Hello Puppy Pet Degree Class!

Here is your continued practice Homework for Week 3 of Puppy Pet Degree.

  • Down and Maintain (please see instructions from Week 2 and NOTE below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to do a Down with only the verbal Down cue; and with only the hand cue.
    NOTE: Wherever you are at in the process, it’s important to have clear Hand and Verbal cues before you begin adding criteria to the Maintain behavior. We cannot work up to a Down-Maintain from 6 feet away if the hand cue requires you to point all the way down to the floor while standing in front of your dog so that his/her nose can follow your finger. If you’re having any difficulty fading the Lure cue, we would be happy to help!

  • Leave It as a Safety Cue (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to leave a treat in your hand when you say Leave It. Work up to the floor if you can!
    We are never giving our dogs anything we tell them to leave because Leave It is a safety cue. This is not one of those skills that you will follow up with “Take It.” We never want them to have something we have asked them to leave. If you have to put your foot over the treat to manage it in the beginning, please feel free to do so. When you reinforce, you should be doing so as far away from what you told your dog to leave as possible. We do this so that your dog will learn to move away from something you have told him or her to leave without you having to grab him/her or remove him/her from the situation for safety reasons. Once the session is done, pick up the treat you told your dog to leave and either toss it in the trash or put it back in your pouch. DO NOT give it to your dog. I would not recommend training Leave It with items you will eventually be giving your dog, such as toys.

    • Start with a piece of low value treats or kibble in one hand and a higher value treat in the other hand. Hold out the hand with the low value treat/kibble (i.e., the source) toward your dog with an open palm and place the higher value treat behind your back. As your dog moves toward the treat, say “Leave It” once and close your hand quickly. As soon as your pup looks away or makes any gesture to shift his or her focus away from the food, mark with “Yes” and then reward with the hand behind your back. When you reward your dog, move the reward hand about two to three feet away from the source before providing the reward. This is important because we want dogs to (a) be comfortable moving away from what you told them to leave, and (b) learn to put distance on their own when hearing the words “Leave It.” Repeat this process until you can leave your hand completely open for at least 80 % of the time.
    • In this step, you will place the Leave It source on the floor and either place your hand over top of it or place your foot over top of it. As soon as your dog moves toward the treat, say “Leave It” once and cover it with your hand or foot. Repeat the same formula from Step 1 until you can leave your hand or foot off of it at least 80% of the time. Make sure your reward hand delivers the treat as far away from the source as possible. You should see your dog moving away from the treat on the ground and either moving toward where you are delivering the high value reward OR some dogs naturally begin to back away from the source on their own.
    • In Step 3, we will increase the level of difficulty by kicking the treat around on the floor between your feet as if you are playing with it. This adds movement, appealing to a dog’s predatory instinct. You could also try sitting on the floor or crouching down and dropping it from a few inches above the floor. If you accidentally let your dog get what you told him or her to leave, you might set back the training a few steps, so make sure you have good control of the source. Make sure you have an 80% success rate before moving on to any of the remaining steps.
    • In this step, we will start dropping the treat higher and higher from the floor until you are able to stand fully upright and your dog is not going for it. Follow the same steps from above, making sure to reward your dog away from the source.

  • Loose Leash Walking Step 2: Pivoting for Success (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week:Work up to 10 steps with your dog walking beside you loosely on leash.
    Pivoting for success is an extension of Stand on Leash. When your dog is doing great watching your body movements, you can begin pivoting your body to ensure he is walking on the side of your preference. This exercise is not meant to allow our dogs to pull on leash, but it is meant to give them a temporary handicap. It is a way to help transfer the movements we practiced in front of us in Stand on Leash to one side of us. Your job with this exercise is to make sure your dog is always on the correct side.
    You can start to slow down the rate of reinforcement. Remember to use your Touch cue or your Focus cue if you start to lose your dog’s focus. And if your dog is too distracted to keep his/her attention, the environment might be too difficult, so lower your criteria (reward more often!).
    Your dog should be able to do this in every room in your house before you even consider to move outside. Start by adding lots of distracting exercises in the house. An example of that would be to put some dog food in a little container and practice walking around it. Make sure you have a person there to help manage the container just in case you get too close. Another exercise would be to put a filled KONG in the middle of the floor. You could also ask someone to drag a rope toy excitedly or toss a ball a little bit away from where you’re walking.
    Once your dog earns an A+ with lots of different kinds of distractions in your house, then you can move to the back yard and front yard. Once you reach that gold star status there, then it’s okay to begin incorporating it into your walk. When you feel it’s time to try it on a walk, do so at the end of the walk when your dog is a little more tired and less amped up.
    Some examples of loose leash walking with distractions are in your It’s Yer Choice video.
    Video: It’s Your Choice | By: Cindy Briggs
    You only need to watch from 2:46-4:03.
    Try to set aside 15 minutes a day (or 3 five minute sessions a day) to set your dog up for success and meet your homework goals for this week.

  • Name Recognition
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to respond to his/her name and reorient toward you while playing games such as Ping Pong (calling back and forth), and Cookies in the Corner (tossing a cookie and then calling with dog’s name).

Please let us know if you have any questions or if there is anything you need more clarification on.

See you in class next week!

Happy Training!