Let us think of dog training as building a house we need to learn the building blocks of dog training.
When building a house you need a good foundation, without that foundation your house would fall apart. So in the beginning you have to go slow, and make sure your concrete has cured before you put in support beams. Think of your lure as your concrete. Once your dog is able to be lured into position, you can then begin naming your cue and adding a hand signal to your cue. Your dog doesn’t know the cue just yet, but the knows the lure (when I get into this position I get my reward).
Once your dog is in position, remember to mark it (we talked about that in another post). Failure to mark the behavior results in confusion. So once we have gotten our lure, started naming the cue and marking it, then practice! Practice is part of our support beams those building blocks of dog training. We need to practice at first (main beams) in a low distraction area. Once we are sure all of our support beams are in place we then want to practice in our backyard (interior walls). We need to make sure the interior of our house is stable before we add the exterior. Do this by practicing (conditioning) in low distraction areas building into more distractions. We don’t want to go straight from our living room into a park. Set yourself and your dog up for success!
Next we want to practice our cues on our walks or in people parks where distractions are (far enough away for them to pay attention and still be successful). We continue to use those building blocks of dog training by generalizing where we are training. If your dog only does sit in your living room, they will only know sit in your living room. My family and I work with our dogs everywhere! Dogs followed me into the bathroom…cool we can do a down. They followed me upstairs, they can sit. Oh they want to hang out with me on the couch, they can do a go lay down. Before they eat, they can wait. I’m sure you get the picture.
Our roof comes into place when you see that success. You have been working for months and finally they are doing cues on command! Woohoo! Here’s then next part you have to remember… Having a house means maintenance, if you do not do preventative maintenance on your house you will have some expensive repairs down the road. So, spend a few minutes everyday working with your dog. Make conditioning/training fun! If you are having fun, you are more willing to keep up the work.
Happy dog, happy life!
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