Foundations Module 3
TEACHING A RELEASE COMMAND
Before we can teach a rock solid stay we first need to teach our puppies what ends the stay. Your dog’s understanding of what stay means relies heavily on them understanding what they are waiting for, what tells them they don’t have to be still anymore, so we want to teach them this before we start teaching the stay. So you need to select a verbal cue that means they are free to move (for a deaf dog you can use a visual cue). I use “ok” but you can choose any word you would like to use.
So the first bit of teaching this well is to not have the release tied to a visual thing you do (unless teaching a deaf pup) because dog’s prioritize visual cues and will be slow to tie the verbal cue if they are seeing a cue too. We don’t want a stay being tied to a visual cue if possible so we can do any physical things we need to and not have our dog’s mistake this for a release. This is a funny explanation of an example but when I hike with other people’s dogs I’ve not trained I can tell how well the dog’s stay release is if I need to pee 😂 . As soon as I squat boom, dog in my face.
So if you want to be able to tie your shoes, take a pee outside, pick up things you drop, do yoga in your house, etc then make sure your dog’s don’t think you moving means they are done staying.
Have three treats in your hand
Place your other hand in your puppy’s collar, with your palm facing the back of their head. This bit is important as it sets the difference between using a slight push vs using a slight pull which will engage a dog’s opposition reflex and work against your goal here.
Place your hand with the treats out about a foot away from your pup’s nose, level with their muzzle. If they don’t stand up, give them a treat and put your hand back out a foot away, if they stay give them another and again put the hand out a foot away, for the third treat instead of bringing it to the puppy say your release cue and with the hand still in the collar give the slightest push forward to help the pup move to the treat.
If the pup gets up at any point during the above, just help them sit again before resuming, do not reprimand them or jerk on their collar, the hand is only there to keep them from moving forward to it until you give the ok.
Keep your hand in the pup’s collar for this exercise until they are no longer needing that push forward and are popping forward as soon as they hear the release.
BUILDING A STRONG STAY FOUNDATION
In this game we are going to start working on our pups impulse control with food at the same time as setting a foundation for a stay which is essentially a dog learning how to control themselves and be patient when they want something.
Have a treat in your hand and have your puppy sit
Bring a treat down in your open hand about a foot away from their nose (same position as for the above release exercise)
If the puppy moves towards the treat, quickly close your hand and draw your hand straight up until the pup sits again, then drop your hand back to the same position and try again.
Keep repeating until your pup no longer jumps towards the treat, as soon as they stay still for even just a moment, bring the treat to them where they are sitting and give it to them.
If they get up as you are bringing the treat to them, pull it back up, do not give them the treat unless their bottom is on the ground.
Do this exercise maybe 3-5 times in a session, no need to drill it.
Once you can see they will not budge when you drop the treat down into position you can start saying “stay” as you drop your hand into that position. Be sure if you say “stay” that you then always say your release after you give the treat for the stay.
BUILDING PATIENCE WITH PLAY
I am so big into using play and toys as rewards in training! You can get so much more engagement and energy from our dogs for things like come commands and walking nicely with us if we use play in our training. But some dogs can also get very easily over aroused and out of control with play so it’s also important we teach our puppies how to stay in their reasoning connected brain with us during play so our toys don’t work against us. So we want to from the beginning shape in some natural training into our play that will help our puppies stay level headed.
In this video you can see me using a game of tug with a puppy to work on teaching some pauses in the action.
Get your puppy playing tug, when tugging with puppies long toys work best so you can safely tug without them missing and getting your hands and fingers with their needle sharp teeth.
Have treats ready in your other hand. If your pup won’t tug with the treats that close, put them in an easy to reach in pocket that you can grab fast.
When your pup is really latched onto the tug, relax your tugging arm and immediately bring a treat right to their nose, when you see them smell the treat and let go ask them to sit and give the treat, releasing them to go back to tugging as soon as they eat the treat.
If they don’t want the treat and stay tugging make sure that tugging arm is not giving resistance to the toy to tug against. Just let it move with the pup so they don’t have anything to pull against and keep trying. If they still won’t let go, let go of the toy and walk away from the game. Then try again using something of higher value that smells yummier.
Once they are readily and easily sitting and letting go you can add tiny little stays and releases in.
Play is the goal here more than the control so make sure it is far more tugging and play than it is obedience. The training should be snuck in so the dog is seeing it as part of the play.
LEASHING ASSOCIATIONS
Before we really dive into leash walking we want to make sure we are setting up healthy associations with our pups leashes. Some common issues people create with leashes is this idea that a leash is all about control, and taking it off represents a release from control. I want to set up the association the leash is really just background and that control is really more about cooperation and good teaching helping a dog stay with you because they want to, not because they have to. I also want to make sure my puppies don’t see a leash coming off as a release from connection, I want the opposite, I want a puppy being more connected to me once I take that leash off. The follow videos show some of the training I do around the leash to make sure putting it on and off is easy and cooperative and that having it come off represents and opportunity for engagement.
LOOSE LEASH WALKING
You will see by this video how I introduce leash walking. I actually use a long line so there is very little leash control and it’s more about my engagement and rewards than it is about physical control.
The idea is to begin building connection rather than using physical control to keep your dog walking with you.
Don’t start until you have your pup’s focus.
Start with your pup at your side.
Let most of the long line drag as you hold it loosely around the half way point, if your pup starts to run quickly at something do quick grab and releases as the second half of the line feeds out to gently break so they don’t hit the end of the line at a dead run.
Stop and turn around the MOMENT you see you have lost your dog’s connection, don’t wait for them to be pulling. If you watch you can see when they are no longer paying attention to you, that is the moment to turn.
As soon as the dog starts moving towards you start praising and cheering for them.
Reward when they reach your side.
Continue to chat and engage sweetly with them as long as they are connected to you.
GIVE YOUR PAW TRICK
I am a big fan of using tricks to help teach your dog some things they might find worrisome later on as a fun thing to do. Since many dogs can develop a deep dislike of having their feet handled after getting their toenails trimmed a few times or people trying to wipe their paws dry with a towel, it’s good to get in front of that and make giving you their paws a good thing.
The key to teaching this trick is hand position when you offer the treat.
Present the treat in a closed hand near the dog’s nose, no lower than their chest.
Watch their front feet and the first moment you see a paw move at all, give the treat.
Once they are lifting the paw start to gradually keep requiring it to come higher before you reward until they are making contact with your hand.
Once they are doing so you can name your trick, at this point you can alter this trick to teach a few different things: shake hands, high fives, wave.
For shake hands at the point where the dog is hitting the treat hand, you now pull your treat hand further back towards you as you put an empty hand out between you and the pup, as they paw at the treat hand, put your shake hand under their paw so they hit it and reward as soon as they make contact with that empty hand.
For wave keep moving your treat hand further away so it’s staying just out of reach and gradually keep getting further away as you continue to reward that paw waving action.
For high fives follow instructions for the shake hands but keep gradually moving your hand higher until it’s in the right position.
Below are several demonstrations of teaching puppies to wave and shake hands.
RESOURCE GUARDING PREVENTION
Resource guarding is a very common behavior problem we can see developing in puppies. It’s important to understand resource guarding is not about dominance or hierarchy, it is about possession is the law. Even the most naturally submissive puppies can be resource guarders. While it is not ok to leave unchecked it is important to understand this is a 100% normal canine behavior, it’s natural survival instinct at play. So don’t take this behavior personally, it’s not because they don’t like you or don’t respect you, it’s because they came with an inherited strong instinct to not go without and to fix it you teach them not to worry because there is ALWAYS more than enough.
Many people make these issues worse by insisting on taking things away from puppies to show them the people are in charge and this can lead to disastrous results! You can take a normal puppy showing normal behaviors and create a defensive aggressive pup that feels even more insecure around resources and even more possessive. Do not make a habit of taking your puppy’s stuff just to prove you can. Instead we focus on teaching them sharing creates more resources, that letting somewhere near their stuff equals getting more stuff. Having so many resources there is simply no reason to guard.
We want to teach our puppies we are excellent providers and they have zero reason to worry. So don’t be offended by growling, make a note of what they are worried about and then we show them how that is nothing to worry about. If they are nervous when you approach their food bowl, make a habit of dropping some tasty chicken beside their bowl each time you walk by if they are eating. If they are chewing on a bully stick and growl as you walk by, drop some tasty chicken as you walk by and don’t stare at them, just ignore them and be the person who makes it rain good stuff. Give them more of what they value, if they are only guarding with a bone, give them more at once.
Teach children and other family pets not to bother puppies when they eat or chew, and have them also be the bringers of good stuff as they walk by. If you have very young children feed your pup or give them chews in a safe secure quiet location until they are more comfortable and you have taught them how to be relaxed around resources. If you have multiple pets have each one lay on their bed or in their crate when they get special treats or chews.
Giving a puppy a quiet safe space to enjoy things, while having lots of resources readily available creates an atmosphere of abundance and prevents conflict. But don’t just avoid the work. If your puppy does growl over resources the answer is not to just always feed them in a crate, you want to address that feeling so they can learn to be relaxed around food. But you can use crates and safe spaces when you are still working through it for the times you just want to know you can just feed and walk away because you don’t have the time right then to work it.
In this video I show you how I introduce the idea of sharing food toys. This puppy was like many puppies initially showing guarding behavior with food and tasty chews. In just a couple minutes he is happily letting me handle his food to help him. We only had to do this a few times and his resource guarding stopped. It can be that quick if you act immediately when you see guard behaviors start.
ADDING VERBALS TO YOUR SIT & DOWNS
After a couple weeks of practicing your sits & downs your puppies should be readily offering those positions. Below is a video demonstrating how to start shifting your puppy’s focus from the visual aids to a verbal cue. This is all about timing! A cue should become a predictor to the puppy that you are going to ask for the sit or down using the visual they already understand. Many people do not realize how poor puppies can be at learning verbal cues, as they are masters of reading the most subtle body language cues, so the trick is be very diligent with your timing and body control so it is only your voice that is predicting.
So when your puppy is 100% following your hand positions into the sit or down. Have your treats in you hand ready, without moving at all say the verbal cue, and then immediately move into the known position to help them. Don’t wait and see if they do it, just follow that same pattern. Verbal followed by visual aid. Puppies are ultimate anticipators, so they will simply start beating you to your movements as soon as they make the connection and then you can drop your visual aids once they know the verbal.
RESTRAINED RECALLS
Restrained recalls should be the cornerstone of your come command training! This one exercise can jump start your come command far better than anything else you do. This is all about making racing to you when they hear “come” the most fun game ever. You do need a helper, but the job is super easy, all someone needs to do for you is hold your puppy until they hear you say “come”.
Show your puppy their favorite reward (can be food or toy, but needs to be their favorite reward)
Have someone hold your puppy as you then run away (run!)
As soon as you say your pup’s name and “come” they let go
As your puppy is approaching show them the reward by holding it straight out towards them, and draw that hand holding the reward towards you as the pup races in
Do NOT reach out at your puppy! If you are worried about them running off have them wear a long line as you do not want to bring any kind of avoiding your hands as part of this game
Once they are there and taking the reward you can pet them and have a super fun party
Keep this game to no more than three calls per session as often they will get too excited by this game and start jumping and nipping, so quit before they get too aroused
Be fun! Make this their favorite game
After they are starting to get the idea start to run out of sight before you call (providing you are working in a safe area)
Take your long line and puppy and work on this in as many different locations as you can
After a few sessions of practice (like maybe 4 or so different sessions) see if you can reverse the pattern and have your helper run away with the puppy as you stand still and call. If they don’t come back to you have your helper stand still as you convince your pup to race back to you
Only the person calling rewards the puppy, so if you have a family and others want to play, take turns who holds the pup and who gets to be the one running away and calling
Below is a video demonstrating restrained recalls with three different types and ages of puppies