Hello Paw-lite Manners 201 Pet Degree Class!

Here is your continued practice Homework for Week 3 of Paw-lite Manners 201.

  • Door Dashing/Wait at the Door (see instructions and video below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will respond to the Wait cue at the door as you open it all the way and then shut it. You may use a long line.
    Advanced Goal: Your dog will respond to the Wait cue at a door and allow you to move through before you give the Release cue. You may use a long line.
    Please refer to the video, “Wait! There is a Snake at the Door!” Stay requires your dog to maintain the position he is in. Wait suggests a pause or halting of action until you provide a cue. Practice asking your dog to Wait while you walk 20 feet away, and come when you cue the Emergency Recall or Name Recognition. With Stay, we recommend returning to your dog and releasing while right in front. With Wait, you can Release whenever you want.
    Video: Wait! There is a Snake at the Door! (by Pamela Johnson)
    At doors: Practice at home on INSIDE doors until your dog understands well. Then move to outside doors. USE A LEASH to ensure safety, in case the dog does try to bolt out the door. Get in the habit of asking your dog to wait before you go in and out of any doors from now on (not just in the house, but at the vet, at PetSmart, in class, etc.).

    • Practice with your dog on a leash. If you prefer that your dog be in a Sit, you are welcome to cue that behavior first. However, it is not necessary for a Wait. The criteria is that your dog halts and doesn’t take a step forward when you cue the Wait. Once you have cued Wait, you can begin touching the door, turning the knob, rattling the knob, knocking on the door, etc. If your dog takes a step toward the door, just reset him or her. After each door interaction, Mark with a “Yes” and then reward.
    • Open the door slightly, Mark with a “Yes” and then reward. If your dog has trouble with this step, you can open the door and then close as a step in between. If your dog cannot be successful with the open and close method, then go back to step 1 until he or she is ready for step 2.
    • Open the door more or all the way, mark with a “Yes” and then reward. Go at the dog’s pace. If you cannot open the door all the way, that is perfectly fine. Keep your body positioned in front of your dog to provide an additional barrier between him/her and the open door. This will also help if you need to recue your dog to Wait.
    • With the door wide open, take a step toward the open door, mark with a “Yes” if your dog continues to Wait and then reward. It helps to close the door at times and start the process again so that your dog doesn’t anticipate that he or she will always be able to go through the door every time you open it.
    • Repeat step 4, increasing the difficulty until you can walk all the way out of the door while your dog remains in a Wait. Once your dog can do this, provide the Release cue. When giving the Release, there is no need to treat because being released is a reward itself.
    • Drop the leash or long line. Practice without the leash in your hand. Initially, you want to do this from step 1 again because now your dog is aware of the freedom you are trusting him or her with. When you are ready to do this without the leash in your hand and the door wide open, please make sure that you start at doors to outdoor areas that are either fenced in or have another person out there to ensure your dog doesn’t dash out. You can also try putting your foot over the leash to prevent your dog from making any mistakes.
    • Add distractions on the other side of the door or people.

  • Sit or Down Maintain/Stay with Distractions (please see instructions and the video below)
    Goal for this week: Practice Sit or Down Maintains with lots of different kinds of distractions. Do something different and challenging every day!
    Video: Fun with Stays (by Jamie Popper)
    In Paw-lite Manners 101, we mostly began to work on Stay with Duration and Distance. Next, we recommend adding the hardest D, which are Distractions. Distractions can come in all shapes and sizes and are one of the more challenging components that will help your dog be successful. A Distraction can add movement, objects, people, animals, noises, or exciting events.
    Some movements that your dog may find challenging while remaining in Stay are as follows:

    • Jumping Jacks
    • Dancing
    • Sitting on the ground or laying on the ground
    • Running away from your dog
    • Going to the door, opening it, and then closing it
    • Picking up a leash or harness and putting it on your dog

    Some objects that your dog may find challenging while remaining in Stay are as follows:

    • A tennis ball in your hand
    • Tossing a tennis ball up in the air and catching it
    • Throwing a tennis ball behind your dog
    • A squeaker toy in your hand (i.e., tossing and throwing it)
    • Throwing one toy after another toward your dog
    • Sweeping, vacuuming, or dusting

    Saying hello to people in your family who are coming through the door while maintaining a Stay is one of the most challenging things for friendly dogs. We recommend starting small with this and ask for short integrals with the Stays while giving frequent Releases so that you don’t make it too challenging for your dog. You can also have your dog stay while the person approaches and then Release your dog when the human is about 4 to 6 feet away. Over time, work up to your dog remaining in Stay for the entire greeting, even while being talked to by the human or pet by the human.
    You can practice Stays with other animals on walks or while passing a dog park. When you see a dog in the neighborhood or dogs playing together in a social setting, make sure you are a comfortable distance away before cueing the Stay. Over time, you can work up to getting closer to other animals, but you may have to start from a distance away initially.
    Some noises that your dog may find challenging while remaining in a Stay are as follows:

    • Doorbells
    • Door knocks
    • Squeaker toys
    • Opening the front door and pretending to greet a stranger with, “Hello; how are you?”
    • Other animals (e.g., dogs, pigs, horses, goats, cats, guinea pigs, etc.)
    • Car doors or beeping
    • Garage door

    Some exciting events that your dog may find challenging while remaining in a Stay are as follows:

    • Greeting people at the door
    • Watching a person running, jogging, or skating
    • People on bikes or scooters
    • Kicking a soccer ball around
    • Watching you eat dinner
    • Putting a bowl of food down on the floor
    • Open bags of treats tossed on the floor
    • Accepting a KONG
    • Tossed food on the floor

    When adding distractions, it’s important to mark with “Yes” and reinforce immediately after the distraction occurs when you are first introducing it. For example, if you put your dog in a Stay and then start to show the dog a toy, mark with “Yes” and then reward after the toy appears. Over time, you can add duration with distractions by lengthening the period of time in between rewards and start to play around with distance. However, when you first begin to introduce low level distractions, mark and reward as soon as the distraction happens. If your dog breaks the Stay more than once, you may find it best to go back a step or two or make it a little bit easier.

  • Drop It/Get It (see video and NOTE below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will release the toy during play without a food lure.
    Recap of Drop It/Get It Video: Teach your dog to Drop (by Kikopup)
    Here are some examples of impulse control games you can play with Drop It/Get It or other skills you have taught your dog: The Power of Tug for Dog Training | Heel, Impulse Control, Drop, Take It (by Greatest K9)
    NOTE: Practice training in impulse control exercises during play. If your dog likes to play tug or chase a flirt pole, get him or her super amped up and excited about the toy with lots of positive praise and encouragement, and then ask your pup to Drop It. We want the response time to be quick. This is a great Jazz Up/Settle Down exercise. How fast can your dog respond to the Drop It cue while excited?
  • Heel – Step 2: Adding Duration or More Steps (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to get in close with a cue (i.e., hand or verbal) and will begin walking with you in Heel position for six to eight feet, halting and sitting when you come to a stop.
    Practice in a low distraction environment. It helps if you have a bit of room to move around. Try the garage, a long hallway, or the back yard. This week we want to continue to reinforce our dogs for getting into heel position, but now we will be adding more duration to the focused heel.
    Start by getting your dog into position. When you start to walk, rapidly treat your dog for staying with you as you walk. You can also try talking to your dog as you heel. This will frequently get your dog to look up at your face, which is a bonus. If your pup is looking at you, he or she isn’t aware of the surroundings. This means your dog is more focused on you and less likely to become distracted.
    As you progress through the week, try to wean off the treats by varying your reinforcement. Reward every 2 steps, then every 5 steps, then every 6 steps, then every 3 steps, then every 10 steps, then every 4 steps, etc. The goal is to be able to heel for 15 steps and only give a single treat at the end. However, we do not expect you to be able to do this right away. Take your time.
    Remember to use lots of praise as you do this.

    • Keep the reinforcement high. Mark with a “Yes” and treat your dog for walking in position next to you. Reward up high and in close to your body. [NOTE: Placing the reward up high and close to the body helps keep focus on the handler’s face and shoulders, especially while moving.]
    • Ask dog to set up. Say “Heel” and take a step forward. Praise, mark with a “Yes, and then treat after two steps. Take two more steps, praise, mark with a “Yes,” treat, and throw a party.
    • Ask dog to set up. Say “Heel” and take steps forward. Praise and talk to your dog for five steps. Mark with a “Yes,” treat, praise, and walk five more steps. Ask for a halt-sit, mark with a “Yes,” treat, release, and throw a party.

    Choose to Heel: Go to a non-distracting environment that is fully fenced: The back yard or a tennis court is preferable. Allow your dog to be off leash, and walk in a large left circle at a brisk pace. When your dog gets into heel position, drop a treat behind your left leg, say “Get It,” and keep walking. Continue walking in a circle; when your dog finds his or her way to heel again, drop another treat directly behind you. Remember to say, “Get It” after dropping the treat as we do not want our dogs to think they can regularly pick up food off the floor unless we have cued them to do so. This is one of the only exercises where we will permit dogs to eat the food from the ground at this level in their training, so it is important to give consent first. The reason we are dropping the food is because we are working on your dog’s drive to find heel position over and over and making it a game that is fun and exciting.

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.

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!