Class 11/10/2014

TRAINING LOG Date: 11/12/2014 "Pooch Academy" Obedience Class Class Trainer: Erin Schneider, CPDT-KA Duration: 1 Hour 7:45-8:45 Pm Homework/Summary: We started class by having our dogs settle on the mat as soon as you arrived. We will start every class this way. I will provide towels every week, but feel free to bring your dogs mat or bed to class. You can practice this behavior at home by doing the following. Have your dogs bed or mat close to where you are working Give your pup a Kong or other chew Have a bowl of treats (or kibble) near you so that you can give a treat to your pup when they are doing a good job staying settled on their bed. You may have to reinforce often at first, gradually cutting back. Make sure to reward often enough to keep the behavior well oiled. We gave our dogs a bark bonus. Every time they hear another dog bark (or a loud noise) and they DON'T bark, they get a treat. We are really trying to instill good, calm behavior in our dogs. You can also practice this at home or outside on your walks. Next, we worked on down and building reliability. Your dogs did very well with this, especially with all the distractions in class. We worked on the following with down. Different positions: We practiced asking for down in different positions. When practicing at home, practice while standing, sitting, laying on the ground, laying on the couch, turning your back to them, etc. This will help in making it more reliable. Distance: We practiced adding distance to down. When practicing at home, tether your dog, or have someone hold onto the leash. Start by being right next to them and asking for a down. Once they are consistently doing it, you can start building some distance. Go slow, only take a few steps at a time. Remember to always come back to your dog to reward them. If they are struggling, that means you have gone too far. Take a few steps back towards them and repeat. Distraction: We had plenty of distraction just by being around all the other dogs in class. When your dog has a very reliable down, you can start practicing outside. First, practice in your yard, then build up to parks, etc. Verbal/Hand signals: You can also build reliability by teaching your dog down with a verbal cue and a hand signal. We practiced by using verbal and hand signal together and then only using the verbal or only using the hand signal. We worked on teaching our pups stand. We practiced from both a sitting and down position. Get your pup in a sit or a down Put a treat right in front of their nose Slowly move the treat away from their nose Once they are standing on all 4 paws, say your marker work and treat Once they are standing consistently 8 out of 10 times, add the command "stand" Next, we worked on some socialization. We need to teach our pups to be comfortable with the types of handling involved in grooming. Brushing, cleaning ears, brushing teeth, and trimming nails are important tasks in taking care of dogs. Our job is to make our dog's first experiences with these things as pleasant as possible. Practice doing the following. Brushing: Show your puppy the brush, allow him to investigate the brush and offer him a treat. Then brush him a few times, treating after each stroke. Ear Cleaning: Show your puppy the cotton ball and allow him to investigate. Lift the ear and treat. Lift the ear, do a quick swab with the cotton ball, treat. Repeat on the other ear. Nail Trimming: Pick up your puppy's paw and treat. Pick up your puppy's paw and squeeze lightly, treat. Pick up your puppy's paw, squeeze lightly, and briefly hold a nail. Treat Show your puppy the clippers and allow him to investigate. Touch the clipper to the nail, but no clipping. Treat. Once you are ready to cut a nail, be careful not to clip too far. We want our dogs to have nothing but positive experiences. Practice clipping a nail once a day before dinner. Dinner can be a big reward. Teeth Cleaning: Show your puppy the toothbrush, allow your pup to investigate. Treat. Gently grab your puppy's snout and treat. Grab the snout and lift one lip and then the other. Treat. Lift the lip again and touch your puppy's toothbrush to the teeth. Treat. Lift the lip and do one quick stroke with the toothbrush. Treat. Next, we talked about canine communication. As promised, here's the video on dog body language that I think is very good and well done: dog body language video. I have also attached some more information for you to look over. We finished up class with our real world exercise by "going" to the vet office. We practiced getting our dogs to stay in a down while we filled out paperwork. We then had them visit the vet for a checkup. Your puppies got yummy treats while being petted and touched.