Week 4 [For Puppy Over 6 Months Old] Notes and Homework

 NOTE 1:   CHAIN COLLAR SHOULD NEVER BE ON WHEN NOT TRAINING.  CHAIN COLLAR CAN BE ON DURING A SUPERVISED WALK.  THE REASON FOR THIS IS THE CHAIN COLLAR CAN CATCH ON SOMETHING AND CHOKE YOUR DOG.

NOTE 2:  WHEN TRAINING MAKE SURE YOUR CHAIN COLLAR IS CONFIGURED CORRECTLY AND YOUR LEASH IS HELD PROPERLY.



NOTE 3: WHETHER SOCRATES IS INSIDE DRAGGING THE LEASH OR OUTSIDE ON A LEASH, TRAINING SHOULD ALWAYS HAPPEN WHEN SOCRATES IS ON HIS TRAINING LEASH AND COLLAR.

NOTE 4:  DO NOT USE COMMANDS UNLESS YOU PLAN ON FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH THE PROCESS (IE YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE HE DOES IT BY MOLDING HIM OR PUTTING HIM ON LEASH AND PUTTING HIM THROUGH HIS PACES).

NOTE 5:  NEVER TRAIN WHEN FRUSTRATED, AND DON'T GET FRUSTRATED WHEN TRAINING (OR SHOW IT).  TRAINING REQUIRES CAREFUL STEPS AND PATIENCE.

NOTE 6:  Except for Sit on The Dog, Long Place as behavioral exercise (30 minutes), and possibly Behavioral Down, I keep most training times at 15 minutes or less.

NOTE 7:  IDEALLY YOU WANT TO DO ONE HOUR EVERY DAY.   IF YOU DON'T FIT SOMETHING IN, JUST FIT THAT EXERCISE IN THE NEXT DAY.  IF FOR SOME REASON LIFE GETS IN THE WAY OF A DAY, JUST BE SURE TO PICK IT UP AGAIN THE NEXT DAY.  DOGS LEARN AND PERFORM SO MUCH BETTER WHEN THEY GET TRAINING REGULARLY.

NOTE 8:  REGARDING DISTRACTIONS, DISTANCE OR INCREASED TIME FOR EXERCISES, EACH TIME ONE OF THESE GETS HARDER, IT IS OFTEN A GOOD IDEA TO REDUCE SOMETHING ELSE EXPECTATIONS WISE OR PERFORMANCE WISE.   FOR INSTANCE, IF I AM WORKING IN THE FRONT YARD AFTER WORKING INSIDE, I MAY NEED 10 MINUTES TO FINISH MY GOAL OF 3 SETS OF 4 IN A ROW RANDOM SITS.   ANOTHER EXAMPLE WOULD BE, IF I AM WORKING ON MY AUTO SITS OUTSIDE, I MAY NEED TO USE TREATS TO POSITION THE DOG PROPERLY WITH ALL THE DISTRACTIONS AND MORE SPACE AROUND. 

NOTE 9:  GOALS FOR OBEDIENCE EXERCISES IS TO GET FOUR PERFORMANCES IN A ROW THAT DID NOT REQUIRE CORRECTIONS AND ARE AT THE EXPECTATIONS AT THAT POINT IN TIME.   WITH SOME OF THE NON-TIMED OBEDIENCE EXERCISES (RANDOM SITS OR SEND TO PLACE) I WANT TO GET 3 SETS OF FOUR IN A ROW DONE IN A SESSION.  THE KEY IS TO NOT ASK MORE THAN THE DOG CAN DO BEFORE INCREASING DISTANCE OR TIME.  

NOTE 10:  BLUE HIGHLIGHTED TEXT BELOW GOES TO DIRECTION LINKS OR VIDEO LINKS.

Chill or calming exercises you may want to start in public before it gets to cold (especially sit on the dog, place and behavioral down can wait for now).   We had done these his first three weeks here, and went forward on his week 4 with advancing his other exercises.   These can help him get ready to hear and see traffic, pedestrians, and other dogs in a calmer state.  It is not something you see immediately, but over time the improvement is quite significant.

  1. Sit on the Dog [video] 30 + minutes  Note:  You can do these on days that you are not doing the Behavioral Down or Long Place.
  2. Behavior Down [video] 15 minutes + changes based on environment and what is happening around the dog  Note: You can do these on days that you are not doing Sit on The Dog or Long Place.
  3. Long Place Leash Dropped [video] 30 minutes  Note:  You can do these on days that you are not doing Sit on The Dog or Behavioral Down.
Obedience Exercises (you can combine some of these into little routines as well as work these alone and separately):
  1. Random Sits First Command with Correction When Needed [video] 5 + minutes if outside in mid distraction setting  Note:  You can also do these with your heeling (the auto sits) if you wish to combine sessions.  On occasion if sit is being a particular problem getting four in a row goal done, then you might want to work these randomly (without the heel and just concentrate on the sit).
  2. Heeling and Auto Sits [video] 15 minutes or more if you wish
  3. Send to Place [video] and Circle Place [video] 15 + minutes for both of them (usually takes 5 minutes to get 3 sets of 4 in a row send to place, and then the balance I do 1 minute circle places)  ***Note at the lesson today, it looked like you first session or two might take 15 minutes for the send to place or at least longer than 5.  Once you get him going though, it should get much smoother and end up being 5 minutes or less.
  4. Long Place [video] 5 minutes Do just 5 minute long place if it is not a day that you are doing 30 minutes.
  5. Recalls [video] 5 minutes 

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