Clean Run - May 2017 - 22

you are free to focus on effective marking and rewarding of desired behavior.
For Step 1, an assistant to manage
the distraction is desirable; however,
you can work alone by presetting the
distraction in your training area and
then moving your dog into the training area to begin training.
An efficient distraction urges a calm,
steady pull in a forward horizontal or
downward direction that keeps the
dog's feet on the ground. The reason for
prompting this type of pulling is that
the dog's moment of choice to cease
pulling will be well-defined to the dog.

* Less than three repetitions? Try a
slightly more desirable distraction,
attempting to gain a few more repetitions before moving to Step 2.
Step 1 is complete when the dog cannot be prompted to pull toward a minor
distraction. Some dogs will be looking
at the distraction while choosing not to
pull, while others will look to you when
choosing not to pull.
u Watch this video of a tether session
ending in a puppy choosing not to pull
at https://youtu.be/ZnfY9483x5M or
from the May 2017 playlist on the Clean
Run Magazine YouTube channel.

Step 2: Handler Applied Directional Collar Cues (Handler Stationary)
The goal of Step 2 is to prompt a few
steps of movement from the dog in a
variety of directions using light contact
collar pressure cues.
You will create directional pressure cues
to the collar for the dog to actively release that pressure (moving in the direction of each cue). Your feet will not
move during the applied collar pressure
cue. This ensures the dog is moving in
response to only the collar cue, not just
following your body movements.
Initially making certain there are no
other handler cues that may prompt the
dog to move is important for success. It
is easy for the dog to move in the direction they see your feet or hands moving
as you apply a cue. The dog will then not
notice these new cues.
It is recommended to use a short leash
(2 to 3 feet long) in Step 2 for ease of
handling. Holding the leash quite short
initially makes it easier to apply effective
directional cues without excessive hand/
arm movements that distract the dog.
Holding the leash as short as is possible
while still having no contact pressure on
the dogs' collar is a good guide for Step 2.
Applying Fixed Directional Pressure

You are looking for a calm, steady
forward or downward pull.

You will use the leash to apply a specific
level of pressure to prompt the individual dog to react and move in the desired direction (a direction in which he
has room to move), but you must apply
fixed direction pressure rather than pulling pressure.

Training Step 1
* Select a training area that is free of
distractions other than the intended
distraction.

This is the most difficult aspect of collar
cue training for handlers.

* Tether the dog to an immovable object.
* Use a distraction to prompt the dog
to pull into their collar.
* Click/mark the moment the dog
chooses to cease pulling and reward.
The dog's initial choices to decrease
pull may not fully loosen the leash,
but those efforts should be marked
and rewarded. As the dog realizes the
reward for those small efforts, they will
make more dramatic efforts to fully
loosen the pressure against their collar.
* Repeat until the dog chooses not to
pull toward the distraction.
22

Some dogs will look at the distraction while choosing not to pull, while
others will look to the handler.

Note: You can elect to continue to click/
reward for choosing not to move toward
the distraction, with a goal of improving
the dog's behavior around distractions.
Just realize you are working on another
behavior (impulse control around distractions) and are no longer training toward collar cue behavior.

The human instinct is to keep pulling. Applying fixed directional collar cue pressure
requires an initial pull (to create the pressure), then fixing that pressure in space
(so the leash does not continue pulling
as the dog begins to release pressure).
Envision a parking meter that the dog is
tied to. The dog begins pulling and then
chooses to stop pulling; the parking meter does not move as the dog releases
even a slight amount of collar pressure,
the meter remains fixed and immovable. This gives the dog instant information and reinforcement for yielding.
Clean Run | May 17

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - May 2017