WEEK 6

Here is your continued practice Homework for Week 6 of Paw-lite Manners 101.

• Loose Leash Walking (please see the instructions and tips below)
  Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to Loose Leash Walk in your home with distractions.
  Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Your dog will be able to Loose Leash Walk in your yard or near your building with distractions.
  TIPS
  • Don’t forget to reward at your leg along the seam (Reinforcement Zone) so that your dog always has to come back there to get the reward.
  • Try to walk and treat at the same time. As you get better at practicing this with your dog, you want it to feel fluid and natural. Right now, it’s like trying ballroom dancing for the first time, and that’s okay.
  • Remember to hold the leash in the opposite hand of where your dog is. The hand closest to your dog should be free to give your dog hand cues or reward.
  • If your dog gets distracted and puts tension on the leash, try to take a couple of steps backward (without putting further tension on the leash with your arm) and as soon as he/she turns around that’s when you should mark and reward close to your leg.
  • Try to keep your leash around the same length every time you walk your dog so that your dog learns how much room he/she has before there will be tension. I find it’s best to put the handle of the leash on my wrist, grab a portion of the leash below the handle, and then to glue my fist with the leash to my sternum (on the opposite of the dog, of course).
  • As your dog becomes better at focusing on you, start to increase your criteria by marking/rewarding for eye contact in addition to being close to your side. It’s not imperative that your dog always be in perfect heal position. It’s okay for dogs to sniff and pay attention to other things on a walk, but they can learn to do that without pulling or putting tension on the leash. The mark/reward process is used to communicate to your dog what you like and want more of.
  • Practice 10 times before changing or increasing criteria.
  • Practice in different locations.

  NOTE: If your dog is not responding or pulling on leash, go back to the previous step so that you are setting him or her up for success and ensuring good habits are being formed.

• Puppy Push-ups (please watch the video below)
  Goal for this week: Your dog can move from a Sit to a Down, and then a Down to a Sit without a food lure.
  Video: Puppy Push Ups (by Jenny Germaine)
  NOTE: You can start out by luring if your dog is standing up in between positions. The next step would be to fade the lure and reward after each behavior: Sit>Treat>Down>Treat. Then you can start rewarding after the combination of the two behaviors: Sit>Down>Treat. And then you can start rewarding after the combination of four behaviors. Sit>Down>Sit>Down>Treat.
• Maintain/Stay (please refer to the instructions and video below)
  Goal for this week: Your dog will maintain a Sit and a Down with a distance of 5 feet for 10 seconds. Return to your dog to Release him or her.
  Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Your dog will maintain a Sit and a Down with a distance of 5 feet for 20 seconds. Return to your dog to Release him or her.
  Video: The easiest, most reliable Sit Stay at 3:30 (by Kikopup)
  • Stay with Duration
    When adding the Three Ds, we recommend starting with Duration while intermittently rewarding your dog. For example, you may ask your dog to do a 15-second Down-Stay. Before expecting your dog to maintain that Stay for 15 whole seconds, you should reinforce after every couple of seconds for continuing to maintain the behavior. Over time, you can slow down your rate of reinforcement and extend the length of time steadily. The key is to vary the length of time in between rewards. If your goal is 15 seconds, then you should not try to increase the length of time all at once. For example, you may reward after 3 seconds, then 6 seconds, then 5 seconds, then 8 seconds, then 2 seconds, then 10 seconds, and so forth. Dogs don’t realize that we are slowly increasing the length of time if we keep them guessing about when we are going to provide reinforcement.
  • Stay with Distance
    Next, we recommend adding Distance. Distance can be as simple as just leaning away from your dog or as complex as turning your back on your dog and walking completely out of sight. It’s important to start this process small and make it very simple because most of the foundation skills we teach dogs are taught right in front of you. When you begin adding Distance to any skill for the first time, it is common for dogs to become confused or to require a slow approach.
    One warm up exercise for beginning to add distance is to place one foot behind you and just lean backwards. After one second lean back with your posture straight up again and then reinforce your dog. It’s important to reinforce after every repetition to help your dog comprehend that no matter what you are doing, the required behavior is to just stay in position. It is okay to ask your dog to Stay again in between each repetition in the beginning, but ideally you should be working up to only cueing the Stay once and your dog understanding that he or she should remain in position until the Release cue is given.
    If you can lean to the side and back, then you can move on to taking one quick step backwards and then returning to right in front of your dog. Again, reinforce your dog for maintaining the Stay. Repeat the simple exercises until you can take two steps backwards and return or until you can turn your back on your dog for one second and then turn back around to face him or her the next second. If your dog gets out of the Stay at any time, simply re-cue the behavior and make sure you are not moving too fast. Multiple mishaps might mean you are adding too much Duration and Distance at once.
    Continue to add more and more steps as time goes on, but remember that building Duration, Distance, and Distractions into your dog’s obedience skills can take time and patience.

  NOTE: Remember, when you add new criteria, you should lower other criteria to make it easier for your dog. For example, if your dog has a great 20 second Sit-Maintain, you should lower the duration to 10 seconds initially when you’re ready to add distance.