) with secondary
reinforcers—not primary ones. The voiced sounds, GOOD and OUT, become secondary
reinforcers1 when they are paired with food or other primary reinforcers over a series of
trials. (See the section, "Reinforcing Sounds" under the heading "The Basic Sounds,"
below).
Most reinforcing is done with sound: It can be a voiced sound, a clicker2 sound, a finger
snap… However, trainers in unusual circumstances use non-sound events as reinforcers.
One time, I worked with a student who trained his deaf dog, and, on several other
occasions, I helped deaf persons train their dogs—the students use "sign," unique
movements of the arm and hands to reinforce behaviors in the training trials.
Reward-System Models
Two basic variations of the reward system are available to the trainer. One is the
Assisted-response Model, which you will use mostly in this course. The other variation is
the Free-response Model. The latter model is often referred to as the Clicker Method,
whenever a handheld clicker is used to tell the dog that he made a correct response, at the
precise moment that he made it.
This model is used sparingly in this course. One instance of the model's use is to get early
control of the Down response. It's a fascinating and fun way to train your dog. It's used in
this text to show you how a behavior can be brought under control in a wholly different
way, still without coercion (See Down Training in Chapter 13).
The procedure is meant to show you, in the most direct way, the relationship between
behavior and its consequences. Example: One time, Audrey, a class friend attempted to
condition the behavior of a professor while he lectured. The behavior that she tried to get
him to do was "gaze in her direction with greater frequency." Whenever the professor
looked in her direction, which wasn't too often at first, she'd look up at him and slightly
nod her head. It wasn't long before the professor looked in her direction with ever-greater
frequency. Then it was time to extinguish the behavior. To do that, Audrey looked down
at her notes instead. The professor stopped looking in her direction. She again
reestablished the conditioned behavior by "the look and nod." I asked Audry to stop
before the professor realized what she was doing.
This method isn't difficult to perform. The procedures are described in clear and ample
detail, and the photographs (may not yet be included in your packet) show you precisely
how to do them. Nevertheless, the beginner-trainer often fails to give proper attention to
these details. For this reason, beginners should do their training at a participating Dog
Training Club, where expert observers can critique their performance and make needed
corrections.
Most dog owners want their dog to be obedient and friendly with people and other dogs.
To accomplish this, two distinctive training strategies are employed: Game Playing
initially teaches the dog the obedience skills; then Social Obedience in these skills is
practiced for compliance in the social/real world setting.
"Game playing" is a gentle way of training your dog. In Game-playing, coercion is totally
absent. Your dog is allowed to refuse a request to perform or to quit "playing the game"
whenever he wishes, without penalty. Game playing always begins with "the call to play
a game", continues with the game itself, and ends with a "grand" reward (see "Essentials
of Game-playing," below).
The work-seasoned dog becomes very cooperative when he hears the call to play, and is
eager to perform any task that you may have in mind. He should then perform with little
or no hesitation during the training session. He will persist in the work even under
demanding circumstances until the grand reward turns up.
When the dog is first exposed to the structured game, the effort that he must expend to
get rewards is quite small—he is only to pay attention to what is going on (see Chapter 5,
Getting Started). By simply observing, the dog learns to notice all of the session actions
and how they relate to one another.
The dog's Game-playing strategy is to turn on the sounds GOOD and OUT—sounds that
are followed by tangible rewards. In Social Obedience training, the dog's strategy is to
avoid turning on the sounds NO and TIME, which are predictors of unpleasant
consequences. NO is used mostly as a warning sound. TIME tells the dog that he earned a
penalty; though compulsive, the earned penalty for social disobedience is done with a
light hand. A discussion of compliance work is found in some skill-training sections of
this manual.
Prompting
New signals, commands, and other stimulus actions in the training trial are learned by
association with actions that follow them. Learning happens when a "new" action is
"paired" often with an action that the dog knows something about, and which is already
controlling a behavior (response). The "assisting" action, the second-appearing action in
the "paired" sequence, is called a "prompt." It's called that because it "helps" the dog to
make a correct response every time. By pairing a new signal or command with a prompt
for a number of trials, the new signal or command begins to control the same response.
The training trial provides the dog with the required experience that results in a speedy
acquisition and correctness of any performance. The trial typically starts with a command
or signal that the dog is meant to learn. It's followed quickly by assisting the dog to make
the response. In these training trials, the dog is helped with a prompt (assistance) before
he has a chance to make the response on his own.
The Assisted-response Method doesn't tell you what kind of prompt (assist) you are to
give your dog to help him make the desired response. It only says that the prompt you
choose must get the response every time. For example, suppose you want to train your
dog to sit whenever you say, SIT. To do that, you could follow the voiced SIT by
pressing down gently on the dog's hindquarters, provided that your dog sits whenever you
perform the pressing action.
Said again: A prompt can be any trainer-action that already controls the dog's response.
That is, it gets the response to happen every time. Pairing such a prompt with a new event
helps to get the new event to control the same response.
Testing versus training. When the trainer waits for the dog to make the response on his
own before she considers delivering a prompt, it's called testing. Testing is not training:
the wait period between the first event and the second of the paired events in testing is
too long for the dog to make the connection between them. When the trainer attempts to
apply the prompt before the dog has a chance to perform it on his own, it's called training.
However, you may do an occasional test trial to inquire whether your dog is learning.
Some experienced trainers do little or no testing during their training sessions. They
know that learning has taken place when the dog makes the response, or begins making
it, before the trainer has a chance to deliver the "assisting" prompt. Alternatively, the
experienced trainer may gradually fade out the amount of help given the dog. For
example, following the command to halt in "Halt and Stand-stay" training, the response-
assistance at first is a non-jerking full restraint imposed on the dog's lead to halt. In no
time at all, the aid (prompt) that's given following the halt command is simply a light tug
on the lead.
In passing, prompts are not allowed in Obedience competition. Prompts are considered to
be extra commands, and thus incur a scoring penalty at these trials.
Essentials of Game-playing
The Game-playing Format is the blueprint for most of the dog's training and maintenance
work. The principle features of the Game-playing Format:
The Call to Play a Game. When you are about to begin a training session, ask the dog if
he wants to play a "game." The voiced READY does the asking—said in a normal,
questioning tone. Be sure to "ask" before you make any moves to start the game,
otherwise the dog may mistakenly begin to use your body movement as a cue that a game
is about to be played. You don't want the dog to jump about with anticipation whenever
you get up to do something else.
The Game-playing Trials. A trial is defined as a unit of training actions. It often begins
with a quiet/still wait period action. The wait can vary from between one and five
seconds from one trial to another. Following the wait, your dog may get a command to do
something—after which, you would help your dog make the response. At the moment the
dog responds, you'd say GOOD (or OUT). The trial ends when you reward the dog. You
would then begin another trial with a varying "wait period."
The Training Session. The training session, beginning in Chapter 5, has all of the
components of the Game-playing Format: the call to play the game, the training trials,
and the grand reward that the dog gets at the last trial of the session. In the early sessions
of Game-playing, your dog is not asked to do anything except be aware of what is going
on (see Chapter 5). Asking the dog to do something begins in Chapter 6.
Do not start any movement to conduct a training session before you say the sound.
Otherwise the dog may learn to use your movement to predict the beginning of a training
session, when often, no session is intended.
The command for the dog to do something. The voiced command or signal usually
follows a brief wait period (see Part 2 of Chapter 7: "Sit and Rise"). The command must
come on before you start any movement to assist the dog to make the response. If you
start your assist movements before you voice the command, the command will not likely
be learned—the dog will be reacting to your movements, or the dog will fail to respond,
as if it doesn't know what to do, and the dog will unfairly get the blame for that.
The reinforcing sound GOOD (or OUT). The reinforcing sound must be timed precisely
at the moment the response is made. What constitutes a "good" response by the dog must
be clear in your mind before you begin an exercise. For instance, in the early steps of Sit
Training, the response is defined as a Sit only when the dog's back-end comes in contact
with the ground. That's when you will say the reinforcing sound. Later in Sit Training,
you will reinforce the Sit-stay—when the dog had been sitting for a short period of time.
The GOOD sound is used in every trial except the last. On the last trial, the OUT sound
replaces the GOOD sound, and a grand reward follows. The dog doesn't know that the
last trial is being run until he hears the OUT sound.
Rewarding the Dog. Do not begin any food delivery movements before you say the
reinforcing sound. Otherwise the dog will latch onto your movement to predict an
impending reward, rather than use the reinforcing sound to do that. If the dog wrongly
becomes conditioned to your movement to predict a reward, he will continually look at
you for the movement "signal." You will thus be restricting the dog in the kinds of things
that he can learn.
CHAPTER 4. MOTIVATING YOUR DOG
Most reward-training in this course is done with food, because it is training-effective and
does not waste training time. Your dog will be turned-on as a performer if the training
food that you're using is tasty. Many kinds of savory commercial "treats" are available for
use as rewards (some of these should be cut up into smaller bits).
Petting-and-Praise (P&P) does not work well as a "reward" in the present Training
System; rather, it's meant to work in the Compulsive System. Don't confuse the sounds,
GOOD and OUT, with praise. That, they are not. GOOD and OUT inform the dog about
an impending reward. When training, say these sounds in a neutral tone of voice.
You may, if you want to, Pet-and-praise your dog immediately following a training
session, But do it only after you say the OUT sound, and are in the process of delivering
the arranged "grand" reward. Also, you are urged to praise and hug your dog at any time
outside the training session—the dog is never required to do work to get them.
Sampling Foods
In this chapter, your dog will sample some of the foods that you plan to use in training.
The sampling of each kind of food takes about a minute to do. Rummage through your
refrigerator for appetizing and nutritious foods, or use some that are suggested here.
Avoid large amounts of salted and sweetened foods. Also do not give chocolate to your
dog; many dogs are allergic to it.
Tidbit Foods
Most dogs will eagerly work to get:
Moist & Meaty® Chicken Dinner by Purina. It's a tidbit that's about the same size and
tastiness as Pounce®.
Pounce® by Puss n' Boots. Most dogs relish it, though it's a cat treat. It's nutritious, it's a
nice size, and doesn't mess your hands. For smaller dogs, this treat can be broken in half,
without crumbling. It comes in a handy, small cylinder container.
Baked or cooked ham, cut into small cubes, is a good choice as the main tidbit food.
Have the Deli person cut one or two 3/16 inch thick slices (when you get the correct
thickness, ask the Deli person what dial number the Deli slicing machine was set at). Cut
each slice into tidbit pieces—each approximately 3/16 inch Square (about the size of a
green pea).
Various prepared luncheon meats that are firm and low in fat and sodium content.
If the dog eagerly consumes the treat food, use it in your upcoming association training
with the GOOD sound in chapter 5. If the dog snubs your choices—fails to assume a
begging attentive stance—deprive him of any other food for an hour or more, then try
again.
You will know if a food has reward properties, when he becomes very attentive during
the above procedure. When you get that all-important effect, begin using the food in the
forthcoming GOOD-food pairing procedure in the next chapter. Don't be concerned if
your dog is begging. Allow it.
Grand Foods
Grand food follows the OUT sound on the last trial of a training session in this course.
Some items that can be used as grand foods:
• a ½" piece of hot dog or slice of sausage
• a rounded teaspoon of a tasty canned dog food
• a teaspoon portion of ice cream or sour cream
• a ¾" cube of good quality headcheese or other luncheon meat
• a part of a small Milk Bone© Biscuit, Snausage©, a short strip of
Cheweez© Beefhide or any other tasty convenience treat
• and, especially, a spoonful of tasty table scraps. Save a part of whatever
you have been eating, and use it as a grand-food reward.
Let the dog sample a variety of foods, one morsel at a time, to see how eagerly he accepts
them. Soon, the dog's attention begins to be focused on you and your food delivery
movements.
Grand-food Tasting Procedure. Preferably, have the dog in the off-leash mode.
Open a can of a tasty dog food (or use another kind of appetizing food, such as table
scraps).
Put the dog's food dish on the floor.
Place a rounded teaspoon of food into it.
Let the dog eat the food.
Immediately after he has consumed it, place one more rounded teaspoon of food into the
dish. If the dog eats eagerly, stop after delivering 2 portions. Plan to use the food to
follow the reinforcing sound, OUT, in forthcoming training.
This ends all of the food-sampling sessions.
Many dogs are not inclined to finish off the hard, dry nugget food in one sitting, and may
not get it all eaten within the 10 minutes allowed. To make the ration more palatable, mix
a tasty moist food with the dry food—about 1/3 can of moist food for a medium size
dog . For another kind of nourishing and tasty ration, mix a watery, warm oatmeal with
the dry food (Oatmeal is my favorite breakfast cereal when topped with brown sugar,
light cream and melted butter. "Sorry pup, you get the lite style." See below). If the end-
of-day ration is quite tasty, have the dog do some work for it in the forthcoming training:
About a minute in Down-stay or Sit-stay are suitable exercises for that ration—select any
behaviors over which you already have established control.
Since the dog will be working for food during much of his training, he should be at least
a little hungry during the training session. Dogs that are 1 yr. or older, should be fed their
normal food ration once a day at the end of the workday. This means that training on the
following day is begun about 12 to 16 hours after the dog's last full meal. Dogs that are
less than a year old should be fed their food ration twice a day, morning and evening.
Training should be done an hour before they are fed these rations. But, in general, it is not
as important for puppies to be deprived of food before training as it is for older dogs;
most puppies seem to be ready to eat any time that food is available.
The Oatmeal Recipe for a medium size dog: Measure ¾ cup water; bring to a boil; add
slightly less than 1/3 cup Quick Quaker Oats (or equal); bring to a boil again; stir for 10
seconds; turn the burner to "simmer"; continue stirring for almost one minute more;
remove from heat and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. It is then about the right consistency
and cool enough for mixing with the dry food. Most dogs will consume the food mix in
less than a minute.
CHAPTER 5. GETTING STARTED
You may be eager to train your dog to do something—anything. Not yet. In this chapter,
the dog is still not required to do anything, only to observe what is going on.
In the present chapter, you will use the Game-playing format to teach your dog the
sounds, READY, GOOD and OUT—sounds that your dog must know before he does the
exercises beginning with the next chapter, "Stay in Place." For details of the Game-
playing format, see the section, Essentials of Game-playing in chapter 3 and in the
present chapter.
The main features of the format: After you call the dog to play with the READY sound,
do a number of trials each of which end with the GOOD sound and a tidbit reward. On
the last trial of the session, end with the OUT sound and a grand reward.
The three sounds READY, GOOD and OUT are essential to the training system. At the
end of the first week, you will know if your dog is prepared to begin the work of chapter
6 and later chapters: You will know he's ready when he remains eager to continue
through the tidbit-rewarded trials; and becomes expressively elated when he hears the
OUT sound.
A word of caution: If your dog frequently quits on you during the session, or does not
bound about excitedly at the READY or OUT sound, then he is not prepared to undertake
the work of the coming chapters. If he does not appear motivated, it might be that the
tidbit foods and/or grand rewards are not enticing (tasty) enough. Also, if you did not do
the procedures as described, your dog may not have gotten the proper experience to make
the required associations between the sounds and the rewards that follow. Repeat the first
week's schedule if you want to; your dog will enjoy playing the games.
Day 1 of training-week 1
Teaching the OUT/food association
Day 2 of training-week 1
Still-quiet-mode in the Game-playing format
On day-2, do six training sessions, using the Game-playing format. In each of these
sessions, schedule 8 GOOD/food pairing trials and one OUT/food pairing trial.
At the start of several early sessions, give the dog a couple of free tidbits to get his
attention.
Either hold all food tidbits in your closed hand during the training session, or put the
tidbit pieces in a dish on a table close-by. Tidbit food in a dish: After you say the GOOD
sound, reach for one tidbit from the dish and give it to the dog. The action of reaching for
the tidbit and making tidbit-delivery movements do not have to be done rapidly, but done
only with deliberate motion. Remember to start your food-delivery movements after the
GOOD sound.
Do not initiate any food-delivery movement just before you say the OUT sound,
otherwise the dog might use the change in movement to know when the grand reward
will appear, rather than to listen for the OUT sound.
On the first several training sessions of the first day, do the trial actions even when you
don't have the dog's attention. Then, beginning on the following day, when the dog starts
to attend often enough, you can wait until you get his attention before doing the GOOD-
food or OUT-food associations.
5. Wait at least one minute before starting another session.
Days 3 and 4 of week 1
Continue to do 4 training sessions in the still-quiet mode feature and add 2 training
sessions with the touch-mode feature—both modes are performed in the Game-playing
format.
The Touch-mode in Game-playing
The call-to-work and session preparation:
6. Say the call-to-work READY sound before you begin your training session.
7. Pause a scant instant after you say READY before you start your move to begin
the session preparation.
8. The dog must not get any hint that the sound, READY, is about to come on.
However, you may look at the dog when you say it.
9. After READY, go to where you keep your training gear and foods. Your
movement must be deliberate, but there's no need to rush—the dog will have no
trouble learning "the routine" that follows this sound.
10. Carry the training gear and foods to where the work will be done.
11. When you reach the workstation, put a tablespoon of canned dog food (if you are
using that as the grand food) into the dog's food dish. Set it aside out of the dog's
reach (on a countertop or table, for instance). The grand food is used on the last
trial of the session.
12. Take ten tidbit foods in your hand (for small dogs, take half the number of pieces
and break each in half).
Remember, do not initiate any food-delivery movement just before you say the OUT
sound, otherwise the dog might use the change in movement to know when the grand
reward will appear, rather than to listen for the OUT sound.
9. Wait at least one minute before starting another training session.
Days 5 and 6 of week 1
On days 5 and 6 do all three trial modes—Still-quiet, Touch and Motion, each done in
separate sessions. Do a total of 6 to 8 sessions per day (choose any mode for any session).
A single session of 10 trials takes only a minute or two to do.
To restate, ignore the begging during the trial. The dog will soon stop doing it without
your intervention. However, the dog is permitted to beg after he hears the reinforcing
sound, GOOD or OUT — just before he gets the reward.
Team Training
In Team Training, two or more persons (Team Players) get involved in training a single
dog at the same time. You share training-trial actions (events). It's a way of training that
can be applied to any or all of the exercises in this course. Early on, Team Training helps
you do timing and sequencing of trial events correctly. Team Training is especially
helpful when the dog learns more complex skills. Doing training this way with others can
be fun and dogs tolerate it—if not also enjoy it. The following is one way that Team
Training can be used to perform trial actions.
Note: If the dog is begging, she holds off saying the reinforcing sounds until he ceases.
8. begins another one-to-five seconds' wait mode after Team Player 2 delivers a food
tidbit, etc. She repeats actions 6 and 7 until all tidbits are gone.
9. says OUT when Team Player 2 has no more tidbit food to give out. She remains
still after she says the sound.
10. breaks from her stance after Team player 2 delivers the "grand" food at the end of
training session.
If the food is in a dish, she stands still until she hears the GOOD sound, then and only
then starts her movement to pick up a tidbit from the dish and hand it to the dog. Her
food-delivery movements are deliberate, yet unhurried.
5. again assumes the motionless Feeder stance after the dog takes the food. She
remains still even when the dog is nosing her food-containing hand. In time, this
nosing will cease because the behavior is never rewarded.
6. assumes the same Feeder stance for the last trial when she is out of food tidbits,.
She lets Team Player 1 know when she no longer has any tidbits in her hand.
7. waits a scant moment after she hears the sound OUT said by Team Player 1. She
then hurries to where the grand-food is kept, and places the food dish in front of
the dog.
When you use 2 or more players, the dog normally will fix his gaze on the Feeder, not the
one who delivers the sounds GOOD or OUT — even when the Feeder happens to be a
stranger to the dog. Don't do anything to change that.
If both Team Players are acquainted with the training procedures, then you and she can
occasionally switch roles. She can now say the relevant sounds and you can be the feeder.
Team Training is not only "fun and games" for the dog, but is a way that can be used later
to control more complex task actions, and even help to alter undesirable temperament
problems.
Afterword
You did not ask your dog to respond in any way during these startup trials. He just
became preoccupied in what you were doing, in anticipation of an impending GOOD or
OUT sound and a reward that followed.
A trial began with a wait of 1-to-5 seconds' duration, followed by a said GOOD (or
OUT), and ended with a reward. Even such a simple procedure had to be done by you in
a manner that was precise and disciplined, so that there was little chance of getting
unwelcome learning by accident. In the Still-quiet mode, for example, you stood still in a
relaxed pose, and faced your dog during the wait. You then said the GOOD (or OUT)
sound. You were careful not to make any sudden moves or to begin the food-delivery
movement just before you said it. You followed the GOOD sound with a deliberate, yet
unhurried, delivery of a food tidbit—all done the same way on every trial.
When you replaced the GOOD sound with the OUT sound on the last trial of the session,
you made sure that you did nothing different just before saying the sound— anything that
would alert the dog that the OUT sound was about to happen on that trial. A grand reward
always followed this sound.
It will be up to your dog to try to turn on these reinforcing sounds in the upcoming
exercises.
The other innovation has one person training two or more dogs at the same time. The
course allows you to do this in special instances: 1. When the dogs are not required to
make a response (see early chapters and following example* and, 2. When an exercise
ends in a Stay response (see example at end of Chapter 6—Sit and Rise).
CHAPTER 6. STAY-IN-PLACE
Thus far in this course, your dog was not told to do anything. He was simply exposed to
some training actions. In the present work, you will teach your dog to Stay-in-place
whenever you move away from him. Stay by hand-signal is taught first (Steps 1 and 2),
and followed by teaching a Stay by voice command (Step 3). Stay is probably the most
useful behavior that your dog will learn in this course. In these exercises, the dog is
allowed to be standing, sitting or lying down when you signal or tell him to Stay. You
will want your dog to maintain his present attitude, with little or no moving about during
the Stay period.
The early Stay signal. Begin the trials by facing the dog, and, without waiting, place the
flat of both hands in front of the dog's face in a non-threatening way—palms facing the
dog for two to five seconds. The signal fills the wait-space in the Still-quiet mode (see
modes discussed in the section, "The Game-playing trial" of Chapter 5).
This signal often gets the dog to stay in place, reflexively. You may bend your body, if
necessary, while performing this action. Maintain the "early Stay signal" in place for
several seconds. If the dog Stays, say GOOD, and end the trial with a tasty tidbit (food is
kept in a dish on a nearby table, not in your hands). If the dog breaks from the Stay,
repeat the procedure. When the dog begins to stay still with this early Stay signal—it
usually happens in the first training session—replace the signal with the "refined Stay
signal," next.
The refined Stay signal. After one or two training sessions with the "early Stay signal,"
refine the signal as follows: Place the palm of one hand close to the dog's face for a
fleeting moment, then bring your hand back to your side—all in a continuing, yet
unhurried motion. You will not move away from the dog during Step-1 Stay trials.
Follow the signal with a wait period (see action 7. of Step 1, below).
This exercise lends itself to Team Training, as are most exercises in this course. It's a fun
way for you and your dog to "play the game," that is, sharing the below actions with
another person.
Begin with the "early Stay signal." Then, when appropriate, change to the "refined Stay
signal," also done at Step 1.
7 You want your dog to Stay-in-place for two to five seconds. If the dog breaks
during the wait period, repeat the Stay signal.
8 Say GOOD when you get the Stay. If you are still using the "early Stay signal,"
hold the signal in place until you say GOOD. The dog is allowed to break his Stay
after the GOOD sound.
If the dog is sitting or lying down during the Stay trials, you may on occasion want to do
Stays when the dog is standing. In which case, you would entice the dog to break from
the Stay after you say GOOD. To get the dog to break, hold the tidbit close to him, but
still far enough away so that he has to rise to get it.
9 Deliver the food tidbit.
10 Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another Stay trial. Do eight to
ten such trials in the session.
11 On the last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, and follow with a grand
reward.
Problem: What if the dog repeatedly breaks from the Stay in action 7, above?
Solution: Make the following change in the training step:
1 Allow the dog to be sitting, standing or lying down.
2 Face the attentive dog.
3 Without waiting, give the Stay signal (use "the refined Stay signal." See
definition, above).
4 Then place your hands lightly on the dog and hold him in place for two to five
seconds. Experiment with the best way to do that (if you are doing Team Training
with another Team Player, she could hold the dog lightly in place).
5 Say GOOD while still holding the dog in place. Then let go the dog.
6 Allow the dog to break from the Stay after you say GOOD.
7 Deliver the food tidbit.
8 Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another Stay trial. Do eight to
ten trials in the session.
9 Gradually fade out the holding correction. When the dog no longer needs to be
held in place, resume the work without the "hold-in-place" correction.
10 On the last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, and follow with a grand
reward.
On the last trial of a session, reinforce with the sound, OUT, and deliver a grand reward.
Plan to do about 10 trials in each training session; conduct five to eight training sessions
per day, for as many days that it takes to get a reliable Stay under the above distracting
conditions. Two training days should give you the desired control. Then do Step 3.
Learning the Stay command is achieved by pairing it with a Stay signal that already
controls the response. The voiced, STAY, in time, will come to control the same "stay-in-
place" response, when given alone. For learning to take place, the voice-command STAY
must appear a moment before the hand signal is given. No part of the signal must be
started before the command is voiced. In this way, the hand signal is used as a prompt for
learning the command, STAY. Perform the following actions, with simple distractions,
for one or two days. Plan to do about 10 trials per training session and five to eight
training sessions per day.
1 To begin a session, say READY.
2 Pick up your training foods and go to the place where you will do your training.
3 Place the tidbit foods in a dish on a table.
4 Allow the dog to be sitting, standing or lying down.
5 Face the attentive dog. Hands are at your side.
6 Without waiting say STAY.
7 Follow closely with the Stay signal (see "The refined Stay signal," above).
8 After giving the signal, walk away and leave your dog in Stay. While away, you
may do a brief distracting movement.
9 Say GOOD while you are still doing the distraction.
10 Allow the dog to break from the Stay.
11 Deliver the tidbit.
12 Go to action 5 of this Step. You are ready to begin another paired command-
signal Stay trial.
13 On the last trial of the session, replace the GOOD sound with OUT.
14 Follow with a grand reward.
In the work of this chapter, your dog was already in a particular attitude (Sit, Stand or
Down) when you told him to Stay. In the next chapter, you will first tell your dog to
change attitudes, and then you will tell him to Stay.
You are not going to teach your dog to Sit or Rise, or for that matter, any other behavior
in this course—the dog already knows how to do them. Rather, training puts these
behaviors under signal and voice-command control—it's what you do in dog-obedience
training.
In this chapter, allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down anytime that he wants. If the dog is
standing, do a Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.
Part 1: Get a dependable and stable Sit prompt. In this part, you will choose the best way
to help the dog into the Sit response. To be a good helping action, it must get the response
every time. This part also helps the dog to adapt to your handling during the helping
action. The "touch/handling" that you do in this part is not yet called a prompt. It
becomes a prompt in the second part when it is associated with learning the Sit command.
Part 2: Pairing the SIT command with a prompt. In this part, the dog learns the meaning
of the voiced command, SIT. Learning is accomplished by pairing the command SIT with
the prompt of your choice (see the next section, "Prompt candidates for Sit training." The
pairing is done in this order: first, give the command; then do the prompt. Enlist the aid
of another Team Player to perform one or more of these trial actions—it makes it easier
for the actions to be performed correctly.
Pressing down lightly on the dog's hindquarters. This prompt is favored by dog trainers
because most dogs willingly sit when light to moderate pressure is applied there.
The knee-tuck. Some dogs resist the modest downward pressure on their haunches. An
alternate plan is to unlock the dog's back knees by sliding your hand from on top of his
hindquarters to the back of the knees. A light forward pressure then tucks the knees. With
a "break" in the knees, the dog usually goes into the sit. If necessary, additional pressure
can then be applied atop the haunches, with the same hand, to complete the response.
A light upward leash-tug. Some dogs will reflexively sit when you give the leash an
upward tug. This event is not all that reliable as a "prompt" choice.
Nevertheless, the leash-tug can be learned later as a new signal, if you wish, to control
the Sit response. It's done this way: When the voice-command SIT comes to control the
Sit response by itself (the control is achieved in Part 2 of the present work), the command
can then be used as a prompt for learning this signal, or any other signal, to control the
same Sit response. In such a training trial, first deliver a momentary upward tug on the
lead, then follow closely with the voice-command, SIT.
Raising of the dog's head upward. This action is quite effective, but its use as a prompt
has not been widespread. When doing this action, you will have no food in your hands
(the food can be kept in a dish on a nearby table). The action: While the dog is facing you
with anticipation, gently cradle his muzzle in both hands. Then slowly raise the muzzle.
When done this way, a non-stressed dog will usually sit. He probably does that to reduce
the mild strain on his neck.
Bending your upper body over the dog. This action also gets the dog to raise his head,
except that in this procedure, the dog is not touched. To do it, hold your closed hands (the
Sign of the Feeder) at upper-chest, rather than at midriff. As you face the dog straight on,
slowly bend the upper part of your body over the dog. This usually gets the dog to raise
his head, and then to sit.
Part 1: Work to get a dependable and stable Rise prompt. In this part, you will find the
best way to help (prompt) the dog to Rise. To be a good Rise prompt, it must get the
response every time. The "handling action" of this first part becomes a prompt when it is
used with the RISE command in the second part.
Part 2: The dog learns the meaning of the voiced command, RISE. Learning is
accomplished by pairing (associating) the command, RISE, with the prompt of your
choice. The pairing is done in this order: first the command, then the prompt. Enlist the
aid of another Team Player to do one or more actions in the trial—it makes it easier for
the actions to be performed correctly.
Lifting the dog's underside. When you are ready to do the helping action, bend over the
sitting or downed dog. Place your hands under the dog's belly. Gently pull upward until
the dog is standing, then say GOOD, and follow by releasing the dog. If you are doing
Team Training, the Team Player who does this prompt should be the owner of the dog—
it's less stressful on the dog.
Dog is pulled off the sit. Attach the leash to the dog's collar. With the dog sitting in front
of you, take up most of the slack (without exerting any force on the leash), and hold your
end of the leash at waist or chest level with both hands. When you are ready to do the
helping action, take one or two steps backward, putting a gentle to moderate pull on the
lead. The dog can release the strain on his neck by rising from the sit. At the moment the
dog is up, say GOOD. Follow with a tasty tidbit. Do not start your food delivery before
you say GOOD.
You will not "tell" the dog to sit or rise in this first training part. The present trials resolve
which Sit and Rise actions will work best as prompts. This work will enable the dog to
adapt, with composure, to your handling. Continue to run these trials until the chosen
handling action gets the desired response easily every time. Then use it as a prompt in
Part 2.
The action, "Upward Raising of the Dog's Head," is arbitrarily used here to describe the
Part 1 procedure in the Sit trial. You can choose another. The "Lift the belly" is used here
when you are doing the Rise trial. Design and substitute any other helping action that
works best for you. Part 1 trials do not begin with a wait period.
1 Say READY when the dog is not expecting it.
2 Go to the kitchen to pick up your training foods. Then proceed to the place where
you will do the work. Place 10 to 15 tidbits in a plate on a nearby table. Do not
have any food in your hands during these trials.
Keep in mind that you do not tell the dog to sit in this training part. You're only trying to
make the helping action work well before using it as a prompt in Part 2.
5 At the moment the dog's butt touches the floor, say GOOD, then release the dog's
muzzle, and reward the dog.
If you want the following trial to also be a Sit action, hold the tidbit of the previous trial
just out of reach of the dog so that he has to rise to retrieve it. Then go to action A.3.
above.
If you want the dog to be sitting at the start of the next trial, deliver the tidbit to the sitting
dog. Then go to B.3. next.
Do 10-12 trials per session. Run as many sessions as needed for the dog to become
compliant to the helping sit and rise actions.
You may be performing all training actions yourself, but get practice with Team Training
first, if you have anyone to help you. When doing this training by yourself, don't assume
the feeder stance; your hands will be busy doing other things.
When the dog has adjusted well enough to response assisting, go to the next part.
In this part, the Sit trial and Rise trial each now have these actions: a voice command for
the dog to do something and a helping prompt that the dog experienced in Part 1.
The Part 2 trial sequence: After a quiet wait of one to five seconds, give a command, then
follow with a prompt—an action that puts your dog into the appropriate response. As in
the earlier bare-bone work, you must observe proper care in the way you perform the two
new actions. Don't make any sudden moves to start the prompt action before you give the
command. Also, continue your prompting action until the GOOD is sounded. Say the
GOOD sound and do tidbit rewarding as you had been doing in the earlier bare-bones
work.
Allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down at the start of any trial. If the dog is standing, do a
Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.
If you are doing Team Training, you can have as many Team players as there are actions
in the trial. However, for practical reasons, no more than two players usually do the Team
training. In our Parks and Recreation Dog Training Course in Bel Air, Maryland, we
sometimes involve 4 persons in the Sit and Rise trials, simply to demonstrate Team
Training at its fun best.
All Team players are instructed not to start their action until the preceding action is
completed by another Team player. If a player makes an error during the trial, just laugh
it off and continue—the dog is forgiving. After a number of training trials, the players
can switch roles.
Make sure that you have the dog's attention at the start of every trial. If your dog isn't
attending, go back to doing the basic bare bones trials of week one until you get the basic
attentive control. When the dog's backside touches the ground, say the reinforcing sound,
GOOD, and give him a tasty tidbit.
The dog is then ready for the next trial, which teaches the Rise command if the dog is
sitting during the wait period; teaches the Sit command when the dog is standing during
this period.
Continue to use prompts in your Sit and Stand work until your dog begins to respond too
quickly for you to deliver them.
Sit-stay and Stand-stay Training
In the above part of this chapter, the dog earned the GOOD sound at the moment he sat or
stood—no Sit-stay or Stand-stay was attempted. In the present section, you will link Stay
with the Sit attitude and Stay with the Stand attitude.
Chaining. Linking one response to another is called chaining. Some chains can have
many links. Each response link in the chain has it's own controlling action. For example,
the controlling action for the Sit response is the command, SIT; the controlling action for
the Stay response, the next response in the chain, is the command, STAY; the GOOD (or
OUT) sound is the controlling action for the last response in the chain, i.e., breaking from
the Stay response to pick up the tidbit or grand reward. The GOOD and OUT actions
always come on at the end of the last response link. Each successive controlling action in
the chain should be timed precisely at the moment the previous response in the chain is
made.
Prompting chained responses. Prompt any or all of the dog's responses that are part of a
chaining trial. For example, in Sit-stay training in the present section, continue to help the
dog do the Sit response, if it's still necessary. You may also prompt (help) the Stay
response with hand-in-face signal, plus gentle restraint, if necessary.
When the dog becomes proficient in the procedure, you can eliminate the STAY
command: the SIT command will come to mean, "Sit, then Stay sitting." Similarly, the
RISE command will come to mean, "Rise, then Stay standing."
You will be finished with this step when the dog stays in place after you make the
following actions: Command and Signal the dog to Stay; turn away from the dog; walk
about 5 paces; turn to face the dog; stand in place for several seconds; return to the dog;
go around his left side to his right side (the heel position); stand there for a moment; say
GOOD, and give the dog a food tidbit. The dog is allowed to break from the response
when he hears the sound, GOOD or OUT.
Conduct several training sessions per day, for as many days that it takes to get a reliable
Stay under the above distracting conditions. Do about 5 trials in each session. On the last
trial of a session, reinforce with the sound, OUT, and deliver a grand reward.
When the dog is standing, say STAY. Then turn away and leave your standing dog; Take
two steps; Turn to face your dog; Wait several seconds, then deliver the Sit "arm and
hand" signal (see next), followed closely by the command, SIT.
The Sit "arm and hand" signal: Your arms rest at your side during the wait. The signal
begins by raising your right arm (no bends) toward the dog, to about 45 degrees from
the resting position. The palm of your hand faces the dog. The arm is then brought back
to your side—all in a continuous fluid motion. When doing the pairing, the voiced SIT
is said when your arm is at its furthest forward position.
In this procedure, you're using the command, SIT as a prompt. To be useful as a prompt,
the voiced, SIT, must get the Sit response every time. Simply by pairing the new signal
with the Sit command over a series of trials, the dog will then begin to Sit to the "arm and
hand" signal when given alone. Be sure to observe the sequence: first the new Sit signal,
then the Sit command.
On occasion, you may want your Companion Dog to be at your side and under control.
Getting the dog close to you is especially useful when a situation on the stroll appears
threatening. Besides, when you get your dog to the Heel position, he is less likely be a
nuisance to anyone, or get into mischief.
Working Dogs are brought to Heel for a different purpose. It's the position from which
they are released to do some work. The Stand-stay at Heel is the normal controlled stance
for many working dogs. When called to Heel, the working dog goes into an automatic
Stand-stay. It's the stance that is geared for immediate action—the dog expects a
command to do something of a work nature. However, when there is a lull in the working
dog's activity, the handler will put the dog in a resting Sit or Down attitude with a
command or signal.
In the present lesson, you will teach your dog to do an automatic Stand-stay, the Ready-
for-action stance, when he comes to Heel—I'd imagine that a dog, faced with an
imminent threat feels more vulnerable when he is in sit or down. You have the option, of
course, of putting the dog into the resting Sit or Down whenever you wish, anytime, with
a command.
Defining the classic Heel position: When you are standing still, the neck/shoulder region
of the forward-facing dog is lined up with your left leg, and close alongside you.
In the early part of your training, you will gently guide your dog to the correct position.
Then later, you will use the command, HEEL, to tell the dog to come to your left side, to
the precise Heel position. In yet another step, the Heel command should not only get a
"Come to Heel" response, but also an automatic "Stand-stay." If you are doing Obedience
competition, your dog shall learn the automatic Sit and Stay at Heel, but in a later training
step. However, you may choose to have your dog do the automatic Sit-stay, in any event.
Handling
No harsh leash handling is necessary to get the dog to learn a precise Heel position.
Typically, you will gently guide the dog into Heel position. When the dog is there, he is
told GOOD (or OUT), then is given a food tidbit (or grand reward). The dog is allowed to
break from the heel position to pick up the food.
Correct timing
Precise timing of the reinforcing sounds, GOOD or OUT, is essential. In the first phase of
this training, the reinforcing sound comes on at the moment the dog is correctly aligned at
your left side. After you deliver the reinforcing sound, you can go about the business of
rewarding the dog in a deliberate but unhurried way. You can even reach into your pocket
or go to a nearby table for a food tidbit, after making the GOOD sound. Taking several
seconds to find a food-piece will scarcely affect the dog's learning speed, since you
already told the dog that he earned a reward when he made the correct response. Later in
training, the command, HEEL, will mean, "Come to Heel, and Stay when you get there."
In which case, you will deliver a reinforcing sound anytime the dog is in a Stand-stay (or
Sit-stay).
In the "non-baiting" procedure that we use, no food is in sight or evident to the dog
before he makes the correct response. When the dog hears the reinforcing sound, GOOD
or OUT, he is allowed to break from the response—that's when he can take on a begging
stance, in anticipation of the imminent food reward. The reinforcing sound means: "You
made a good response; come and get your reward."
Schedule
Two or more Come-to-Heel sessions may be done back to back—with a short one-minute
break between sessions. Do 8 or 10 trials per session. A session takes one or two minutes
to do. A tablespoon of a tasty canned dog food is a convenient Grand Reward that can
follow the OUT sound in these sessions—you may replace the Grand food with "taking a
stroll" reward at the end of one of the Come-to-Heel sessions.
The procedure
6 Start the session with the READY sound.
7 Make the usual preparations (see "The Training Session" in Chapter 4).
8 When you are set, face the off-leash dog who is close-by. Let your left arm hang
at your side. The closed right hand is held at midriff. You may hold the food
tidbits in that hand or, preferably, have them in a dish on a table that's nearby.
9 When you have the dog's attention, move casually to his right side. The dog may
try to maintain the facing position, since he was rewarded most often when he
faced you. Be patient. You will eventually reach his right side, to complete the
Heel position (as defined above).
10 You can speed up the procedure by using another person (identified in the text as
a Team Player) to hold the dog gently in place for several trials—to keep the dog
from moving about. The Team Player may kneel at the dog's left side. Continue
the "Team Training" procedure until the dog holds still on his own.
11 When you and the dog come to be correctly aligned at heel (the neck/shoulder
region of the dog is lined up with your left leg), say GOOD, then step away from
heel position, and deliver a food tidbit. Be sure not to step away or begin a food
delivery before you say GOOD. Also, this is not a Stay-at-heel response—the
GOOD is sounded at the moment the position is correct.
12 Leave your dog to begin another trial (begin at action 3 again)
13 When you have done about 8 trials, do one more trial.
14 On the last trial of the session, deliver the OUT sound when the dog is in the
correct heel position. Then go to the place where you keep the Goal food.
15 Give the dog a tablespoon of canned dog food, or something tasty from the
refrigerator.
For a session or two, you will be making all of the moves that end with the dog in the
proper heel position. That is, the dog hasn't yet learned how to make the correct
alignment without your assistance. However, during these trials the dog is learning, by
association, that reinforcement comes only when both of you are physically positioned in
that select way to each other. Though he soon gets to know that, he still may not know
that he can turn on the reinforcing sound, by making the position-response himself.
It may be awhile before the dog begins to move to the reinforcing position, without your
help. But, even when the dog starts to make the right moves that bring him there, always
make sure that the dog is precisely there before reinforcing the response: For awhile, you
will have to make almost every response "look good" with an additional corrective
movement yourself.
Do five sessions of "getting-acquainted with the heel position" daily for two days. These
sessions will help the dog, in the next step, to be lightly-guided into heel with a leash.
Continue to do the work in an enclosed space, such as a room in your house. Put a leash
on the dog. Do not say the dog's name, or voice-command him to do anything during the
training session. Don't talk to the dog during the trial, except to say GOOD or OUT.
Allow him freedom to move about between trials.
The procedure:
6 Call the dog to work with the READY sound.
7 Make the usual session preparations.
8 Put the dog on loose lead.
9 When ready, move four to six feet from the dog and face him.
10 Wait a second or more, and then walk normally toward the dog's right side. As
you make the turn into the dog, nonchalantly take up the slack in the leash. Then,
calmly, but deliberately, lead the dog into the correct Heel position. During this
action, try to get the dog to make part of the effort, but do it without coercion.
11 When the dog is close to being correct in Heel position, make the final corrective
movement so that both of you will be in precise alignment.
12 When the position is "right" for reinforcement, halt, say GOOD, then release any
tension that you may still have on the leash.
13 Face the dog and give him a food tidbit. The dog is permitted to break from the
heel position when he hears the reinforcing sounds, GOOD or OUT.
14 Go to action 3 for another tidbit-rewarding trial. If the next trial is the last one in
the session, go to the next action.
15 For this last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, then deliver a "grand"
reward.
16 End of session.
Continue to assist the dog to make a "precise" response by making part of the move to the
correct position yourself. End each session with OUT and a grand reward. To repeat,
don't say the dog's name or tell the dog to come to Heel, at this stage. Continue the
"Come-to-heel" work, along with any other work session.
The procedure:
1 Say READY. Make training preparations.
2 Put the dog on loose lead.
3 Wait a second or two, then approach the standing dog from the side and rear.
4 As you walk casually past the dog's right side, with no pause in pace, give the
leash a light forward tug.
5 Continue to walk one pace forward past the dog. The tug on the lead is supposed
to tell the dog to come alongside you to the heel position.
If the momentary tug is not enough to get the dog to move to you, then gently guide him
into position with the lead. You may still make a final move to the dog's position to make
the perfect heel.
6 When the dog comes alongside you, reinforce with the sound, GOOD. Then turn
to face the dog, and give him a tidbit. Do not break from the heel position before
you say the reinforcing sound.
7 Go to action three if the next trial is still tidbit-rewarded. Go to the next action if
the next trial is the last one in the session.
8 Say OUT when the dog makes the last good response in the session.
9 Go to the place where you keep the Grand-food. Put one tablespoon of a tasty
canned dog food or a bit of table scraps into a food pan.
10 After the Grand-food is eaten, wait another minute, and then start another training
session with the READY sound.
Continue the present trial procedure for the remainder of the training week, or longer,
until the dog readily comes to heel when given a short-tug prompt. Be sure not to hurry
through Step 1 training - it teaches the dog where the precise heeling position is
reinforced. With just a bit more training in Step 2, your dog may quickly figure out that
he can make the heel position happen—you see the dog make an effort to come to heel.
In which case, you can accelerate the training. That is, keep walking slowly while lightly
assisting the dog. As the dog tries to come to heel, guide him to the precise heel position
with the leash. When he happens to be in the correct position, halt, and reinforce with the
GOOD or OUT sound. Then turn to face the dog to reward him. Continue this training
until the dog comes quickly into position with little or no leash-help. Otherwise, continue
with training other tasks.
The procedure
When the dog reaches the precise Heel position, say, STAY, rather than GOOD or OUT.
Then help the dog to remain standing by gently holding the dog in the Stand attitude, if
necessary. After the dog is in Stand-stay for one or more seconds, (vary the time), say
GOOD or OUT, then reward as usual. Continue using the Stay-command assistance until
you are sure that the dog remains standing without the Stay prompt. You may, after a
week or so, stop saying STAY—the Stand-stay will be understood whenever the dog
comes to Heel.
The Procedure: Call the dog to Heel. At the precise moment the dog is in the correct Heel
position, Say SIT—the dog should already know to Sit and Stay on the command, SIT.
Nevertheless, prompt the Sit and Stay as you had in Chapter 6, "Sit and Rise." When you
are sure that the dog will give you an automatic Sit-stay at Heel, you can eliminate the Sit
and Stay commands. The command, HEEL, will then serve to get the dog to the Heel
position, and without further asking the dog to Sit, he will automatically Sit, then Stay.
Do not hurry through any of the training steps.
The automatic Sit-stay at Heel is also taught in chapter 10, "Front and Finish."
The Call-to-work, READY sound, that your dog learned in the first training week, has
some Recall properties. He should come running whenever you say the sound, expecting
to play a rewarding game. Until your dog learns the more appropriate command, COME,
you can use the READY sound to get the dog to come to you. In keeping with the Call-
to-work procedure, though, the dog should do some work when he comes. Have the dog
do a single trial of Stand-stay, for example. After several seconds in Stay, reinforce with
the GOOD or OUT sound and then reward the dog.
The sounds, GOOD and OUT, as well, have recall properties. But, in contrast to READY,
no work is required when the dog reaches you. Don't neglect to reward him when he
comes. Use the three sounds, in a pinch, until the dog learns the more relevant sound,
COME.
Consequences for not coming when called. When in the Game-playing mode of Recall
training, no negative consequences are given for not responding. However, when you
deliver the command COME in a social setting—the dog is not in the Game-playing
mode—the dog risks an unpleasant consequence for not coming when called.
Disobedience in the social setting may turn on a warning sound, NO, or the more
disabling sound, TIME. For the latter sound, you may have your dog do "precision
straight-line heeling" for a minute or less, as punishment—a heeling skill that you should
also teach your dog (see "Straight-line Heeling" in Chapter 10); any other kind of penalty
work; or you may place him in his home cage for five minutes or longer.
Provided assistance. As with most Game-playing activities of this course, the dog is
helped to make the correct response on every trial.
Team Training of Recall
The Team Training procedure is an efficient and fun way to train your dog with one or
more other persons. If you prefer, you can do the Single-person training approach—the
procedure follows this Team Training section.
Unauthorized attempts by the dog to come to you in the absence of the Recall command
are ignored—not disabled, punished or corrected by either Team Player.
Release by Team Player 2 may not be a particularly strong prompt for some dogs to come
to you. In which case, add one or more other aids in sequence to the procedure: After you
say, COME, and the dog is released from a taut lead by Team Player 2, you may, if
necessary, try to lure the dog to come to you by bending forward and patting your thighs,
and saying what a good dog he is. That surely should entice most dogs to come in. When
the response aids (prompts) are no longer needed, remove them one at a time, from the
procedure—the voice appeal prompt is the first to go, then the torso gesturing prompt,
and lastly, the release of leash tension prompt. The "Taut-lead" release prompt is
continued until the dog begins to show some wait on his own. This should happen in 3 to
6 training sessions.
Do about ten tidbit-rewarded trials and one goal-rewarded trial per session. Then go to
the next step.
At first, when the dog is on loose lead, he may fail to come to you when he hears the
sound, COME. In that case, you may again use body and voice-appeal prompts for the
dog to come in, a moment after giving the command. Use these prompts only as
necessary. When you get the required control, go to the next step.
The Discrimination Procedure. To do this, the relevant sound COME is delivered only on
some of the trials. On the remaining trials, other sounds are said. The dog is permitted to
come to you whenever you say, COME, but is prevented from returning to you when you
say some other sounds. Two non-recall sounds, BIRD and STAY are used in the
following discrimination procedure. They are meant to convey the message, "Do not
come."
Perform the procedure of Step 2, with but with this one difference: On some trials, say
BIRD. Team Player 2 is instructed to hang on tight to the lead and not release the dog
when she hears that sound. After BIRD is sounded, wait another 2-5 seconds before
giving another sound. On some occasions, the sound of the next trial can also be BIRD.
This is done so the dog does not learn that a Recall sound always comes after a non-recall
sound. In correct Discrimination responding, the dog comes to you on the command,
COME, and inhibits coming on the sound, BIRD.
The STAY sound, like the sounds BIRD and SKY means "Do not come." But unlike
these latter sounds, STAY, has a meaning in its own right—it also tells the dog to remain
in his present response topography. For instance, if the dog is sitting at the time the
STAY command is delivered, the dog should remain sitting. If he tries to get up at the
sound, STAY, he is placed back into the sit by Team Player 2. Remain at this step until
your dog's discrimination performance becomes reliable.
So that the dog does not anticipate the Recall command at the moment when he hears his
name, occasionally follow the name RANDY with the command, STAY. That is, instead
of saying RANDY, COME (if your dog's name happens to be Randy), sometimes say
RANDY, STAY. With this kind of training, the dog will alert to the sound of his name,
and wait for a command to do something.
Don't use the sound NO at this time, or show any displeasure when the dog responds
incorrectly; or provide punishing consequences during the Recall work. Let the Prompts,
restraint and release, do the work for you. Although discipline skills are being learned,
you still want your dog to view the task as a fun game."
After each successful response, you may have to lead your dog back to the starting place
by the collar (or harness). However, most dogs learn quickly to walk alongside you to the
starting place, without being led. Moreover, in some instances, an occasional dog walks
back unaccompanied, and positions himself properly for the upcoming trial.
Errors in responding. Whenever the dog breaks from the Stay on the STAY and
RANDY STAY commands, say NO at the moment of the break. Then go to the dog, and
lead him back to the original Stay position. The No sound is strictly informational; it is
not meant to foretell a punishing consequence (you're still in the Game-playing mode). If
your dog is not yet steady on the Stay, go back to the leash-helper routine of a previous
step for a period of remedial work.
Your dog might break at the moment he hears his name, without waiting to hear what
else you have to say. In which case, the dog considers the Name-sound to mean, COME.
By delaying the command that follows his name, on occasion, you are able to tell if the
dog is making the error. Correct your dog as you would do for any anticipatory errors
(see previous paragraph).
Pretrial procedures:
1 Say READY. The sound alerts the dog to the work at hand.
2 Place one tablespoon of a tasty food in his food dish and set it aside; reserve it for
the last trial of the session.
3 Go to the place where you'll do your training.
Training note: Keep walking while saying the two sounds. The dog must not get any
hint of the sounds coming, beforehand. Turn to face the dog only after you've said the
sounds. Begin your food-delivery motions immediately after you turn to face the dog.
6 When the dog comes to you, give him the tidbit. If the dog fails to come, go to
him and deliver the tidbit (whenever you say the reinforcing sound, GOOD, you
must deliver the food reward, no matter what).
7 Go to action 2, and begin another trial.
After several sessions of closely pairing the sounds, COME and GOOD, gradually start to
unpair them. That is, after you say the command, COME, wait until the dog begins some
small movement to come before you say the GOOD sound. In time, you will wait until
the dog gets close to you (four to six feet away) before saying the reinforcing sound
GOOD.
In this alternate procedure, the GOOD sound is initially used as a Recall prompt, then is
reverted to its conventional usage, as a reinforcing sound for coming.
When you introduce Non-recall sounds, such as BIRD and SKY, in another step, the dog
might come to you when you say these sounds. In that case, ignore him and continue
walking casually. Do as many sessions as it takes for the dog to ignore the Non-recall
sounds, but comes to you on the Recall sound.
Move about and allow the dog to move freely during Name-sound training (see Step 4,
above). Ignore the dog when he comes to you on the wrong sounds. When you have good
recall control up to this point, go to Step 5, "Off-leash control," above. In this step, you
will place the dog in the Stand-Stay (or Sit-Stay) and then move away from him.
Most Sit-front faults can be corrected by taking one or two short steps backwards at the
time of the fault, then asking your dog to come in again. When the Sit-front looks better
than before, help the dog by making part of the correction yourself, so that both of you
will be in better final alignment and position. Some Sit-front faults that can be made in
Obedience competition: not sitting close enough; poor sits; touching you on coming in; or
sitting between your feet.
Occasionally call your dog to you while strolling. When he comes to you, give him a
little "petting and praise" (when training on the stroll, you don't reward the dog with
food). You don't need to overdo the petting and praise—it's meant to be not so much
rewarding as informational that he successfully avoided the sound TIME and a work
penalty that follows. After the petting and praise, send him off on his way to resume the
stroll. Penalties (the nonphysical kind, such as a bit of precision straight-line Heeling, or
a brief time-out from strolling and exploration) are administered to the dog for
disobedience and glaring errors.
CHAPTER 10. FRONT AND FINISH
Front and Finish are two performance components that are required in several Obedience-
trial Exercises. In these competition exercises, the dog first does something away from
you, then completes the exercise with a Front and Finish. Even if you are not an
Obedience buff, Front and Finish is another fun game that you can teach your dog to do.
The "Front" component of Front and Finish covers the performance: come-in to front of
you and sit close facing you. The "Finish" component comprises the movement that the
dog makes as he goes from Sit-front to the left side of you, where the dog again sits and
remains until he is required to do something else. Your dog will be doing automatic Sits
when he comes Front and then goes to Finish at Heel.
After you complete six training steps in this chapter, do the practice drills, Finish and
Front and Finish, as described in "Maintenance-Practice Trials (it follows the Step 6
section). Continue these practice drills simply as fun exercises for your dog, or as an
exercise that you might prepare for the Obedience ring.
"Front and Finish" is organized into the two training parts, "The Front" and "The Finish."
Later, they are combined to become the "Front and Finish" Obedience exercise.1
The Front
Continue the work in section, "Automatic Sit when the dog comes front" in the "Come
when called" chapter until you are ready to complete "Front and Finish" exercise (Step 6,
below).
The Finish
The Shaping of Behavior. "The Finish" is a performance2 that the dog doesn't normally
do without training. However, he can be taught it by means of a "shaping" procedure.
Shaping, in the training sense, is comparable to clay sculpturing: At first, the clay is a
featureless mass. Then, little by little, it begins to take the desired form. It is the same
with response shaping: The beginning performance in this process is one that the dog can
normally make, and which may little resemble the end performance—but it is one that
clearly starts the dog off in the direction of the desired one.
You begin with a response that the dog can presently make. The initially selected
response must eventually lead, via the shaping process, to the desired "Finish"
performance. By reinforcing the first-selected response with the GOOD sound every
time, you can increase its rate of responding. As the dog responds increasingly more
often, you may see an occasional response that is closer to the one that you want. Then
you'll select only the better response for reinforcement; any responses that are not up to
the standards of the newly selected one are no longer reinforced. As training continues,
you will be choosing increasingly better responses for reinforcement. By this procedure,
you put ever-greater demands on the dog's behavior until you finally get the behavior you
want.
Do about 12 tidbit deliveries per session. On the last trial of the session, substitute the
Grand-reinforcer, OUT, for the reinforcer, GOOD, and deliver a more substantial reward.
The first established loop (see Step 1, below). The beginning training step of the present
exercise results in a simple closed loop. The dog comes close to you in front and touches
your hand, then turns away; goes directly away from you to pick up a piece of food,
comes back to you, touches your hand, then goes away again to pick up the food, etc. In
this fashion, the behavior is made to recur in a closed loop. You say nothing to the dog,
except GOOD or OUT. It is said when the dog touches your hand, and just before you
throw the food.
More complex behavior loops as training progresses. A more involved loop is formed at
an intermediate training stage: when the dog moves toward you, continues around your
right side, around your back and left side, and, without stopping, goes on out to get the
food. The dog then returns to begin the loop-sequence over again. The response-loop
appears "pear" shaped—the pointed end of which is made away from you, at the place
where the food is picked up; the fat end of the loop is made close to you.
Ending the Behavior Loops. Looping ends with Training Step 4, below, when the dog's
movement is interrupted at the Heel position. It is there that the dog is made to stop for a
moment, before he is allowed to go out again. In another training step, the dog must not
only stop, but must sit when he comes to Heel. Finally, the loop gets another interruption
at Front, where the dog is made to sit and stay, before he is signaled to move to Heel.
Use popcorn to reward the responses of this exercise, because the dog can see it better
where it's thrown—better than most any other kinds of food tidbits. Before training
begins, let the dog sample the popcorn to see if he likes it. You can prepare the popcorn
with polyunsaturated oil (safflower, for example). You don't have to add butter or salt
after popping—but you might if you're making some for yourself. You can also buy the
tasty ready-popped.
Preliminary procedure: The dog learns where food can be picked up. Take a small
handful of food in your left hand. Place one piece between the index finger and thumb
and throw it out underhanded. At first, keep the throws short—have the food land in front
of the dog or to his right side. In this way, the dog will soon make the connection
between your left-arm movement and food leaving your hand. If the dog has trouble
catching on, i.e., he does not retrieve the food, the dog may be too close to you to see and
make the connection between your forward arm motion and the availability of food "out
there." Say GOOD before you make each throw.
As these association trials progress, gradually increase the distance of your food throws
to between 6-8 feet. When the dog consistently goes out to retrieve the thrown food, or
just stands out there waiting for the next throw, begin Step 1. In this step, the dog will
learn to turn on the GOOD (or OUT ) sound by touching the back of your right hand.
If you need to, touch the dog's nose (a light touch made with the back of your right hand).
5 Say GOOD immediately after you or the dog makes the touch.
6 Throw a piece of food straight out, underhanded, with your left hand. Don't start
your food throw before you say GOOD.
7 Get another piece of food ready in your left hand, and begin another nose-touch
training trial.
Do the Nose-touch with your right hand; Food-throw, with your left. After a series of
such conditioning trials, the dog cannot escape connecting the GOOD sound with the
"feel of your hand on his nose." He should then begin to make a nose-touch response on
his own, without assistance.
Test occasionally to see if the dog can make the nose touch response by himself. Extend
your hand to the dog, as before, but stopping about 1 inch short of his nose. If the dog
moves his head forward to make the nose-touch, it is clear that learning of the response
has occurred. Don't be too quick to have the dog make it without your help, though. At
the end of this step, the dog should consistently come to the stationary outstretched hand
to make the touch.
Step 2. Dog does an orienting response.
In this step, you'll want your dog to go to your right hand no matter where the hand is
positioned and touch it.
Start the session preparation with the READY sound.
Begin these trials by positioning your right hand in front of you, about 18 inches away,
with your body bent slightly forward.
As trials progress, start as you did in Action 2, but then, when the dog's nose gets close to
your hand, slowly move the hand several inches back or to the side, but always in sight
and within easy reach.
When the dog follows the hand and touches it, say GOOD, and follow with a thrown
tidbit.
Don't make too large a hand movement for the dog to follow, at first. Make a larger shift
only when he's making a strong hand-orienting response. If, at any time, the dog appears
confused, make it easy by extending your right hand to his nose and touching it if you
have to.
You are finished with this step when the dog follows the hand through your right side and
slightly to the back of you—when he does this quickly and consistently.
In the next training step, the loop will be made around you.
Step 3. Dog moves completely around you
Begin the session with the READY sound.
Proceed to make your training preparations.
Warm-up the dog by doing the Step 2 procedure for the first couple of trials.
Extend your hand outward toward the dog, as you did before.
In the new procedure: As the dog comes in, move your hand close to your front.
Then, without stopping, swing your arm around your right side, and follow around your
backside. Keep your hand moving at the speed of your dog, just out of nose-reach. If, at
any time, your dog fails to follow your hand movement, shorten the shaping steps to get a
strong hand following (Photos, when available, will clearly show how to do the actions 4
through 6).
Say GOOD when your arm is as far back as it will go, and the dog's head is at the middle
of your back.
Lift your right hand out of the dog's way. The dog no longer has to touch your hand.
Follow the GOOD sound with a food throw.
As you throw, take a short step forward and to your right so that the dog can easily
complete his movement around you. This gets the dog to continue in a forward direction,
rather than back up when he hears the reinforcing sound. Make your body moves, as
necessary, to get the dog around you, but eliminate these moves as soon as you can.
In about a dozen trials at this step, your dog should be making the movement around you
in a smooth motion. Then, begin to stand still during the trial. However, continue to move
your right hand in a sweeping motion from in front of you to around your back—staying
just ahead of the moving dog's nose. Continue to run the sessions in this way until you
get the dog to make a fluid movement around you every time.
Step 4. The Dog Stops at your Left Side.
First Session:
Warm-up the dog by doing the Step 3 procedure for several trials: The dog moves
completely around you and goes outward to fetch the food tidbit.
In the new procedure: As he moves past your left side on his way to the food, brush the
dog's breast lightly with both hands. Keep your hands still, while the dog brushes through
them.
Continue this procedure for the remaining trials in the session.
Rest of Sessions:
Warm-up the dog for the first couple of trials, by doing Action 2 of the "First session,"
above.
On the remaining 10 trials of this step, continue to cue the dog around you with your right
hand.
When the dog reaches the Heel position, halt him. Do this gently by wrapping both your
arms around the front of the dog's chest. If you have a small dog, you may do these trials
while kneeling—in other words, make yourself comfortable.
When dog halts, lightly grasp his collar with your right hand.
After a wait of 1 second, say GOOD.
Then toss the food tidbit and release the dog.
You are finished at this step when the dog consistently and readily moves out from Heel
when released.
Step 5. The Dog does an Automatic Sit.
Warm-up the dog for the first couple of trials, by doing the Actions of Step 4: "Rest of
sessions," above.
In the present step, continue to cue the dog around you with your right hand.
Stop the dog's forward movement when he reaches your left side.
Immediately after the dog halts, command him to sit. Then immediately "Prompt" the Sit
response.
As soon as he sits, say STAY. Then physically hold the dog lightly in place by his collar,
to prevent him from breaking from the Sit. Do not correct the dog's bad sits at this time.
Though, on every trial, position yourself in relation to the sitting dog so that a good sit is
evident. If the dog does not willingly sit or does it haltingly, do some practice sessions of
"Sit Training" (see Chapter 7, "Sit and Rise").
Take a kernel of popcorn in your right hand and toss it outward.
Following the toss, hold the dog in place and wait 1 to 5 seconds.
Then give the collar a light flip forward. The dog should feel the release, but don't do it in
a coercive manner. If the dog hesitates to move out after the Send-away signal and
physical release, simply throw out another food tidbit, and allow the dog to retrieve both
tidbits.
Continue in this step until the dog sits at Heel without having to be restrained, and
responds reliably to the Send-away signal. Don't be too quick to end this training step.
Another Way of Doing the Sit Prompt at Heel. If it's awkward for you to prompt the Sit,
reposition yourself, and then do the prompt. That is, when the dog comes to Heel, grasp
his collar with your right hand, tell him to sit, then pivot on your left foot, face the dog,
and place your right foot in front of the dog. Physically place the dog into the Sit; signal
him to Stay, then return to the original Heel position. Continue the trial.
Step 6. The Dog Sits at Front.
Besides doing the automatic Sit at Heel, the dog must also sit when he comes Front
before he goes to Heel. Both components Sit front and Sit at heel complete the Front and
Finish exercise, as is required in the Novice exercise.
Immediately following a food retrieve, at this Step, gently guide him to your Front and
make him sit. The dog should already be doing automatic Sits-front, if he's had the
Come-front part of Recall training in the previous chapter. Continue to prompt the Sit-at-
front, as necessary. If Sit-front is new to the dog, do the pertinent sections in the earlier
"Come-in" part of the "Come when called" chapter.
After the dog had been in Sit-stay at Front for 1 to 4 seconds, motion him to go to Heel.
Perform the motion with your right hand as described in Actions 4, 5 and 6 of Step 3,
above. When the dog reaches Heel position, he comes to an automatic Sit (or place him in
the Sit physically, but not aversively).
Maintenance (practice) trials.
If you are doing the Obedience Recall exercise for competition, practice the Recall
exercise precisely as is run in the Obedience Ring The training should include two
practice drills, "The Finish," and "The Front and Finish practice drill," as they are
described next