Hello Puppy Pet Degree Class!

Here is your continued practice Homework for Week 1 of Puppy Pet Degree

PLEASE NOTE the goals below might sound like a lot to work on, but your dogs did so well in class that all you need to do is continue to reinforce the behaviors. If you set aside 15 minutes a day (or 3 five minute sessions a day), we are confident that every dog in class will meet the goals with no problem. And if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask us by emailing godogsoviedo@gmail.com or calling us at 407-366-6738 our normal business hours, Mon-Thu 7:30AM-5:30AM.

The skills we worked on in Week 1 are as follows:

  • Touch/Hand Target (please see the instructions and video below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to do Touch from at least 6 feet away.
    Video: Teaching a Nose Target – Touch Your Hand | By: Donna Hill
    Learning how to “target” can come in handy for your dog. If you want a dog to move in any direction and he or she knows how to target, you can just move your hand to where you want the dog to go. The criteria is that the dog touches your hand with his or her nose.

    • Hold your hand directly in front of the dog’s nose. Mark the behavior with (“Yes”) and reward.
    • When the dog is consistently putting his or her nose to your hand at least 80% of the time, hold your hand in different positions near the dog (i.e., left side of the face, right side of the face, near the shoulder, out to your side, etc.)
    • When your dog is consistently putting his or her nose to your hand from many different angles around the face and body, say “Touch” just before you put out your hand to introduce the verbal cue.
    • Increase the level of difficulty by holding your hand in small increments further away from your dog and cue “Touch.”

  • Name Recognition (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to respond to his/her name and move toward you from across the room.
    We say our dogs’ names all the time. It’s important to build a positive association to hearing this very special word. If they are ever in a dangerous situation, you will likely say their name first. Practice pairing it with treats at least 5 times a day so that his/her immediate reaction is to turn and come to you when you say his/her name. The criteria is that your dog will not only reorient toward you, but come all the way to you. This is the first step of Recall and it is one of the life skills we recommend you practice for the rest of your dog’s life.
    One of the most common pitfalls is when we only call our dog’s name when we’re essentially punishing him or her (e.g., bringing them inside, clipping their toenails, putting them in their crate, leashing them up and taking them home, etc.). It may not look like punishment to you, but your dog will start to perceive that coming to you for his or her name means potentially unpleasant things will happen. Perception is really important when training or conditioning a dog because the consequence (good or bad) for performing a behavior will directly affect whether the dog wants to continue doing that behavior.
    To give your dog a good perception, pair the behavior with yummy, valuable treats. Don’t hold the treat out to the dog. That’s a bribe. Reach for the treat once your dog has come to you.
    As a follow up, send your dog back to what he or she was doing (as long as it’s safe) when you can. This will teach your dog that coming to you is not only rewarding, but in most cases, it will not permanently interrupt fun.

  • Focus/Eye Contact (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog should be able to turn and look at you when you use the “Focus” cue.
    Having your dog’s undivided attention is the number one key to communicating with him or her. The environment and world around dogs will always have many stimuli competing for their attention. Eye contact can also communicate and convey emotions to dogs similarly to how you do to humans. A calm expression can help a dog calm down. A hard, wide eyed expression may help to get your dog excited and amped up. If your dog has trouble calming down in stimulating situations, working on building Focus through eye contact is helpful because it teaches your dog to look to you for guidance. The more you practice it, the more you will find that your dog is offering it. As your dog becomes better at it, ask for it in various situations along with other skills he or she has acquired. For example, if you are in the habit of asking your dog to Sit or Wait before going through doors. You can now begin to add your “Focus” cue as well. Over time, dogs learn to offer eye contact as a default behavior when they want or are asking for something.

    • With a treat pinched between your thumb and middle finger, extend your pointer finger while bringing the treat and finger in a straight line up to the bridge of your nose. As soon as the dog makes eye contact, mark with your verbal marker “Yes,” and then give your dog the treat. Do this several times until you are able to hold your dog’s eye contact for at least 1 second.
    • After your dog can hold eye contact for at least a second, fade the treat out of your hand by pretending it is there and use the hand signal of your finger moving straight up to the bridge of your nose as the cue to give you eye contact. At this time, it is best not to have any distractions in the environment so that your dog can focus solely on watching you. Remember to mark with “Yes” and then reinforce your dog with a treat from some other source that is not your hand.
    • After a few consistent repetitions with your dog being able to hold eye contact with just the physical hand cue for 1 second, you can now start using the verbal cue, “Focus.” To do this, say “Focus,” and then follow up with the hand signal of bringing your pointer finger in a straight line up to the bridge of your nose. Over time, you can make sure your dog understands that “Focus” also means giving you eye contact by testing your dog (i.e., not giving the hand signal every time). If you say, “Focus” and your dog gives eye contact then that means your dog is understanding the verbal and hand signal have the same meaning.

  • Sit and Maintain (please see the instructions below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to do a Sit with only the verbal Sit cue; and with only the hand cue.
    NOTE: Remember the rule when adding in new cues: New Cue before Old Cue. “N” comes before “O” in the alphabet.

    • With a treat in hand, pinch the food treat between your thumb and finger, so that the dog can smell and lick the treat but not eat it. Hold the treat immediately above your dog’s nose, just touching the nose—do not pull your hand away from his or her nose as this will teach the dog to jump. Move your hand upward to raise the dog’s head. As your dog raises his or her head, the hind end will lower into a Sit. Mark the Sit by saying “Yes,” and then following up with the treat.
    • Do this several times until your dog begins to automatically Sit when he or she sees you have a treat and are ready to hold it to the nose. Now begin using a fake cookie. When your dog Sits, follow through with Marking and rewarding.
    • You can now teach a hand cue. We do an upward motion that bends at the elbow with your palm facing toward your face. You can start this with the fake cookie prompt and then transition into the upward motion described above. Do this until your pup is able to follow the hand cue without the fake cookie prompt. To add a verbal cue, you can start saying “Sit” two seconds before the hand cue. Over time, your dog will learn that the verbal cue and hand cue are the same thing.

  • It’s Yer Choice (please see the instructions and video below)
    Goal for this week: Your dog will be able to ignore cookies in your hand and start giving you eye contact before you relinquish a treat.
    Please NOTE that this is a silent game for the most part. We are teaching our dogs with positive reinforcement (i.e., adding something to increase the likelihood of the behavior happening again) and negative punishment (i.e., taking something away to decrease the likelihood of the behavior happening again). You don’t have to say Leave It or No! or snatch your hand away. The only actions you should be doing are picking up a cookie and hand delivering it to your dog’s mouth when he/she shows impulse control or removing access to the treats by covering them up if he/she moves toward them. This will teach your dog how to control their impulses around food.
    Video: It’s Yer Choice | By: Cindy Briggs
    The following are steps you should take:

    • Food in hand (close hand if your dog goes for the treats)
    • Food in container (drop treat back into the container if your dog goes for it when you reach for the treat)
    • Food out of container on the floor (put treat back in the container if your dog goes for it on the floor)
    • No container; dropping it or moving it around on the floor (pick it up and start over if your dog goes for it)
    • Dropping it from higher heights gradually (pick it up and start over if your dog goes for it)
    • Tossing it at them (your dog should not be attempting to steal the treats at this point)

  • S.C.E.N.T. – Handling/Collar Grab (please see the handout, “Teaching Good Health and Handling” AND the video below)
    Goal for S.C.E.N.T.: Try to touch your dog in these five places once a day with treats in hand to make it a positive experience.
    Goal for Collar Grabs: Your dog will respond happily to having his or her collar grabbed.
    Video: Collar Grab | By: Kikopup
    In addition to working on S.C.E.N.T., it is important to teach dogs to be comfortable with being handled in various situations for their safety. Collar Grabs are a Counterconditioning and Desensitization (CC/D) game that will teach your dog to be comfortable and even happy about you taking his/her collar. The collar grab should predict the reward, and not the other way around. We want your dog to enjoy being grabbed and not think of it as a punishment. If your dog is shrinking away, running from you, or biting your hands then you aren’t working on this exercise enough and might be moving too fast. It is perfectly fine to use it as a means of withholding reinforcement if your dog is too wound up, but only if the dog is comfortable and happy to have his/her collar or harness grabbed.

    • Reach for the collar, Mark with “Yes” and then reward. We start with reaching for the collar because we want to make sure the dog is comfortable with hands reaching toward them. A sign that the pup is shy is backing away, ears pinning back, and tail tucking. If the dog is shy, try reaching from the side and not straight on. Also, shy dogs tend to be more comfortable if you reach from below the chin. Once your pup is comfortable with you reaching from in front and over the head, you can move to the second step.
    • Touch the collar, Mark with “Yes” and then reward. If you can slip your fingers underneath the collar, this is even better. Make sure you touch the collar and then treat. If you do both actions simultaneously, your dog may not realize that you touching the collar is what earns the reinforcement. Change it up so that you are practicing with different hands and in different locations. Once your dog is comfortable with you grabbing the collar, you can move to the next step.
    • Grab the collar, lead the dog a step or two by gently pulling in one direction, Mark with “Yes” and then reward. If your dog is too nervous being led by the collar with your hand, you can use food to lure him or her by placing the treat at their nose as a preliminary step. Once comfortable with this, you should begin practicing without the food. Over time, make sure you practice in different locations, with different hands, and can apply pressure in multiple directions (not just forward).

NOTE: If your pup becomes mouthy, or appears uncomfortable, go back a step to build his or her confidence.

  • We are including your week 6 report card, which consists of all the scales you will be evaluated on in this class. This will help you prepare for graduation.

Also attached for your convenience:

Please let us know if you have any questions.

See you in class next week!