Control Unleashed: Creating a Focused and Confident Dog by Leslie McDevitt

Author:Leslie McDevitt [McDevitt, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Tags: Dog Training, Dogs
ISBN: 9781892694171
Google: gOyrMQAACAAJ
Amazon: B000UCF53A
Barnesnoble: B000UCF53A
Publisher: Clean Run Productions
Published: 2007-04-14T21:00:00+00:00

McDevitt begins Easy's startline stay training by feeding him for maintaining the desired position for increasingly longer periods of time.

So in this initial stage, the dog is learning two things at once:

1. Maintaining a position instead of popping up is good.

2. The release cue means the chance for reinforcement (temporarily) is over. It also means the dog is on break time unless his handler immediately gives another cue.

Usually this is as far as the dogs get doing startline stays during Night Two. What follows are logical progressions from this basic exercise that we practice during the following nights.

Adding a cue

When students want to add a stay cue, I have them do so after the dog has figured out that good things keep happening until he hears the release cue. Initially, so the dog understands that Stay is not a new release cue, I suggest that the handler give the cue and then immediately give a treat as the dog is holding position.

Reading your dog's stay

I tell each student to watch where her dog is putting his weight.

Front legs? Back legs? Is he shifting his weight around? People can tell if their dog is thinking about getting up or if he is glued to the ground; they just have to remember to watch his body during stay exercises. I want the handler to read her dog well enough that she can always release him before he moves out of position.

TRAINING A RELAXED STAY

If your dog is hyperalert and you want to take his stimulation level down a notch, start rewarding behaviors that are linked with physiologically calm states; for instance, blinking at him, looking at him with heavily lidded eyes, and taking some deep breaths. Mark and reward your dog's reciprocal behavior. You can do the same thing if you feel your dog is too alert during mat work.

Upping the ante

Once you are able to count to at least 10 while the dog remains in position, raise your criteria by taking one step—laterally, so that the dog doesn't think you're cueing him to heel—and immediately return and feed the dog. I tend to click every time I take a step or do something new as long as the dog remains in position. This is not necessary, but it's what works for me. Proceeding gradually, soon you should be able to walk all over the room, do jumping jacks, and so on while your dog stays in position for any length of time.

Upping the ante for the antsy

In my CU classes I get a lot of dogs who hear 1… or Ready… and they pop up because they know enough about that game to get excited, but not enough about it to play it correctly. So for the

antsy dog, I ask his handler to start with her dog on either side, and simply bend her knees as if she might dart away, and then feed her dog. This should happen so fast the dog doesn't get the chance to think about moving.

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