Excerpt #1:
Obedience Game Changers Section 1: Your Foundation Skills
Maybe you are already enrolled in obedience classes. Or maybe, you’ve never trained a dog in your life and you’re thinking, “Where the heck do I begin?!” This section is all about how to get started in teaching the foundation skills used in obedience, as well as common vocabulary and tools that will help you along your journey through this book.
All the skills and games in this book are taught using positive reinforcement and reward-based training methods. With that said, there are a few things you are going to always need through the training process.
Motivators: A motivator can be anything you use to reward your dog with. Think of your motivators as your dog’s paycheck. Food, treats, toys, praise, pets…a lot of things can be motivating to your dog. Which one is of high value, like you just handed them $100 bill? Which is of lower value, like handing them a $5 bill?
Try to have a variety of these items in your toolbox as you train, that way you know just what to move up to if you’re working on something a little harder, with more distractions or they are having a harder time with the particular skill you are trying to teach. You also know exactly what you can move down to, if your dog is doing well with a certain part of your training and does not need as high an incentive anymore.
Test a variety of your food items beforehand. Little bits of meats or cheeses are usually high on the list. I try and stay within the 3 S’s…Soft, Small and Stinky!
If toys are your dog’s thing, designate some of their toys as “Work for Only”. This means you play with your dog with it as a reward after they accomplish a task. The play is usually the bigger part of the reward. Once you are done practicing though, put these items away so your dog does not have unlimited access to them when you are not in training. That way they can always look forward to this special time you spend together.
Clothing (Leash, collar, harness, etc.): 50% of any training or behavioral issue begins with management. It is always suggested to start any new skills in a controlled, quiet environment, with your dog on a leash. This alleviates the possibility of your dog getting too distracted and leaving you during a training session, as well as helps you control your pup a little better if you have an exuberant pup that likes to bounce about or act out in some way during your sessions.
There is a wide variety of collars and harnesses on the market to help you with different training needs. Regular buckle collars are fine for training, unless you have a dog that is having a lot of pulling and jumping issues on the leash. Then I would suggest using some of the wonderful no-pull harness options. The most important factor is to just get the pressure off your dog’s neck if they are pulling a lot. If this is happening, it is not only stressful on your dog’s neck, but it is also causing them to lose oxygen. A loss of oxygen translates to a loss of focus on you and can greatly inhibit your dog’s progress during training.
Most importantly, do not use anything that incorporates pain, force or fear into your training practices. Items to avoid would be choke, pinch/prong or shock collars.
A Positive Marker: The most common markers used are a clicker or a verbal cue such as “Yes”. Using a marker helps you get more precise timing when you are teaching skills and allows you to break down skills into more palatable pieces for your dog to understand, by shaping the skill.
Think of using these markers as a promise. They are a promise to your dog that they will be rewarded with the primary reinforcers (food, treats, toys, etc.) for performing a specific task.
Many times, our timing can be off and we end up rewarding the wrong behavior. I would say learning how to use your marker is a pivotal piece of knowledge when training any dog.
The Coffee Cup Game
Skills Targeted: Sit Stay
Props Needed: a doorway or 2 items to use as doorway barriers, such as chairs, tall cones, posts, etc., a cup with a piece of tape across the opening so it causes the ball to be more wobbly, tape on the floor to mark the threshold of the door, tennis ball (multiples of these items if you decide to do group play)
How to Play: The goal is to be able to walk up to the opening with “coffee cup” in hand, have your dog Sit and Stay as you cross the threshold first and then release them to walk through after you, without dropping the ball…uh, your coffee!
Rules:
You can’t place your finger over the ball at any time. You must hold the base of your cup.
You must hold on to your leash at all times.
Advanced Game Play: Add distractions on the other side of the doorway! This could be a Leave It on the ground, someone acting as a jogger going by…get creative!
