session 1

the fundamentals of off leash training... session 1

• is your dog a visual learner or audio learner?
• use of a clicker - demonstration
• review of hand signals
• basic off leash heeling

this morning was the first day of intermediate training with Marley. It was a 1 on 1 session for misc reasons. We talked about a lot of things. She told me that dog's don't obey a command (and i'm assuming this is a command they know) for 2 reasons. either they are scared or whatever they are doing at that moment is better than you. I tried to give some counter points to this, "what if..this and what if that", but it always went back to those fundamental points.

on clicker training I had a few specifics about that. I think the way she was using it was a little different than what I read on Leerburg. Leerburg site stresses that a treat always has to follow the marker... but susanne was saying that is only the case in the beginning. Also, it's ok to follow up the marker with "good boy".

I first showed Susanne what things Marley knew. With no hand signals, Marley obeyed my sit, down, stay command instantly. He also obeyed the hand touch. She told me that when I do the hand touch i should always finish with him actually touching the hand instead of me just getting him to move around in different directions. Noted. So apparently this is very impressive for a dog to obey on audio only. But because the hand signals are also very important we worked on integrating them back in.

Training started with walking him on my left as opposed to my right. I guess this is the AKC standard or something. I don't always do this but I was doing it then, I wrapped the leash around my hand as it was too long. She said that that is not good practice. With Marley I can get away with it but with a stronger dog it can damage your tendons if the dog is pulling. Noted.

I'm not sure if she was telling me to hold the leash like this all the time or just for training but basically I was told to hold the leash sort of like a bar bell with both hands. Leash loose of course. So the training began with me walking him on my left and then I would slide my hand (closest to him) down the leash, "sit", hand up... if he doesn't do it, then pull up on the leash.

It took me a few iterations to get the mechanics down of how to do this. the main point to walk away with was to have a short leash on him. when the leash is long he has too much freedom to move around. for example, his initial reaction to "hand up" was to stand up and sniff my hand. but he got it pretty quick.

Another point was that a lot of times why hand signals don't work is because the dog can't see them.

We did the same exercise with "down".

ahh... i remember why we did these 2 exercises while walking. One of the problems I told her I was having with him was that he didn't know sit from the down position, only from the standing position. then i started wondering if he only knew "sit" when he was in front of me. but he needs to know the command when he's beside me, not just in front.

Then she taught me how to train the heel command. He has to sit and stay. then I walk back a little. with my left hand I tap my side twice and lure him around my back from the right side using the leash. He's supposed to wrap around me and then he gets the treat in my left. heel on the left is the AKC standard i think. I don't think I was doing this very well. it seems a little clunky and i wasn't using any markers either to let him know he was doing it right.

When I got home we trained on this more. this is also my homework for the week.

I already knew this but training sessions should be short. 3-5 mins.

In telling susanne about our feeding ritual I went on a tangent about the "crate" command... where he goes to his crate. when I say "crate", he knows to run to his crate but most of the time he will run out and when he sees me he will run back in. She suggested that i stand next to the crate and when he gets in I immediately tell him to stay. when the exercise is over I can then give him a command like "free" or "break" to release him from the command. she liked using "free" because it's one syllable and it doesn't sound like any other word. "ok" was a common word to use but she felt it was too common of a word. I agree. this is also part of our homework.

"not now" was also a command she suggested I use when he goes on his back and wants to be petted and I don't feel like it. She reiterated the point that you should never give affection unless the dog does something. I already knew this but backed off a little after the initial phase of establishing rules. But i think need to go back to being more strict.

She was wondering what mix he was and thought he might be part border terrier. She knew of a place to get DNA testing for 150ish... i need to get that info from her next time.

things to come. he will be taught the "stop" command. "come" when i'm hiding. she called this hide and seek. I think we'll be going on walks to the mall and other areas as well. should be fun!