Week 1 Homework

Your pups have finished their first week of day school with us! Yay!

We have been working through some foundational skills with your pup this week as well as starting to build a relationship with them! We have been focusing on engagement and communication skills as part of this foundation. They help everything else come smoother as we progress.

Each week I will be sending out some "homework" for you to concentrate on. This way you can follow along and start to practice some of the same principles we are teaching here at home! This is a process, so don't expect your pup to change overnight. Consistency and steady progression is what we look for!

This first week we will be focusing on basic ENGAGEMENT, which is all about your dog learning to pay attention to you. We want them to be motivated and enthused to pay attention to you as well! With your pups, we will be using food as a key to build engagement and motivation, as well as a lot of verbal praise!

Please remember to utilize feeding your dog by hand at home. In a perfect world we wouldn't have you use a bowl at all right now. Try your best! And if you are to feed them out of a bowl, feed them in their crate. If they don't finish their food, always pick it up. They will eat when they are hungry!

You can use their kibble and/or some "higher value" treats when practicing the following exercises.

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MARKER WORDS 

Please start by watching this video about marker words.

  • "YES" means "good work, you're done" (also known as a terminal marker).

  • So you will say the word first...YES...then take a step backward and have your pup come to you to take a piece of food. The action of slightly moving away from your dog will help them become even more engaged and interested in you!

  • "GOOD" means "good work, keep doing that" (also known as a duration marker).

  • You will say the word first....GOOD...then bring the food right to your dog's mouth (room service food!).

***Dont worry too much about the "Good" Marker right now. We're going to be using it more in the following weeks***

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FOOD LURE

Next, please watch this video regarding the food lure.

  • To use the food lure, you will get some pieces of food in your open hand.

  • Cover them with your thumb to create a little pocket that the food can hold in. This way your hand can stay semi-open.

  • Put the food right up to your pup's mouth, but do not give it to them! Purposely lure them around with the food in your hand. Once we get them to follow the food, we will appropriately "mark" with one the verbal markers listed above and give a food reward.

  • We use this food lure to help teach obedience positions, build confidence, and as a general way to keep them engaged with us! Eventually we will be able to fade off of using this so much, but we need to utilize it initially.

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ENGAGEMENT

Here is a video of our trainer Joe working some engagement with his dog June. In the video you will see that he is:

  • "Marking" by saying "YES", taking a step back then letting June come to his for a piece (or pieces) of food. He is doing this anytime she is engaging with him and doing something he likes! (You are encouraged to give multiple pieces of food in succession as a reward!)


Here's an additional video of him working on some of these exercises with one our students.

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FOLLOWING LEASH PRESSURE

Here is a video of Joe explaining this skill.

  • When practicing this, you can let your dog naturally get distracted, or (as I do in the video) throw food down to interrupt engagement with you. 

  • Once they get distracted you will walk the opposite way and put a little pressure on the leash. 

  • When they turn back toward you/start to yield to the leash pressure, you will mark right away with "YES" then they will come back to you and get their food reward. Make it worth it to them! Feel free to give multiple treats or little handfuls of kibble!

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HOMEWORK

  1. Start to practice saying "YES" and rewarding with food when your pup is engaging with you in any way, or doing anything that you like, but especially if:

    • They give you direct eye contact on their own.

    • They respond to their name with direct eye contact.

    • They are following a FOOD LURE properly.

    • They get lured into a sit or down position.

    • They yield/follow leash pressure.

  2. You can also start to use the "GOOD" marker as Joe showed in the engagement video. This will become more important in the following weeks as we teach more duration based behaviors. To start, you can use this when:

    • They are walking by your left side (by your left hip)

    • They are in a sit or down (and you want them to hold that position)

I hope you see that we want this engagement to be fun and highly rewarding for the dog! It's a little game in itself! Also remember you are encouraged to do these simple engagement exercises all over. Inside your home, outside and when you're out and about with your pup.

Please remember that one of the goals of the concept of "engagement" is to get your dog to understand that YOU are the most important thing around! You are going to be the one leading them through life, so we need them to pay attention to you. They are going to get distracted a lot naturally and that's ok. Keep working on building these engagement skills throughout the following weeks.