Week 5 Homework

 

NOTE 1:  ALL TRAINING SHOULD BE DONE WITH TRAINING COLLAR AND TRAINING LEASH DONE.

NOTE 2:  DO NOT LEAVE TRAINING COLLAR ON WHEN YOU ARE NOT ACTIVELY TRAINING YOUR DOG.

NOTE 3:  EVERYTHING THIS WEEK SHOULD BE DONE IN LOW AND EASY DISTRACTION, UNLESS IT IS TOO VERY EASY.  IN THAT CASE, YOU CAN SLIGHTLY INCREASE THE DISTRACTION FOR SIT ON THE DOG FOR INSTANCE.  SOME THINGS YOU CAN START TO MOVE INTO THE OUTSIDE (PENNED IN) AREA FOR DISTRACTIONS OR IN YOUR YARD ON THE 6' OR LONG LINE FOR PLACE.  SIT ON THE DOG, STILL SIT STAYS, CIRCLE PLACE, SEND TO PLACE, AND LONG PLACE ARE IN THAT CATEGORY NOW.

NOTE 4:  WHEN I SAY  EASY, THIS MEANS THE DOG IS CALM, NOT PANTING, AND YOU CAN DO THE MORE ACTIVE EXERCISES FOUR TIMES IN A ROW EASILY.  NOW WE WANT TO CHALLENGE TANNER WITHOUT MAKING HIM SHUT DOWN COMPLETELY.  IT IS OKAY FOR IT TO BE HARDER NOW.

NOTE 5:  THE TEXT IN BLUE GOES TO THE LINKS OF THE DIRECTIONS OR THE VIDEOS FOR THE EXERCISES.

NOTE 6:  IF YOU DON'T GET THROUGH ALL THE EXERCISES IN ONE DAY, YOU CAN JUST BE SURE THAT THE EXERCISES YOU DID NOT GET TO ARE DONE THE NEXT DAY.   THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE, I THINK, IS THE MOLDED SITS.   HOWEVER, THEY ALL WORK TOGETHER TO START TO CHANGE BEHAVIOR.

NOTE 7:  THE GOALS ARE PLACES TO WORK TO IN THE FUTURE.  IF YOU DON'T MAKE THE GOAL, DON'T WORRY AS LONG AS YOU PUT IN THE WORK TOWARDS THE GOAL.  PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU CAN CALL OR EMAIL ME WITH ANY TRAINING PROBLEMS THAT COME UP IN BETWEEN LESSONS.

NOTE 8:  DON'T FORGET TO WORK IN THE BEHAVIORAL DOWN EXERCISE!

NOTE 9:  THINK OF WAYS TO MAKE WHAT HE CAN DO INSIDE MORE CHALLENGING FOR HIM.  YOU CAN WORK HIM OUTSIDE, YOU CAN WORK HIM WITH MEAN DOG BARKING PLAYING ON A YOUTUBE CHANNEL, YOU CAN WORK SOME THINGS IN YOUR PENNED IN AREA.  JUST REMEMBER EVERY TIME YOU INCREASE THE DISTRACTION FOR HIM, YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED TO DECREASE THE DURATION OR DISTANCE.  IT MAY ALSO BE NECESSARY TO FALL BACK ONTO FOOD, BUT AS YOU INCREASE THE DISTRACTION HE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BE CHALLENGED MORE INSIDE AS WELL.

Homework Schedule and Time Recommendations:

Behavioral Exercises That Can Be Rotated on Days:

(Example:  Mondays Sit on The Dog, Tuesdays 30 minute Place, Wednesdays Behavioral Down and so on)

1. Sit on the Dog [video] 30+ minutes  Note:  We talked about putting a blanket or soft dog bed down for him when doing this, which is fine.  Also you do not need to do this AND behavioral down in the same day.  You can rotate these two behavioral exercises on different days.  Goal:  On Week 2, you want to increase difficulty level for this a bit (and weather permitting).  Places like where he might see out a window or days where it is possible to do this outside in the yard.
2. Behavioral Down [video]  ???hopefully no more than 30 min Note:  We talked about putting a blanket or soft dog bed down for him when doing this, which is fine.  Also you do not need to do this AND behavioral down in the same day.  You can rotate these two behavioral exercises on different days.  Goal:  To have him able to complete both target behaviors easily.  To do this, you will probably need to start in a very quiet room with nothing to do.  We also talked about perhaps doing this when he is tired after a full day (though I don't normally rely on that, it sometimes helps with a particularly nosy FOMO (fear of missing out) dog.
3. Long Place with Leash Dropped [video] 30 minutes (and no need to do a five minute one on that day) Goal:  To have him be able to stay on the long place by himself with you sitting a longer distance away not holding the leash (having the leash dropped).   Once he can easily do this for 5 minutes, then it is time to start building the minutes until he can do 30 minutes (probably not this week).  Once that time starts getting longer, you can rotate this on different days with the Sit on The Dog and Behavioral Down exercises.

Obedience Commands:

1. Advancing the Still Sit Stay  with more distraction challenge  [video  the sit stays start at  11 minutes in] 5  - 10 min at the beginning and then 10 min if you get to a 1 minute still sit stay.     Goal:  Start with getting four in a row at a very low time (like 10 seconds to start) and work on the goal of building up to a minute.  Don't increase the time until you can get 4 in a row easily at a previous time though.  NOTE:  WHEN HE FIRST SITS, DO GIVE HIM A FOOD REWARD TO BEGIN WITH.  ALSO I THINK IF HE GETS THOSE COLLAR CORRECTIONS BEFORE HE GETS UP, THEN WE MAY BE ABLE TO WORK THAT INTO A SIT CORRECTION FOR SIT FIRST COMMAND.  WE ARE NOW GIVING HIM THE FOOD REWARD AFTER HE COMPLETES HIS STAY.
2. Circle Sit Stays [video] 5 min Goal:  To eventually build this up to a minute so you can get four in a row without corrections easily.  Remember that you are working one circle at a time up the ladder though.   WE ARE NOW GIVING HIM THE FOOD REWARD AFTER HE COMPLETES HIS STAY.
3. Sits with Correction [video]  5-10 min  Goal:  To eventually get to 3 sets of four in a row sits without correction (but using the correction as per the directions as needed) at first.  Then to eventually get to 2 sets of four in a row sits without correction or food reward.  BE SURE TO PRACTICE THE CORRECTION INSIDE UNTIL YOU CAN GET THREE SETS OF FOUR IN A ROW WITHOUT CORRECTION OR TREAT (MEANING YOU NEED TO USE THOSE AS NEEDED)  OUTSIDE, YOU CAN PRACTICE YOUR CORRECTIONS WITH TREATS, AND JUST GET HIM DOING THIS IN YOUR YARD OR ON A NOT SO DISTRACTING WALK.
4. Circle Place with Long Line or Leash Dropped in increased distraction  [video] 10 min  Goal:  To work the circle place so you can circle him for a minute (4 times in a row) inside increasing the distance with the 6' leash dropped (in other words, you are not holding the handle).  
5. Long Place with Long Line or Leash Dropped in increased distraction [video] 5 min (unless you did the 30 min one, and then you don't need to do this one) Goal:  To have him be able to stay on the long place by himself with you sitting a longer distance away not holding the leash (having the leash dropped).   Once he can easily do this for 5 minutes, then it is time to start building the minutes until he can do 30 minutes (probably not this week).  Once that time starts getting longer, you can rotate this on different days with the Sit on The Dog and Behavioral Down exercises.
6. Heel without Luring (you can do lured heel outside, but work on the non lured heel inside for the mechanics)  [video] 5 to10 minutes Goal:  Simply to be able to sustain his position while walking for 5 to 10 steps and then have him sit at the end, but now your treat hand is hidden behind your back.  
7. Quiet [video] 5 min Goal:  To be able to get four in a row of the dog being quiet after the "quiet" command is given and you can get directly to "yes" release word followed by food reward.  REMEMBER THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS MORE CHALLENGING, BUT NOT OVERWHELMING.  FOR INSTANCE, PRACTICE IN YOUR PARKED CAR FIRST, AND WORK UP TO GETTING FOUR IN A ROW.  IT MAY NOT HAPPEN IN YOUR FIRST FEW SESSIONS, BUT JUST MAKE SURE YOU PRACTICE IT IN A CHALLENGING BUT NOT TOO OVERWHELMING DISTRACTION AND/OR ENVIRONMENT.