Week 6 Maintenance and Homework

 You will want to keep working with Winston so he can be easier to handle as he grows up.   This is maintenance work.  You do not necessarily need to do an hour a day.   Be sure you rotate your exercises if you do less.   At a later date (when he looks like he definitely knows what he is doing), you could do 15 minutes to 30 minutes a day with him.   Some of those days might just be the behavioral "Sit on the Dog" or "Long Place".  Just be sure to maintain this.   Even if you need to do more grown-up training later on, this will make it MUCH easier for you.


NOTE 1:   PUPPY SHOULD ALWAYS BE TRAINED ON LEASH, EITHER DRAGGING OR IN HAND.  IF YOU ARE OUTSIDE, KEEP THE LEASH IN HAND ON YOUR PUPPY (UNLESS YOU ARE IN A SAFE FENCED IN PLACE).

NOTE 2 IMPORTANT:  NEVER LEAVE ON THE METAL TRAINING COLLAR WHEN NOT TRAINING.  IT CAN CATCH ON SOMETHING AND CHOKE YOUR DOG.

NOTE 3:  FOR THE LURING, PLACE AND HEELING EXERCISES THE PUPPY SHOULD BE WELL RESTED (IDEALLY HAVE TAKEN A NAP) AND NOT HAVE ANY PLAY OR LONG WALKS IMMEDIATELY BEFORE TRAINING.

NOTE 4:  EXCEPT FOR" SIT ON THE DOG" AND "PUPPY RELAX FOR EXAM" EXERCISES, 5-10 MINUTES SHOULD BE PLENTY TO TRAIN THE PUPPY.  IT SHOULD CERTAINLY BE NO LONGER THAN 10 MINUTES AT EACH SESSION.  HOWEVER, PLAY TRAINING SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN 5 MINUTES AT THIS POINT (AND CAN BE LESS).

NOTE 5:  TRAINING THE PUPPY WITH THEIR KIBBLE AT MEAL TIMES IS AN IDEAL TIME TO TRAIN THE LURED SITS AND DOWNS, PLACE, AND LURED HEELING EXERCISES.

NOTE 6:  ALWAYS BE IN A GOOD CALM MOOD BEFORE TRAINING, AND KEEP THAT THROUGH THE TRAINING.   PUPPY TRAINING IS VERY LOOSE.  YOU WILL GET THERE AND YOUR DOG WILL GET THERE.  DON'T BECOME FRUSTRATED.  SOME DAYS WILL BE HARDER THAN OTHERS EVEN AFTER YOU GET GOING.

NOTE 7:  FOOD DELIVERY SHOULD BE IN CLOSED HAND UNTIL YOU SAY YES AND/OR THE DOG BACKS OFF FROM YOUR HAND.

NOTE 8:  SCHEDULE TWO NAP TIMES FOR YOUR PUPPY EACH DAY.  

NOTE 9:  THE BLUE LINKS GO TO EXERCISE DIRECTIONS AND VIDEOS.

Calming Exercises (Rotate these "Sit on The Dog" and "Long Place" - Monday "Sit on The Dog" Tuesday "Long Place" Wednesday "Behavioral Down):

  1.  (SAME) Sit on The Dog 30 + minutes Goal:  To get your dog to lay down on their own steam in five minutes or under and get them used to learning how to chill next to you for a period of time.  ROTATE ON OPPOSITE DAYS WITH "LONG PLACE."

  2. (SAME) Long Place 30 minutes Goal:  Just to get your dog start to get used to staying on the place.  If your dog manages to step off, you do not need to reset the exercise.  Week 2-3 Change:  Drop leash and sit further away.  Also we are going to start practicing the full 3 minutes.  ROTATE ON OPPOSITE DAYS WITH "SIT ON THE DOG".

  3. (SAME) Behavioral Down 5-10 minutes  (hard to predict due to difficulty) Goal:  To have puppy be calm when you stop and stand on his leash (with no pressure) by going into a down mode and having his chin on the ground.

  4. (SAME) Puppy Exam 15 minutes. Goal:  To teach the puppy to relax when handled.  You want to get to the point where your puppy is so relaxed, they basically nods off through the different body part touches.

OBEDIENCE EXERCISES:

Start practicing these under some distractions.  I am going to include some audio file links that you could use below:

NOTE:  OUTSIDE IS NOW ADDED TO THESE DISTRACTIONS FOR TRAINING.
Other things you could use are:
  • Opening and closing of doors if you either have an assistant OR your puppy can keep their sit stay while you are doing it (or their place).
  • Outside in the yard (if there is any yard to practice in or sheltered outdoor area like a porch or garage with the door open.
  • Family moving around doing chores (be sure you keep the puppy in your eyeline)

  1. (NEW) Strategies for teaching Winston to Walk on Loose Leash Outside 15-30 minutes  Goal:  To start getting to Periods of Winston understanding the leash should be loose and eventually loose under distractions (kids, dogs, and so on).  I have used a dog named Maggie as an example below (on the road outside).

     

    First part of the walk, we stopped when Maggie put pressure on the leash and then went when Maggie came in a little.   So we started with the easiest on Maggie and her handler first.


    DO NOT do this one if you have balance issues.  The leash is held behind your legs when a dog is not quite ready to heel or walk loose leash.  We do this when we want to train mostly on distractions and not form per say.  

    In about the middle of our walk, we worked Maggie on lured heels both step 1 and step 2 as needed (depended on her level of distraction).


    Then we worked on Maggie's still sit stays to get her used to staying still with outside distractions.







    (when you are outside, your puppy is more excited and engaged, so you can usually get away with working longer).  
  2. (SAME) Start of the Spin Trick for Following Your Hand  Less than 5 minutes Goal:  To get your puppy to start moving their body with your hand (eventually to make the entire circle to start).  Week 6:  Practice luring outside when doing the heel for instance.  This is to get him to sit in the right position at the beginning and end of heel.   That sort of concentration teaches dogs to focus better in distractions.

  3. (SAME) Play Training Fetch the Ball 3-5 minutes  Goal:  To get the dog returning to you when they have the ball.

  4. (CHANGE) Let's Go 5 minutes or less Goal:  To get three sets of 4 in a row.  Week 6 Change:  Practice this Outside with Outside Distractions (if weather is bad or something gets in the way with that, practice inside).



  5. (SAME) Play Training  with Tug 3-5 minutes (or even less) Goal:  At first is just to get the dog excited about the game.  You want them wanting more when you end the game NOT worn out completely.

  6. (CHANGED)  Luring Exercises (sit,  attention to name, leave it Down from Standing, Stay,   and Lured Heeling Step 2.) 5 -10 minutes Goal:  To just get your puppy used to the commands and responding to being lured by your hands and food (or receiving food reward for "leave it").  Week 6 Change:  Start practicing these outside with Winston as the distraction.

    Sit:

    Attention to Name:

    Circle Sit Stay:

    Down from Standing:

    Lured Heel Step 2:



  7. (SAME) Send to Place 5 minutes or less Goal:  To eventually be able to get three sets of four in a row (good performance).  Don't worry if you don't get to that this week.   Mainly focus on the four in a row and keep the time short.  Week 6:   Now that the weather is getting better, you might want to practice this outside as well.


  8. (SAME) Circle Place 5 minutes or less Goal:  Eventually get to a minute (not this week).  Just go slowly one circle at a time once the puppy masters each number of circles four times in a row (four send to place and then circle).  Week 6:  Now that the weather is better, you might want to start practicing this outside as well.

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