Posted inSix Lesson Basic Package Supportive Materials

Week 4: Calming Signals, Settle on the Mat Part I, Distractions, Polite Walking, Body Handling II

SIX LESSON SUPPORTIVE MATERIALS

First, Dog Language and Calming Signals

We’ll keep learning more about dogs and the signals they use to communicate with us. For this week’s homework, please read pages 27-40 in “On Talking Terms with Dogs” by Turid Rugaas. In this section, you’ll learn more calming signals commonly used by dogs to communicate with us or with other dogs. You’ll also read a little about how to increase your powers of observation.

  • Sniffing
  • Curving
  • Splitting Up
  • Wagging the Tail
  • Additional: Paw Lift, Licking Faces, Smacking Lips, Making Oneself Small, Blinking Eyes

Second, Settle on a Mat Part I

  • Introduce new behavior: “Settle on a Mat”
    a. Break “Settle on a Mat” down into two behaviors: One is to drive to the mat, the second is to stay on the mat – we’ll just work on driving towards the mat at first during Lesson 3.
    b. This is shaping – so we won’t lead the dog to the mat or lure them with food. Instead, we’ll divide the behavior down into manageable steps such as looking at the mat, moving towards the mat, two front feet on the mat, four feet on the mat, etc.
    c. Just like with initial touch the target behavior, mark and treat any attention towards the mat.

One of our colleagues produced a simple video of how the shaping works.

  1. Place the mat on the floor.
  2. When the dog gets on the mat, click/reward on the mat (hand feed the dog or place the treat on the mat).
  3. Wait one second, then click, reward on the mat.
  4. Wait two seconds, click, reward on the mat.
  5. Wait one second, click, reward on the mat.
  6. Wait three seconds, click, toss the treat so the dog leaves the mat.

 

Third, Understanding Distractions Specific to Your Dog

We all have distractions in our lives — some of us are mesmerized when watching television and don’t hear what’s going on around us. Others can get caught up in a book to the point where we lose the ability to keep track of time. Our dogs are the same way! But, some people don’t realize a dog’s distraction might be just as strong as a human’s – especially because it’s hard to understand the scent we have barely developed: the dog’s amazing sense of smell.

So, we’ve included a worksheet for you to complete before Lesson #5. Here’s the link:

Distraction Worksheet Staircase

Let us know if you have any issues accessing this form – we can email it to you!

In this worksheet, you’ll be asked to write down 10 distractions your dog faces when training (or just trying to listen to your requests). We’d like you to rank them from 1 to 10. Then, it’s time to gradually add them to your training — so, try working with the easiest distractions for awhile. Remember to add distractions step by step – don’t jump or else your dog and you will get frustrated and even lose confidence.

You can think about adding distractions to your dog’s known behaviors – such as “sit,” “lie down,” “stay,” “touch,” and even “settle on a mat.”

Fourth, Beginning the Polite Walking Exercises

This is a big part of training your dog and we congratulate you for getting to this step. What you’ll need for this new exercise is:

  1. A Clicker Savvy Dog! (your dog should qualify — we just want to make sure your dog now understands that he/she did something that made you click)
  2. A Dog Who is Motivated to Learn!
  3. High Value Treats to Increase Motivation

Now you have everything lined up, there are a few ways to think about polite walking. Actually, you can think of two different behaviors. The first is where your dog stays relatively close to you and matches your pace -as you’ll see in the following video. This is a handy behavior to have when walking in congested areas and around distractions. It’s actually something that can help your dog in these situations. Focusing on you is a lot more comforting than dealing with the chaos around! You can think of it as holding a child’s hand when you’re walking down a busy street.

The second is just a general behavior where your dog stays within 6 feet of you (a normal leash length) and doesn’t pull. We call this Loose Leash Walking. The dog is welcome to sniff, stop and check something out, and go at his/her own pace (if it’s not faster than yours).

You can start teaching both behaviors inside your house away from distractions. The best outline is found in your training booklet – the Polite Walking Section. Here, you’ll work on the very basics of taking one step, marking (with the clicker) your step, and hand feeding your dog a treat at your side. This helps your dog understand the basics of walking at your side, making turns (when the dog is inside and outside the turn), and in general how to keep an eye on you when walking on a leash.