Read this lesson first, and then practice it with your dog. Load up your pocket (or a bag or pouch) with treats. Take your dog to an area where there won’t be a lot of distractions. Put a treat in your hand and ask your dog to sit. With your dog sitting and you squatting or sitting next to him, hold your hand with the treat about an inch from his nose and slowly move your hand straight down to the ground. Important: move your hand straight down, right below your dog’s nose, being very careful not to move it away from him as this will cause him to get up and move toward it. We don’t want that. (If...
Teaching your dog to stay involves working with three elements: Distance. Distance refers to how far you move away from your dog. Time. Time refers to how long you want your dog to stay. Distraction. Distraction refers to everything going on around your dog that is tempting her to get up. It’s best to begin with easy challenges for your dog in all three elements: short distance, short time, fewest distractions. Eventually we’ll work on each element separately, gradually increasing the degree of difficulty. Let’s get on with the lesson. Lesson 4: Teaching Your Dog to Stay Read this lesson first, and then practice it with your dog. First, load up your pocket (or a bag or pouch) with treats....
Teaching your dog to come when called is one of the most valuable lessons in this training course. It can literally save your dog’s life. A dog that comes when called can be kept away from traffic or other dangers. You can let him run at the dog park, in the woods or along the beach knowing that when you call him back, he’ll come. This training therefore gives you both more freedom. But teaching your dog to come when called is also one of the most difficult lessons—for you, not your dog. You’ll need to control your normal human tendencies and pay close attention to your body language. What you’ll be learning to do is counter-intuitive to humans,...
Read this lesson first, and then practice it with your dog. Load up your pocket (or a bag or pouch) with treats. Take your dog to an area where there won’t be a lot of distractions. While your dog is standing, put a treat in your hand, and move your hand to within an inch or so of your dog’s nose. Make sure she smells the treat hidden in your hand and is focusing her attention on it. Move your hand slowly backward, about an inch over her head, between her ears, toward her tail. Keep your hand low over her head so she doesn’t try to leap up to get the treat. As your dog watches your hand with...
Even if your dog already knows his name, please don’t skip this lesson. We promise you’ll learn something! The first thing we all teach our dogs, even before we realize we’re doing any training, is that when we make a certain specific sound, we want their attention. This “sound” is their name. That’s all it is, and that’s all it should be used for. Many dog owners tend to think of their dog’s name as more than that. They use it as a “catch-all” command with multiple definitions that vary depending on what they want their dog to do at the moment: “Max!” (Meaning “Come here!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Stop that!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Get down!”); “Max!” (Meaning “Stop barking!”); “Max!” (Meaning...
