Hello Paw-lite Manners 101 Pet Degree Class!

Here is your continued practice Homework for Week 3 of Paw-lite Manners 101.

  • 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.
    Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Your dog will be able to do a Down with only the verbal Down cue; and with only the hand cue while you have a toy in your hand as a distraction.
    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!
    Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Your dog will be able to leave a treat on the floor when you say Leave It. Work up to not having to cover it with your foot.
    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.

  • 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.
    Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Your dog should be able to turn and look at you for 3 seconds when you use the Focus cue from 4 feet away.
    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.

  • 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.
    Graduates of Puppy Pet Degree: Work up to 25 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.

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!