Posted inSix Lesson Basic Package Supportive Materials

Week 6: Calming Signals, Walking, Advanced Stay/Wait, Distractions, Resources

SIX LESSON SUPPORTIVE MATERIALS

Calming Signals

As you move on with your training and even just daily interaction with your dog, it’s important to let her or him have an opinion!  Calming signals are our dogs’ way of communicating their feelings with us.  They can certainly communicate their desires by standing at the door and looking out, sitting in front of us and looking into our eyes, or even walking over to the fridge and wagging their tail.

BUT, calming signals give us insight into how they feel.  Our animals have just as many emotions as we do – this has been proven scientifically.  (A great resource is Jaak Panskepp’s Ted Talk):

Loose Leash Walking vs. Polite Walking

Now, we want to be able to take our dog for an outing so that, when things are calm, they can explore around us without pulling us (Loose Leash Walking) and when necessary, we can ask them to walk close by either side of us (Polite Walking) until the environment is calm and safe again.

  1. We can start the walk by giving our cue for Polite Walking and using a high rate of reinforcement for our dog staying close.  Do this for a short time, like one  half minute or less.
  2. Then, if the environment is calm  and safe, we release them from the polite walking position by giving our end of session signal, such as “All done!” or equivalent.  It is good to then give a cue for Loose Leash Walking like “Go explore!” or “Go sniff!” and look ahead so they know they no longer need to focus intently on us and can enjoy the sights and scents of their walk.
  3. We can reward our dog for occasional check-ins by giving a verbal marker and praise followed by encouragement to keep exploring.
  4. If they begin pulling and not checking in frequently enough, we can increase their desire to check-in by clicking when they do so and offering a treat by your side.  Then repeat Step 2.
  5. If a distraction pops into the environment, we can reward our dog for checking in with us with a click and treat and then give the cue for Polite Walking, going back to Step 1.

If you or you or your dog needs help understanding either of these 2 behaviors, you can go back to the detailed instructions in the previous lessons.

Training for Distractions

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is to train for distractions separately than training for duration.  This means that with a settle or stay behavior, we first train for duration (how long can our dog remain in the behavior such as the “settle” or the “lie down”?).  Then, when we have a solid understanding of the duration – in other words, the dog understand “oh, I just stay here until you release me”), it’s time to train for distractions.

With the settle behaviors, the distractions could be moving around, focusing on an object (such as fixing food on a counter), or even seeing children or other dogs pass by.

Training for distractions with a recall behavior is a little different because this is a moving behavior.  But, the principles are the same.  We can’t take a recall that’s close to 100% reliable in a house and expect our dog can perform the recall when they see a deer running away!

Distraction Worksheet Staircase

Resources

Here are some websites for future training to give you ideas: