Clean Run - June 2011 - 63

Most people feed their dogs twice a day, so a minute or two of training before meals is a reasonable expectation. It’s amazing how much difference a few minutes of quality training can make.

Stella is standing still with a tight leash.

Seven is making progress on the mat-shaping exercise. between your dog’s front feet. This will encourage your dog to focus downward as he takes the cookies. Most dogs figure out that it is just easier to lie down and let you toss cookies at them. Keep up a high rate of reinforcement (click/treat) until your dog seems to understand the requirement of staying on the mat. Remember, only bring the mat out when you are prepared to work with it. Put it away between training sessions.

Nan backs up a step and Stella moves toward her. Now the leash is properly loose. When you click a behavior you will get more of it. So click your dog for being on a loose leash and that behavior will increase. Don’t click if your dog is pulling, sniffing, barking, or jumping on you. Click only when he’s being still (sitting, down, standing) on a loose leash. Practice this exercise for 2-3 minutes at a time in an area with low distractions at first. As your dog begins to understand you can add some mild distractions or move to different locations. Mat Shaping We want to make the mat a very valuable place for the dog to be. This exercise lays the foundation for more formal stay work in the future. Reinforce any interest your dog shows in the mat when you put it down on the floor. Click and toss your treats on the mat. Then, as your dog has one foot or more on the mat and is eating the treat, click again and toss him another cookie. Move to reinforcing your dog for having all four feet on the mat (in any position). Your treats should be placed or tossed
June 11 | Clean Run

claSS Wrap-up
While we ask students if they have questions during and after each exercise, we try to allow some time at the end of class for questions as well. We always remind students that we are available by email during the week to answer questions. And we encourage them to train in as many short sessions as they can. It’s not necessary to set aside a big chunk of time to work on these exercises. In fact, most of them can happen in the context of daily interactions. Most people feed their dogs twice a day, so a minute or two of training before meals is a reasonable expectation. It’s amazing how much difference a few minutes of quality training can make. D
Deborah Jones, PhD, has taught a wide variety of psychology classes at Kent State University at Stark (North Canton, Ohio) for 15 years. Her specialties are learning and social behavior. Deb enjoys participating in dog sports and has earned advanced titles in agility, obedience, and rally on sporting, toy, and herding dogs. She is co-author (along with Judy Keller) of the In FOCUS books and DVD series. 63
http://www.DogAgilityUSA.com http://www.DogAgilityUSA.com
Clean Run - June 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - June 2011
