 Eddie is just so smart and motivated to learn. Just 15 minutes before I recorded this he did not know what Go To Your Spot meant. This skill will be used when people come to the door, when his owners are eating dinner, or any time they need him to calm down and relax. To learn how to teach this to your dog click here.  Pepper and her family loved the recall games that we played to teach her how to Come When Called. We had her running all over the house to get her peanut butter or cheese. We then took her outdoors where she typically loses interest in her humans. But with the foundation we laid inside she came to us every single time outside.
 Enzo learned how to Come When Called. We taught him recall games and used a high rate of reinforcement so coming to us was fun, and then used the Premack Principle so he learned that coming didn't make the fun end.
We taught Marley how to Come When Called by using recall games. Hide-n-seek was her favorite! We also used the Premack Principle - after she came to us we released her to go back to playing - so she learned that the fun doesn't end when she comes to us!  We taught Eddie how to Stay, which is very important for his impulse control. We also
worked on his incessant barking when you walk towards a door and we had some really good success. By dropping some treats on the floor he learned that good things happen when people walk to the door, instead of something potentially bad (somebody leaving).  Rudy learned how to Wait and Stay today! He did really well, waiting patiently for me to put his food on the floor, and staying in place when I walked out the door. As a bonus he only jumped up twice, which was a huge improvement over last week. He is learning!
 Today we taught Pepper how to Wait and Stay, and boy, what a struggle. I usually begin by facing the dog and taking just one step away for a few seconds, but Pepper would come towards me, no matter how small of a step I would take. I then tried turning my back to her and taking a step. Voila, we had success! The moral of the story: if something doesn't work, try something else!
|
AuthorJeff Dentler, CPDT-KA, IAABC-ADT, FFCP, CTDI Archives
January 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed