Twosday Training Tip

TIP #1: SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION
In its most basic sense, successive approximation is a series of rewards that provide positive reinforcement for behavior changes that are successive steps towards the final desired behavior. For example, if you can’t quite get your dog to lie down, break the exercise into smaller steps. First mark and treat him for following the treat to the ground, then for bending an elbow, then for bending both elbows. Make sure you mark and treat liberally when you get a full down.

TIP #2: USING A U-TURN TO LEAVE TROUBLE BEHIND
A "U-Turn" is a great tool to have in your training repertoire. A U-Turn is exactly what it sounds like: You and your dog are walking forward, and on your cue, you both instantly turn 180 degrees and move in the opposite direction. A U-Turn is a behavior that is incompatible with your dog barking, lunging or stiffening. It is a cue that you use when you know your dog will be too aroused to perform a Watch or has already barked or lunged at another dog. The goal of a U-Turn is to get you out of sticky situations, and if you and your dog master both the Watch and the U-Turn, you'll be able to handle most of the situations that life can throw at you. 
- excerpted from Feisty Fido

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