#i arrive

Attitude

Attitude matters most - look at what your dog does good

Focussing only on the negative is toxic for you both

Treat your dog like they’re going to be a grand champion!

3 things to look for in choosing obedience dogs

desire to be close to a person

food drive

play drive

(need to motivate all 3 on occaisons)

can have an obedience dog with only two or one from the list, will just be slower going

Accept what your dog is

work with what you’ve got

can still improve and push by inches to improve dog 

there will be things your dog enjoys, find it (obedience, rallyo, agiliy, tracking, noseworks, lure, barn hunt, disc, dock, mushing, weightpull)

there will be things your dog is not good at/doesn’t enjoy, accept this

No/minimal food drive?

feed meals from hand and build value

work for their food

kongs/wobblers can help build this food drive

No/minimal play drive?

only leave a couple of chew toys laying about

high value chews/tugs only with you

PLAY WITH YOUR DOG

To click or not to click and how to click

consistent and precise + dopamine release

CLICK ALWAYS EQUALS A REWARD - charge your clicker

clickers are good for teaching new things, refining precision, freeshaping

clickers are not so good for daily tasks - can decharge your clicker

benefits of 3rd party clicker/spotters

like a clicker - “no” markers i.e. try again

Ways to use a clicker

click and stay in position, trainer goes over to reward

click is also a release marker

click, release to break out of behaviour and reward - makes for more powerful motivation

e.g. dog is in distance position, click, dog holds position but is now amped up, say release, the release is a pressure reward as well, give dog reward

Benefits of free shaping

teach dog to be proactive and confident

teach dog to think creatively and offer more behaviours

teach dog to problem solve rather than always telling dog what to do

Engagement

encourage the dog to push you - but don’t create too much push

have a “start” and “end” cue for working to counteract pushing

this can be a special collar or some phrases

don’t force yourself on the dog for engagement - the more you force yourself on the dog, the less engaged they will get

How to charge a working collar

like charging a clicker - put collar on, give a bunch of treats/play, take collar off

after week of this, put special collar on and dont give treats/play, wait for dog to look up at you - THEN treats/play

collar to have different texture/feel than other collars? ask trainer

can also use phrases instead of special collar e.g. “play” to start and “done” to end.

When rewarding a dog (notes not so thorough here, as Thyme started freaking out)

have silence when asking for a command, explode with happy and enthusiasm on release

make sure you have movement with food, don’t be boring and static!

teach dog skill of actually following food - USE BOTH HANDS

teach engagement with food or toy - when luring with a toy, show toy first

start up nice and slow and build enthusiasm for following treats in hand

great aid for happy passionate flashy heeling

Engagement session with 10week old GSD puppy (police dog lines, niece to trainer’s dog, training to be hearing dog)

get dog active with the toy

use power of chase

let dog have easy wins to build confidence - let them think they are the strongest dog in the world!

want dog to bring toy to you - want dog to push you

switch toys to encourage dog returning with toy

quit when dog brings toy back to you - use your finish cue

BE FAIR TO THE DOG - when dog outs the toy, reward with a treat or another toy

when dog is letting go - wait till dog releases by choice, do NOT fight for the toy

Pressure - ne-po-po

Negative (pressure) - positive (release from pressure) - positive (reward)

(This is totally how BAT 2.0 works, only the pressure is the trigger!)

Pressure should always be GENTLE - a simple touch

when teaching pressure, pair with a lure

stay nice and calm - you do not want to correct the dog, you are teaching that pressure can be a cue like verbal and physical signs

slim slip leads are good for pressure learning, more exact

teaching pressure can help make movement flashier with minimal movement from trainer

I’m intrigued by this as I’ve seen similar from horse training from a particularly interesting video by what I understand is a thoughtful horse trainer who uses the smallest pressure movements to teach horse pressure and release

Research: more into how this can translate into LLW

Flip heel pressure

(see diagram in notebook)

dog must already know flip heel

pull leash gently across your body as you give verbal command

release pressure as dog sits in final position

do this even if dog is distracted - keep the pressure slightly on until the position is done, but do not re-cue verbally

Focus steps

mark and reward for looking in eyes not outward hands holding treats

hold hand up high when heeling with reward

focus from between commany - head way up

hold hand to side of dogs head with treats while heeling

hand to side without rewards

spins from heel to straighten a forging/crabbing dog - this is the working slot we did

don’t reward out front or from right hand

don’t reward too fast or dog will forget they’re heeling and forge forward

lure into a spin

don’t lure outwards - lure sidewards and reward dog like they’re a champion

(see diagram in notebook)

teaching backwards

use both hands

tuck under the dogs chin - but not too low so the dog doesn’t drop

use the pressure of your body by tilting forward ever s slightly to encourage steps back

(see diagram in notebook)

Heeling summary

do one step at a time, focus on the individual parts

use inbetween legs to work on focus, straightening and pivoting

encourage following food

eye contact

reward dog to follow your foot

Indirect rewards - not many notes here, Thyme had another panic

can be treats or toy

a third person helps

but can have toy laying about

Refining position changes

(I can see this particular method being very helpful for grooming

Puppy push ups using luring and GENTLE pressure

SIT - STAND - DROP - SIT

use your hand with treat to lure, but as luring, gently touch (GENTLY, the slightest feather of a touch, teaching a new cue)

touch bottom - sit

touch tummy - stand

touch shoulders - drop

usually use a box or table to help dog stay straight

this is similar to the slip lead early - GENTLE PRESSURE not correcting!

the pressure/touch comes off when fully in position - this is similar to ecollar training in regards to timing and pressure release

Pressure - MUST BE GENTLE AND SUBTLE

you want the dog to respond to feather light touches, to tune into you

Walking backwards to improve heeling

helps improve a dog’s focus, especially for position changes

heel backwards - the human position changes but the dog position does not (on your right instead of left but you are still on THEIR right shoulder)

put dog into position and keep moving backwards

only release dog when dog is focus on you

this encourages the dog to maintain focus so they can get the reward

use a physical indicator of release instead of verbal to encourage focus further

Research: When to help vs when not to help your dog

Pros and cons of your puppy’s fear period starting in a workshop

Pro: Surrounded by 8 professional dog trainers, 3 behaviourists, 5 trainer trainees and other assorted dog people, got fear-period-related-specific-guidance

Cons: Only worked him once, kept getting distracted from listening to trainers by putting their suggestions to manage him through his fear

He was particularly bad at the start where he was shaking incredibly hard and kept trying to run away. But by the middle he was mostly settled if overly-vigilant so we got to work him once

don’t coddle overly, keep yourself calm and casual

don’t let him retreat/run away - but dont force him closer either

wait for him to think it through and move forwards - give reward for calming and/or approaching

e.g standing far behind me, comes to my side and settles down = antler