Clean Run - June 2017 - 15

turns around to come to you, make a huge fuss! The better
you reward the more impact it will have. Make it an EVENT-great toy play or a bunch of small treats delivered individually in quick succession.
If he ignores you in your house with little to no distractions
I would recommend beginning this drill with your dog on a
leash. Wait until he focuses on you and then have a big party
when he does. Then walk around the house rewarding him
frequently when he gives you attention. Your goal is to reward so frequently that his attention is riveted to you. What
we are doing here is simply establishing your dog's value for
you! Once he is enjoying hanging out with you, ignore him
for a moment, still keeping him on leash. When he gets a bit
distracted immediately call his name and then celebrate as
he turns back to you. If you move away as your dog is coming back to you, he will come back to you even faster. Do
more of these drills on leash until your dog is coming back
to you quickly when you call and then move on to off-leash
training in small spaces. Gradually work your way to larger
spaces. You can always use a long line if you need to.
If your dog is working well off leash, keep changing your environment and taking advantage of distractions in the house
to call him back. If a challenge is too hard, make things easier and add more value until you are able to call him off your
distraction challenges.
Your goal is to be so much fun, whether you are using treats
or toys, that any other distraction will pale in comparison.
This way if your dog is engaged in another activity or is distracted by an animal or food, he will immediately leave it to
come back to you because you are far, far more rewarding
than any darn distraction.
In regards to in-house training, I know I have reached the
level I want and need when my dog can be playing with the
other dogs in my household, I can say his name once, and he
will break off play immediately and come straight to me.
Tip: I like to place treats in containers around the house. This
way I can practice recalling my dog with his name on a whim
when I am in any room.
Take It Outside
Starting with your dog on leash, take him outside and walk
around in a low distraction area. Whenever he turns his head
away, call his name. When he turns back to you, celebrate
with treats or a toy.
Progress this drill to more distracting areas and graduate to
using a long line. Eventually drop the long line and use it
only as necessary. We are keeping the dogs on a line at first
to reduce the number of failures. If you find that your dog
isn't responding to you as well as you would like, take a look
at the value of the reinforcer you are using and revisit breaking down the behavior into smaller pieces again. Often training takes many more repetitions than we think are necessary
Once your dog is doing great while dragging a long line, go
ahead and move on to off-leash work in a controlled environment (such as a fenced area) and then graduate on from there.
June 17 | Clean Run

Be Aware!
Whether we like it or not our dogs are always learning. Remember the "money in the bank" concept from last month.
You don't have to reward your dog every time you call him,
but whenever you don't reward him your bank account
balance goes down. The more you load your behaviors the
more value your dog will have for them and the better his
response to the cues will be.
This is also true if you do not follow through with a cue you
have given. For example, if you sometimes call your dog's
name but just want him to turn his head and check in with
you rather than coming all the way back to you, you are
weakening the response to the full cue. So if you have been
doing that, it is a very good idea to make an effort to reload
your name account balance with lots of rewards.

Side and Close
These are the cues I use to have my dogs to come to my
side. I have separate cues for my right side (side) and my left
side (close). This is a very handy behavior that I use to set up
my dogs at the start line, work attention, and proof my stay
behaviors. I also use these cues on the agility course to recall
my dog to either side to negotiate discriminations, bring my
dog though gaps, or keep him with me when I need to run
by obstacles.
I begin this training on leash. I don't use the leash to guide
my dog, more to block him from moving too far away. I initially train this against a wall so that my dog learns to walk
next to my side and he sit straight at my side.
To do this training, your dog needs to already know a sit cue
and a release cue.
Step 1
With the dog between the wall and you, walk forward in a
straight line. Reward the dog at your side, with your hand
touching your pants leg. This prevents you from reaching
out to the dog and keeps him in a consistent position next
to your side.
If you find your dog either wants to forge in front of you or
lag behind, the easiest way to fix this is to walk slower and
reward faster. When dogs lag behind their handler it seems
instinctual for the handler to encourage the dog to go faster
by moving faster and pulling the dog along trying to get
him to keep up. A much better solution is to walk slower but
feed faster in a dynamic and fun way. This will make the position at your side more valuable. Your dog will want to keep
up, and you will be building the side and close behaviors.
Be sure to switch sides so that you practice walking with the
dog on your right and left side.
Once your dog is keeping up with you as you walk next to
the wall, it's time to move on to the next step.
Step 2
Add a sit every time you stop.

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