your dog: a users guide -...

Book 1Handling Principles

Developed By: Kimberly Dorrington

© 2009 by Seriously Dogs Inc.All rights reserved.

This course has been specially designed to teach you how to train your dog effectively. You are encouraged to read this entire training manual as it will cover topics and subjects that are touched on in your class in more detail (you paid for it, you should probably read it!).

Training a dog is a COMMITMENT that will take TIME and ENERGY to achieve OUTSTANDING RESULTS. If your dog has developed “bad” behaviours, they are not going to disappear overnight, but you WILL achieve the training level that you desire if you commit to a training program. Practice makes perfect!

Table of Contents

Understanding Your Canine 4

Your Dog: A Users Guide 15

Relationship Test 19

Understanding Temperament 22

Exercise is not an Option 27

It’s how you use it 30

You and Your Leash 34

Exercises 36

Excerpts from the manual……

Your Dog: A Users Guide

Your dog is a complex little being. He has a personality (temperament) that is influenced by his age and his life experiences. There are several nuances within your dog’s temperament that dictate how you will successfully train your dog and what types of methods may or may not work. What is an effective training method for one dog is not necessarily going to work for the next dog. It is so important that in addition to becoming your dog’s strong pack leader, by understanding dogs in general, that you understand your dog as an individual as well.

BreedWhether you own a “mutt” or a pure breed dog, it is important to understand the type of breed that you have chosen to be a part of your life. When breeds of dogs were being developed, the dogs chosen to comprise the breed had very specific working qualities that the dog breeder wanted to improve upon. The terrier types where used for hunting vermin. A dog would not be a very effective rat killer if it shied away from being bitten or got tired after 5 minutes! So when I get complaints from owners of hyper-spastic Jack Russell Terriers, I shake my head and wonder why they are surprised. The dog comes from generation upon generation of selective breeding specifically for being relentlessly active. They are ratters!!! They have to be active, dominant and fairly aggressive to be effective at their job. The dog was engineered by people to be good at one thing. It is unfair to expect the dog not to be true to its heritage.

It is astonishing how many people choose their dog based upon its looks. People like Shiba-Inu’s because they are a small-medium dog that looks like a fox – they are boar hunters!! What kind of dog does it take to hunt down and confront a boar?! Do you know how nasty a badger is? The cute little wiener dog (Dachshund) was created by

humans to hunt them down and dig them out of their holes! Holy smokes! No wonder they are full of attitude!

Your homework is to research not only the specific purpose and job that your dog was designed for; it is also to research the types of dogs that were used to create your breed. For instance… Rottweilers are German working dogs used both in guarding and in droving. Their ancestors are………………………………...………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Book 2Foundations



This course has been specially designed to teach you how to train your dog effectively. You are encouraged to read this entire training manual as it will cover topics and subjects that are touched on in your class in more detail (you paid for it, you should probably read it!).

Training a dog is a COMMITMENT that will take TIME and ENERGY to achieve OUTSTANDING RESULTS. If your dog has developed “bad” behaviours, they are not going to disappear overnight, but you WILL achieve the training level that you desire if you commit to a training program. Practice makes perfect!

Table of Contents

Obedience: A science AND an art 4

Training Theory 8

The 3 Stages of Obedience Training 8

Generalization 9

Classical Conditioning 9

Operant Conditioning 10

Motivation for Obedience 11

How Long Should I Spend Training my Dog 13

Body Posture 14

Marker Training 14

Training Homework 21

Excerpts from the manual……

……………This brings us to obedience training. Obedience training in the dog world has evolved in such a way that there really is no excuse for dogs to be as “out of control” as they have become in recent years. There are stories of dog attacks in the media, there are arguments in every city about where dogs should and should not be allowed to be free from a leash, there are scraps between neighbours about barking dogs… Most of these issues could be remedied if people would take the time (as you have decided to do) and train their dogs. Not only train their dogs, but understand their dog’s needs and fulfil them. Obedience training a dog take a small commitment and a little bit of time, but the benefits to you and your dog are endless.

Obedience is about creating a bond and a strong relationship with your dog. It is about giving your dog, who is a pack animal, the structure and leadership and clear boundaries and expectations that he instinctually craves. Obedience training is about learning your dog’s individual personality, knowing what makes him tick and then training him based upon your understanding of who and what he is. Obedience gives your dog a job, the job that his genetics crave and through this work with your dog you end up discovering the beauty and the astonishing intelligence level of the domesticated dog.

BUT!! To obedience train your dog is not necessarily a simple task. Every dog is unique and has a personality. Learning what makes your dog tick is the job you have before you. Learning the science and the art of dog training involves understanding the theory and the principles behind the methods. There is more than one way to skin a cat, so they say. This means there are many ways teach a dog to sit and lay down and shake a paw and rollover; to teach a dog to track a scent, to retrieve a duck or to catch a bad guy. What works for one dog may not work for the next dog. By enrolling in an obedience class you have given yourself the edge in training as you have access to an experienced professional who can help you effectively train your dog.

Training an animal is no longer about totalitarianism and “my way or the highway”. On the quest for dogs that work harder, faster, better, more intensely in the world of working dogs we have discovered different forms of communications, different levels of motivation, that timing is key and that teaching a dog to use his brain and problem solve through our manipulation of marker training and engagement and conditioning we can create dogs that are interested and eager to work with us. Dog training has a serious element of science behind it as you are digging into dog psychology every

time you have a training session. It also requires a certain element of finesse. It is one thing to understand that your dog must be rewarded at a specific instance to have him understand the behaviour and repeat it for you, it is another thing to juggle your leash, your treats, how fast you tell your dog he’s doing a good job and how quickly you get the reward to him. This is where the art comes in.

This manual will help you learn the science behind training your dog. Your in-class time will help you apply the science and perfect the art.

Training TheoryWhere to start!!? There are a lot of BASCIS you need to know about before picking up your leash and training your dog. If you start messing up your foundation training it will start to show later on in your obedience when it starts to become more demanding. Your homework is to read, read, read!!

The 3 Stages of Obedience Training

TeachingObviously, your dog needs to learn what it is he has to do. In the first stage of obedience, the Teaching Stage, you actively teach your dog what you want him to do by rewarding his efforts. You use a process called “shaping” where you reward progressive approximations of the behaviour until you have achieved the behaviour that you want; sit, down, dumbbell retrieve, etc. In the teaching stage you try not to allow your dog to make many

mistakes. You want him to feel like he is capable and successful when he tries. We use a concept called “errorless learning” quite a bit in the teaching stage. Once you are 100% sure that your dog has learned the behaviour (command) that you have been teaching him, you can move to the next stage of training.

Excerpts from Training Homework…...

Sit ExtendedTo set the footwork for “stay” your dog needs to learn a little patience and compulsion control. This week you are going to teach your dog that reward is not his for the taking and that he must always come through you to achieve what it is that he wants. You are the giver of all that is good!

Sit your dog. Keep his attention on you and the cookie in your hand. Ensure that your leash is slightly slack but gathered in such a way that if he moves even 6 inches it will tighten up. Remind him to “sit” and then drop your cookie about 2 feet from your position. Your dog will likely go for the cookie and your leash will stop him. Wait. It is your dog’s choice right now. He may choose to struggle to get at the cookie. You will not let him. Through this process he will learn that compulsive behaviour will not get him what he wants. At some point your dog will either sit again, on his own, or he will stand there not knowing what to do. At this point you can give another sit command. Repeat this until your dog does not even go for the cookie when you drop it and remains sitting. Reward and release your dog when he is correct.

Repeat the above exercise:

Dropping a tastier treat Dropping treats closer

Dropping a toy Bouncing a ball Squeaking a toy

Have someone walk up to you and start talking to your dog

Have someone throw a toy past your dog

Have someone ring the doorbell.

These exercises are all natural progressions of severity of distraction. This will help your dog to generalize the command.

Once your dog has learned the Down command you can apply the above exercises to that command. The difference is that your foot over the leash will hold your dog back form the distraction.

Book 3Endurance




DistanceYou are going to work on increasing the distance between you and your dog. You are looking for longer distances, so you will likely not be able to do this at home unless you have a chunk of property. Be aware, that even if you do have the space, your dog needs to be able to stay in areas that are unfamiliar to him, so working away from home is beneficial.

Sit & Down – In all of the work you do with your dog, you need to practice both Sit stays and Down stays. It is always beneficial to work on just one first, then the other, then combine them. Your do is still a novice in obedience, so if you starts interchanging commands too soon, you cause confusion and delay (I love using this phrase from Thomas the Tank Engine!!). You need to work on the following:

(In the beginning you may want to back tie your dog on the long line as shown in class, just in case your dog decides to be bratty!)

Leave your dog and walk away:

30 ft. 40 ft. 50 ft. 60 ft.

70 ft. 80 ft. 90 ft. 100 ft +

If your dog breaks, correct your dog as shown in class. Make sure you use your negative marker and take your dog back to the original place he was in.

DistractionAs your dog becomes comfortable with staying while you leave him at a distance you are going to infuse distractions into your training. You only add distractions when the dog is well with in his threshold. For example: Your dog is great at allowing you to walk away 50 feet. He remains sitting for an extended period of time. At the 40 foot mark (well within his demonstrated threshold you add a distraction, like tossing a ball. You must gauge your dog’s reaction… does your dog JUST barely keep it together? Does he look unphased by the distraction? Does he break the command? Because you are now working your dog at a distance you don’t have the same level of control as you did when you were on the post. The key to success in training

your dog at a distance is to make him think that you always have control. This means you want to have success as much as you can! If your dog completely breaks a command when you add distractions you need to go back to posting and ensuring that the dog understands he is not supposed to break. Post him in extremely distracting situations so you are given the chance to enforce the obedience. Then you can move forward to obedience training off the post. When training you want your dog to be thinking. You want him to be trying. So, if you go beyond his threshold and he breaks he shouldn’t just blindly go after the distraction, he should realise he has made a mistake and look to you for guidance. This is the ideal in training. Once your dog understands correction you should not have to use it as a crutch, and in fact, you will find “less is more”.

Homework ChartFill in the details of your training this week:

Example:

Day Location Time Command

Distance Distraction

Monday Sportsplex

10am – 10:15am

Sit 35 ft. Frisbee

Wednesday

7-11 6pm -6:10pm

Down 60 ft. Went inside

Wednesday

Seawalk 7pm- 7:05pm

Sit 40 ft. Dog walked by, then a bike

Book 4Recall



Table of Contents

What is Recall 5

Why Don’t Dogs Listen? 5

No More Off-Leash 7

More Ranting! 8

Motivation 9

The 3 Stages 9

Recall Homework

Your New Recall 10

Fronting For Recall 12

Chaining the Recall and Fronting 14

Introducing Recall away from Home 15

How Often Should I be Training? 14

Proofing the Recall 16

Punishment 16

Motivation 17

Recall Corrections 18

Passing Distractions on Recall 20

Distance Recall 21


Recall

Homework – Step 2

Chaining the Recall and FrontingYou have been conditioning your dog to recall on a specific word. You have also been working hard on conditioning your dog to follow you and automatically sit when you run backwards and stop. Now it’s time to link the two behaviours to create one finished behaviour –recall. You are going to say your recall word the same as you have been for a few weeks now. As soon as your dog turns to come towards you, PRAISE like crazy and allow your dog to take a few more steps towards you. As your dog approaches, you are going to run backwards. This is going to stimulate your dog to follow. When you stop your dog should stop. Jack-pot your dog for this entire process.

THE DEFINITION OF YOUR RECALL WORD IS: “SIT IN FRONT OF MY FEET & LOOK AT ME!”

My dog follows me reliably, turns when I turn, sits when I stop and does not need my hands in front of me to do this.

Recall your dog from doing something not too interesting. As he approaches you are going to back up 6 steps. You have to time this so you don’t finish stepping backwards before your dog is close to you. Your dog should be as close to your legs as possible as shown in the picture to the right.

Sit your dog. Walk a moderate distance away. Recall your dog. Take the same steps backwards as above.

Sit your dog. Walk a moderate distance away. Go back to your dog. You do not want your dog to pattern train and start coming to you before you call!

Down your dog. Walk a moderate distance away. Recall your dog. Take the same number of steps backwards as above.

Down your dog. Walk a moderate distance away. Go back to your dog. You do not want your dog to pattern!

Recall your dog from sits, downs and from “uninteresting things”. You are going to slowly wean your dog from having to follow you:

5 steps 4 steps 3 steps 2 steps 1 step

NO STEPS!! YAY!!!

My dog recalls to the front of my feet and sits.

Once your dog is proficient on coming to your feet and sitting on recall command, you are going to change it up a little for him. Call him, but turn your back to him when you do so. Add obstacles for him to do around in order to find the “front” position.

Introducing your recall away from homeThis week you have to take your dog “out and about”. Here’s what you do:

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