2-minute tip Archives - Page 6 of 28

Train. Don’t Complain.

Train, don’t complain.

After Rally class one evening we were standing around, talking with our students. One of the great things about getting involved in dog sports is the terrific people you meet. You may have absolutely nothing else in common, but there’s a connection you share. We all love doing stuff with our dogs. Anyway, she was saying that she didn’t dare bring her significant other to class because her dog would be distracted and want to go to him. Which is exactly the wrong way of looking at the situation. You shouldn’t avoid the things that distract your dog and cause them to lose focus. Train, don’t complain!

All the “excuses” we make

It doesn’t have to be something as big as a person. We’re all guilty of trying to avoid distracting our dogs. Have you ever hidden a toy behind your back? Or “shushed” someone making noise elsewhere in the house? Or asked a spectator at a dog even not to rattle that candy wrapper? Or keep dropping popcorn? Or wafting delicious hot dog smells into the ring?

Life is full of distractions. People drop things that make noise. At dog events people applaud. Or slam doors. And make announcements over public address systems.

We can’t keep our dogs in a sound-proof, distraction-proof bubble for training. To succeed, in competition and in life, dogs have to have the skills to tune out the distractions and focus on what’s important. We talked about this with the “Looky Loo” game previously.

Train through the distractions

If there’s someone in your family that your dog absolutely adores – do your training while that person is around. Every time your dog looks at you, have a party and reward. If the other person cooperates and ignores the dog, you should have your training partner focused in short order. When you and your dog succeed, the other person should celebrate along with you and your dog. This lets the dog know it’s okay to be with somebody else.

It’s really just a matter of proving to your dog that playing training games with you is more rewarding than anything else around. Easier said than done. But you can do it.

Distraction training

One of the very first household obedience classes we ever took had a wicked “final exam.” Keep in mind this was just a class at our local park district. Before class, our instructor picked up multiple orders of french fries from the golden arches place. And he threw them all over the floor in the training room. Our exam was to walk our dogs from one side of the room to the other. Without our dogs nabbing any of those yummy-smelling french fries.

And you know what? Every single one of the dogs (ours included) was able to do it. Because in just six weeks. our dogs learned that playing with us was more rewarding than anything else.

Take your time

Start out simply. Whenever there’s a tempting distraction, just reward your dog for looking at you. If it’s something the dog really, really loves, like their favorite person, make the reward the highest-value treat in your arsenal. Before long your dog will glance at the other person coming in and snap their attention to you – source of all things good and delicious.

Build up your dog’s tolerance for the distractions. You don’t want to flood the dog with so much input they’re overwhelmed. Be mindful and creative with your distractions. Before you dump a bowl of popcorn in your training area, start with boring wads of crumpled paper.

Build on success

Like all training, push ahead when your dog is successful most of the time at the level you’re at. When your dog can ignore their favorite person sitting still, can they still focus if that person is on the phone? walking around? headed for the door?

The key element is to realize when and how you’re protecting your dog from distractions. If you’re holding a toy behind your back so your dog won’t see it, it’s time to bring it to the front, stick it in your waistband, and let your dog see it. When your dog actually does what you’re asking for, whip that toy out and have a great game of tug. No more excuses. Train, don’t complain. Remember that dog training is a bargain we have with our dogs. They get what they want when we get what we want. It’s how all great teams function.

Build confidence with “What’s That?” Dog Training Game

The “What’s That?” dog training game helps your dog explore the world with confidence. It’s great for every dog, but can be life-changing for shy or timid dogs.

It also encourages you to shop in one of our favorite places for dog-training gear – your local dollar store. You’ll want a variety of different objects. Vary the size, shape, and material the objects are made from. You can certainly start with stuff you find around the house. Just be sure that nothing you use is breakable or cherished by someone.

First step:

Get your clicker, your timer, a boatload of treats, the object you’re playing the game with, and your dog. When you’re ready, start your timer and place the object on the floor.

Typically, your dog will glance at the object. Click and reward near the thing. Looking at it is the first step. If your dog doesn’t keep looking at it, stand over the object and stare at it (like in “Boxey”). Kneel if you need to get closer. Your dog will probably be confused, especially if you’ve spent their life telling them “leave it.”

That’s okay. Be patient. Stare at the object and wait for your dog to look at it again. You’ll almost be able to see your dog shrug and think “I don’t see what’s so fascinating, but she thinks it is, so I’ll humor her.”

When your dog has received three to five rewards for looking at the object, it’s time to ask for more. It can be anything – nosing at it, pawing at it, stepping on it, mouthing it, licking it. Whatever your dog does, click and reward near the object.

You never know

Every dog is unique and despite knowing your dog well, you can’t predict how they’ll react to different objects.

In Hope’s Beginner Obedience class there are two dogs with opposite personalities. One, a Newfoundland, seems outgoing, confident, and ready for any game.

The other, a miniature Poodle mix, is shy and often tries to hide behind her mother.

Which dog do you think was freaked out by the idea of walking on bubble wrap? To everyone’s surprise, the Newfie was scared of it. The Poodle mix didn’t really even notice it was there and danced right over it.

Take it at your dog’s pace

Decide what the goal is for every object you introduce to your dog. If it’s something they can pick up, you may want them to pick it up and hold it. Something like a small white board that you can write messages on. It may be something you want them to carry, like a small tote bag. Or a foam roller you want them to push. Or a step you want them to sit on.

With your ultimate goal in mind, shape your dog’s behavior with your rewards. Remember that what gets rewarded gets repeated. If you want your dog to hold the object in his/her mouth, only click and reward for using his mouth. Every object can have its own game, but they all start with “What’s That?”

Next step

You can also let your dog guide the direction of what’s that. If you don’t have a particular goal in mind, see what your dog does with the thing and go with it. Always ask for more after your dog has received a few treats for a particular interaction. Look can be followed by sniffing, licking, pawing, etc.

If your main objective is to build your dog’s confidence, you can set up a circuit of different things around your training area. Encourage your dog to check each one out. If they’re not interested or confused, go stand by the object, stare at it, move it a little, and wait for your dog to come check it out. With patience, it will happen.

Expanding their world

“What’s That?” can be played anytime, anywhere, as long as you have rewards with you. When you’re out on a walk and your dog sees something new and different, how do they react? If they’re hesitant, it’s time to get enthusiastic and say “What’s That? Let’s go see!”

The more things your dog has the opportunity to explore, the more confident they will become. Once they’re familiar with the “What’s That?” game, they’ll know they’re safe if you’re encouraging interaction.

Help! We broke our dogs!

We broke our dogs! Hope’s Torque is broken. So is Fran’s Booker.

Not physically. But some training games have apparently been erased from memory. Absolute rock-solid training games have been corrupted or are missing entirely.

Not to worry – when you train step-by-step, you can always recover what was lost. You just go back to the beginning, step-by-step, and see where the behavior falls apart. And take it from there.

Similar and different

It’s just coincidental that both of our dogs are broken at the same time. We play training games with the dogs individually, so there isn’t any cross-contamination. And the circumstances are different, too.

In the case of Fran’s Booker, it’s his Ring-Stacking game that’s gone with the wind. He’s always been a special dog. If he were human, he’d be tested for where he falls on the spectrum. Being an 11-year-old dog, we pretty much stand back, assess what he’s up to, shrug and say “Bless his heart.”

Booker discovered that stealing the rings, sticking his cute little butt in the air and chewing on them was more fun than carrying them to the post and stacking them. He’s okay for the first one, but then it’s like his brain glitches.

Fran’s taken it back to the start. Heavily rewarding him for picking up the ring, carrying the ring, taking it over to the post, and putting it on. Each step is deliberate. And she’s no longer tossing a dozen rings out for the game. One at a time. Heavily rewarding for each step of success.

We don’t know if Booker will ever play a full Ring Stacking game again. It doesn’t really matter. He has fun. Every dog in your life teaches you something. Booker has been expanding Fran’s capacity for patience for years.

Hope busted Torque herself

Hope’s always pushing the limits of what she asks Torque to do. One of her recent ideas backfired – big time.

At the end of Torque’s Bowling Game, Hope decided that he could help “clean up” the bowling pins. She asked him to “get it,” a behavior he already knows. He did, and even brought it over to the basket where the little plastic bowling pins are stored.

What she didn’t figure on was how much Torque would enjoy fetching and squishing the bowling pins.

When Hope says his “Go Strike!” command, he runs to the pins, knocks over a couple, then starts grabbing them and squishing them. Oopsy.

Fortunately, he drops them when told. He even puts them in the basket. But for the moment, his “Go Strike!” is striking out. So sad that we broke our dogs.

The action plan is to go back to the beginning and use incredibly high-value treats to reward Torque for just knocking the pins down. We’ll start one at a time, and discontinue the clean-up part for now. He just needs to remember what this game is about. So even though we broke our dogs, we’ll get them back.

Does it matter?

Yes and no. No, we really don’t care if our dogs are whizzes at Ring Stacking or Bowling. What does matter is that we all agree on the rules of the games we play.

Dog training is a constant give-and-take bargaining with your dog. They get what they want (your attention, treats, praise) when you get what you want (good choices).

You get to define the rules for every single game you play with your dogs. Your dog, your game, your rules. The secret to success is keeping those rules crystal clear for your dog.

Dogs are Copycats

It’s not your imagination. Dogs are copycats. Your dog copies what you do. Copying is one of the ways dogs learn. And it’s not restricted to watching and imitating other dogs. Dogs mimic people, too. That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised if your dog starts digging in the yard after “helping” you with gardening.

Even more impressive, one study proved that dogs not only can copy what you do – they can do it with a significant delay between the time it happened and they’re asked to repeat it.

Demonstrate what you want

A while ago, when we were first developing the Ring Stacking game, Hope was teaching her French Bulldog Teddy the steps. We’d just started taking video of the sessions, so the camera was on.

Teddy had just about all pieces of the game; picking up the ring and going over to the post. The actual placement of the ring on the post was the issue. He kept nudging the post, dropping the ring in the vicinity, but not placing it on the actual post.

In the video, you see Hope showing Teddy what she wants. She probably was doing it out of frustration, rather than really demonstrating. But then you see Teddy stand there and think about it, then place the ring precisely on the post.

At the time, we didn’t know for sure that dogs learn by copying. But it paid off.

Other dogs show them how

It’s true that puppies learn from an older dog in the house. Potty training is much easier when the newcomer has an example to follow. Same with other household rules – most puppies will follow the lead of the established dog. That’s a big reason that two dogs are easier than one, although not if both are the same age. Or littermates. For most people, getting littermates isn’t a great idea.

It’s optimal to play training games with only one dog at a time. But that doesn’t mean training in isolation. With four dogs in the house, three are in crates at the side of the training area, watching the proceedings.

Did you teach him that?

Sometimes when we’re ready to introduce a dog to a game another dog knows, we’ve been surprised. While performance isn’t perfect, the dog already knows the game. It prompts a discussion that goes

“Did you teach him that? I didn’t teach him that!”

“Wasn’t me!”

“Oh, he got it from his brother!”

Try it for yourself

Think of something to do that your dog can copy. In the research we read, one of the things owners did in the lab was stick their heads in an empty bucket. A vast majority of the dogs in the study were able to copy the action after seeing it only once.

Make sure the demonstration is something the dog is physically able to do. Our dogs are too short to get their heads in a five-gallon bucket, so we’ll use something lower. Give the action a name, like “Copy!” using it for all kinds of different actions.

That’s how you teach the dog to mimic you, rather than performing a specific behavior. We’ve even seen it in action with the dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, Florida. The trainers there use a specific signal for “Imitate!”

In no time, you and your dog will be playing “Simon Says!” with all sorts of behaviors. Be sure to get it on video – you’ll need proof of your dog’s genius!

Your Dog Decides The Reward Value

You choose just about everything in your dog’s life. The entire schedule is yours. So is everything your dog has, is allowed, and does. There is one thing you can’t decide for your dog. Your dog decides the reward value. You can’t make your dog love cheese.

All dog owners know that dogs definitely have preferences: which toy is best, what food is tastiest, which bed is most comfortable. And they absolutely have a treat pyramid, from the golden, most cherished choice on top, to their everyday food at the bottom.

For some dogs, the kibble at the bottom is still worth jumping through fire. Others can easily walk away. The first type of dog is easier to train – you know they’ll be motivated by any tidbit. The second kind of dog, the one who doesn’t care, is more difficult.

It may not be food

You don’t get to pick the reward that’s most valuable to your dog. Sometimes it takes trial and error to figure out what’s at the pinnacle. It may not be food. Or a toy. It could be something odd, like one of our dogs who adored celery.

In the case of one dog, it’s being entirely avoided.

This week in our Rally class there was a dog who suddenly became afraid of the world. According to her owner, who’s a friend and Obedience mentor, it happened about a year ago. There wasn’t any incident, nothing bad happened to this dog. She just shut down.

Slowly, the dog is starting to open back up. But she was clearly nervous and anxious in class, although she did do the exercises with her owner. She gave any other person a very wide berth. Strangers trigger her fear.

Try something out of the box

Working with her owner, we came up with the idea of rewarding this dog by backing off. In competition Rally or Obedience, there is a judge in the ring with the team. Some judges follow the handler and dog closely, others allow more distance. There isn’t any rule about it, it’s just the judge’s preference. So a dog destined to compete in performance sports should be comfortable with another person in the ring, however close or far.

We decided to work on the “Front!” exercise with Hope acting as the “judge” in the vicinity. In this chunk of training, you’re heeling with your dog, then stop and call the dog to “Front!” The dog’s supposed to come around to face you and sit squarely in front of you.

When they began the exercise, Hope was about six or seven feet away. Close, but not hovering. When the dog performed the exercise, even shying away from the “judge,” Hope backed off. This dog’s reward was the scary person going away.

Try a few times, then stop

We repeated the sequence about three or four times, then quit. Even though the dog was doing better with each repetition, you don’t want to flood the dog with too much too soon. We don’t believe you have to stop on an “up” note. You stop before your dog signals stress, frustration, or anxiety. Give your dog time to process the session.

Your dog probably wouldn’t consider being ignored a reward. This dog does. In time, dogs transfer the value of the reward to the behavior that triggered the pay-off. This dog will associate “Front!” with good things happening.

That’s how most, if not all, dog behavior works. Dogs always do what’s most rewarding to them. It’s not always easy to figure out exactly what that is. Through trial and error, creative thinking, and observation, you’ll hit on the right stuff for your dog.

Teach your dog care behavior

It’s good sense and good dog guardianship to teach your dog care behavior procedures, like eye drops, ear cleaning, tooth brushing, even nail trimming.

If your dog is resistant to their face, ears, eyes, or mouth being handled, go slow. Since you’re preparing for the future, you don’t need to push your dog past his/her comfort level.

Prepare for some day

There will probably come a day when you have to give your dog eye drops. Especially if you have active dogs, dogs with short snouts, or who sniff, or who play/wrestle with other dogs. It’s almost inevitable, so it’s a good idea to train it before you need it.

Routine dog care chores will also be easier if your dog understands what’s going to happen. And knows what’s expected of them.

Since you and your dog already know how to play training games, breaking down dog care behaviors should be relatively easy.

Ready for eye drops

If you are the only person caring for your dog, you know it can be challenging to give any kind of medicine or drops. Getting your dog to cooperate can be difficult, as well as frustrating.

Most important: Never lie to your dog. If you try to disguise, or fake what you’re doing, you break your dog’s trust. Their part is cooperating. Yours is doing what you’ve said you would. Stick to it.

Don’t try to hide the medicine, toothbrush, cotton swab, gauze, whatever. If your dog wants to sniff the stuff, let them. Keep a firm grip so they can’t steal and eat anything, but show them it’s all benign stuff.

Simon is our wariest and most curious dog. Nothing happens to him unless he checks it out first. You’d think, after five years, that he knows what’s happening when we load a brush with toothpaste and turn to him. He still has to sniff and okay it. Every single time.

That’s okay. By asking him to help in his own care, he gets to choose. Every single time.

Teach the chin rest

The first thing to teach your dog is a chin rest. If your dog already knows “Gimme Your Face,” you’re most of the way there. For eye drops, you’re probably going to need two hands, so your dog should know a chin rest on a towel, mat, or even a small pillow.

Have a bunch of treats in a bowl nearby. If you have a small dog, sit on the floor. Put the towel across your lap and hold a treat in one hand on the towel. When your dog comes over to take the treat, keep feeding as long as their head is over the towel. If they back off, stop feeding. When they come back, keep feeding. Establish the pattern so they’re always rewarded when their head is over the towel.

Moving on

When your dog starts understanding this step, after a couple of treats use your dog’s release word and toss a treat to the side. If they come right back after getting the treat, you know it’s time to move on.

The next step is to wait for your dog to rest his/her chin on the towel. Hold the treat as far down as possible, and as close to you as possible. Feed as long as your dog’s chin is on the towel. As soon as their head comes up at all, stop. When the chin contacts the towel, feed. When it comes off, stop.

Since you will need some duration for care procedures, be sure to practice varying lengths of time that your dog stays with their chin on the towel. And be sure to release him/her before they’re tempted to do it themselves.

Next step

When your dog is staying with chin on towel for a good while, at least five seconds, add touching your dog to the game. At first, just touch them lightly, around the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Again, build up the amount of time, and use your dog’s release word.

The next step is to actually mimic the action of putting drops in your dog’s eyes. Holding the upper eyelid briefly, then letting it go. Both eyes.

If you have an eye dropper, introduce it to your dog and let him/her sniff it. Hold it in one hand while touching the eye lid with the other.

If your dog is comfortable this far, you can go ahead and fill the dropper with sterile saline solution and put a drop in each eye.

Go slow

If your dog is resistant at any step, just go back one or two and build back up. If there’s no urgent need, take the time your dog needs to be comfortable.

It’s probably going to take a lot of treats. Remember you can always use your dog’s food for part of the “trail mix” of treats you use in training.

This kind of dog training is called “cooperative care.” It’s certainly easiest, once learned, to have your dog help take care of themselves.

Teaching your dog to fish

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” We’ve all heard the saying, although no one seems to know its origins. The point is valid, though. What you’re doing with 2-Minute Training is teaching your dog to fish.

Giving a man a single fish is certainly fast and effective. It solves the immediate problem. Teaching someone to fish takes a lot longer and requires more effort by both parties. But it’s a forever solution to the problem. When it comes to dog training, you have the additional barrier of communication. You can tell a person how to do something. If they have questions, they’ll ask. It’s less clear with dogs.

Making your choice

A specific example most dog owners can relate to: when somebody enters your home, the dog jumps on them to say “Hello.”

Single fish answer: Every time someone comes over, you grab your dog’s collar and prevent the jumping. Or tell your dog “Off!” every time they jump.

Fishing answer: Teaching your dog a greeting behavior that’s triggered by a knock or the sound of the doorbell.

It takes longer and requires more effort to teach the “fishing” answer. It always will. But once learned, it’s there forever and you won’t have to dread the chaos when the doorbell rings.

Pick your battles

Every dog owner has his/her own rules of the house for the dog. Some people don’t want their dogs on furniture. Others don’t want their dogs sleeping on their beds. We know people who don’t want their dogs to precede them through doorways. Everyone chooses what’s most important to them.

Whatever rules you choose as absolutes for your dog, it’s worth taking the time to transform into a training game. Spend a few minutes to break down the behavior. What are the smallest nuggets you can teach your dog?

For instance

If it’s staying off the couch, think about what happens when your dog jumps up on it now. Does it always happen when you’re already sitting there? Does your dog rock back before jumping up? How can you interrupt the action and turn it into something else?

If you’d like your dog to settle in their own bed instead of up on the couch, make sure that bed is in the dog’s path to the couch. When you see your dog getting ready to jump up, they must step on the dog bed first. Use your “place” game and toss a treat into the dog’s bed.

Your dog, your rules

Focus on teaching your dog rules that matter every day. There are some dogs who resist putting on a collar or harness. That’s something that comes into play all the time. It’s worth breaking that down into small pieces:

look at the collar (click & treat)
sniff the collar while you’re holding it (c&t)
touch the collar (c&t)
allow the collar to touch their neck (c&t)
put the collar on (c&t)

Our lives got easier when we taught each of our dogs this simple behavior. They used to get excited and run around like hooligans when we reached for collar and leash. Now they all get excited, run over to us and stay still while we clasp their collars. It’s a small thing but useful many times a day. It was worth it to teach our dogs to fish.

Dogs need your feedback

Do you talk to your dog? If not, why not? Dogs need your feedback especially when you’re playing training games, but other times, too.

Consider this dialog:
Trainer: What day is today?
Student: Tuesday?
Trainer: What day is today?
Student: The seventh?
Trainer: What day is today?
Student:…..

Even if all of the student’s answers are right, by persisting with the same question without feedback, the trainer is causing doubt and frustration. If your dog is struggling to understand what you want, it’s not the dog’s fault. Your role is to encourage your dog to keep trying, offering feedback to keep them in the game. And find a way to clear up any confusion. We’ve encouraged you to talk to your dogs for years, and still our classes can be much too quiet.

Dogs want to play with you

It’s perfectly understandable that you don’t want to look foolish in public. But consider: do you look sillier with high-energy dog training with a responsive, engaged dog? Or with a low-key public session where your dog ignores you?

One of the phrases our students hear most often and are probably sick of is “Be more fun! Be more interesting!” In all honesty, your dog shouldn’t find anything or anybody more interesting than you. You should be your dog’s focal point, because they have more fun with you than anything else on the planet.

When you’re more animated, more enthused, and more focused for those 2-Minute sessions, your dog will be, too. If your dog doesn’t understand what you want, increase your feedback, don’t eliminate it! Give your dog encouragement: “You can do it, I know you can!” “Try something else, buddy. That wasn’t it, but I know you can get there!”

If your dog doesn’t hear good, positive feedback from you – what motivation do they have to keep trying?

Stay engaged

If you’re not feeling it on a particular day, don’t train. It’s really that easy. The session wouldn’t be productive anyway, so just don’t bother. You don’t want to get aggravated, you don’t want to frustrate your dog. So give it a bye. If your mood changes later that day, that’s when you give your dog a couple of minutes. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay, too.

One of the complaints we hear about people’s dogs is that the dogs are more interested in “stuff” in their environment than in their people. It’s not the dog’s job to find you interesting. It’s your job to be interesting to your dog. That doesn’t mean putting on a show. It means paying attention to your dog, not your phone, when you’re out for a walk. And when your dog spots something interesting, engage with them! If it’s something you’d rather they not focus on, redirect their attention with a game or a toy or conversation. If it’s something worth checking out – go do that and be part of the exploration.

That’s the key. Be a part of everything your dog does. Interact, talk to them. Let them know they’re not just a “thing” you take out and play with when it’s convenient. Dogs need your feedback. The more you let your dog know they matter to you, the more you’ll matter to your dog.

Get your dog to stop pulling

Dogs love routine. Dogs love patterns. You can take advantage of this, and cure your dog’s pulling on leash, with 3-step Pattern Walking. It’s a great way to get your dog to stop pulling.

3-step Pattern Walking is easy to learn for both you and your dog. The key aspect is to be absolutely reliable in your treat delivery. Never lie to your dog. If Phydeaux hears the magic word, even if you say it accidentally, Phydeaux gets a treat.

Get started

Pick a three-word phrase you can remember easily. It can be anything you choose – it will only have meaning for you and your dog. One-Two-Three. Do-Re-Mi. A-B-C. Wa’-Cha’-Wej. Whatever you like is fine.

Get a handful of treats and start teaching your dog your pattern words. Say the third word in your sequence and give your dog a treat. Five times. Just the third word and a treat. Your dog doesn’t have to do anything. You’re just familiarizing him/her with the idea that every single time they hear that particular word, they get a treat. That’s your magic word for your dog.

It bears repeating: Every single time you say the third word in your sequence, your dog gets a treat. Even if they’re not paying attention, even if they’re howling at the moon. If they hear that word, they get a treat. A really good treat – top tier nummies.

Next step is to say the last two words in your sequence. When you say the third word, give your dog a treat. You’re teaching your dog the pattern that leads to the golden ticket – your third word. Repeat five times.

Obviously, the next part is to say all three words and give your dog a treat when you say the third word. Repeat five times.

Dogs are smart

Most dogs catch on pretty darn quick. Getting 15 treats after hearing a single word is a powerful signal that it’s a wonderful word to hear. It’s pretty amazing watching them figuring it out.

How does this turn into loose-leash walking? How does this get your dog to stop pulling? By adding movement to your three-word sequence. One step for each word, reward on the third word. Every single time.

Remember that dogs learn by the timing and placement of rewards. For Pattern Walking, that means keeping the reward close to you. If you want a traditional “heel” position, hold the reward by your left thigh.

What if your dog is ahead of you or behind you? It doesn’t matter. Keep the reward where you want your dog to be. You’re showing your dog exactly where he/she needs to be to get the treat.

Stretch it out

As your dog learns the pattern and gets better at staying close, you can stretch out the sequence. Maybe say two steps between each of the three cue words. Pay close attention to your dog’s reaction. If your dog is staying with you, add more steps. If they’re wandering off, or starting to pull, keep the sequence a little tighter.

Most dogs catch on to Pattern Walking quickly. If your dog is still pulling, stop when you say the third word and wait for your dog to come back to you to give the reward. Don’t reach to give the reward – let your dog come back into position.

Don’t ruin your word

If you run out of treats, or forget them on an outing, stop using the three-word sequence. For it to remain valuable, you have to deliver a treat every time you say the third word. Failing to deliver on the promise will lessen, or eliminate, the value of the word. Reliably delivering on the promise you make to your dog will cement the behavior you want.

Don’t even bother telling your dog to “calm down”

Telling your dog to “calm down” is ridiculous. It means nothing to the dog, unless you teach a calmness protocol. And the absolute worst time to try to achieve calm with your dog is when they’re excited.

One of our favorite quotes is from science fiction author Robert Heinlein. “Never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.”

What you can do

Calm is not a dog goal. If you wanted a calm pet, you should have gotten one that either purrs or is stuffed with cotton batting. Dogs, even some senior dogs, are pets for activity. Whether that’s hiking, biking, canoeing, or strolling around the block.

Can you teach your dog to act politely, even when over-stimulated, stressed, and excited? Of course you can! And that’s the actual goal. You don’t want your dog to be calm. You want your dog to listen and remember their manners even when they’re excited.

Again: your real goal is for your dog to listen and behave everywhere, no matter what’s happening around you. Your objective is a dog who thinks and acts appropriately, even in a state of high arousal. Even if there’s a squirrel running across the street. Especially when a bicyclist zooms by. Definitely when your child’s entire 2nd Grade class is shrieking through the house playing “Hide and Seek.” So telling your dog to calm down won’t work.

How to get there

Dog issues seem to clump into clusters. We’ll hear about the same issue from several people within days, then nothing about that for months. This week it was definitely getting dogs to “calm down” in the presence of stimuli on walks.

And most people seem to think that calm is achieved by redirecting or distracting your dog. It’s not. It’s letting the dog see what’s going on, learning that it’s really not all that exciting, and choosing to get on with life. Two of our students this week mentioned their dog going nuts watching squirrels while out on walks.

We asked them what they did when their dog started lunging and pulling to chase the squirrel. Both pretty much said they dragged their dog off in the opposite direction. So the dogs learned absolutely nothing other than how strong their people are, and which buttons to push to annoy the heck out of them.

Changes in attitude

Instead of redirecting, distracting, and dragging, how about letting your dog watch the damn squirrel?
Try to get far enough away so your dog can watch calmly without pulling. Then just stop and let your dog watch. Squirrels are kind of fun to observe for a few minutes. Your dog will, in time, tire of it. If your dog isn’t chasing, the squirrel’s probably not going to do anything all that interesting.

Just wait. If your dog sits, great! Give him/her a cookie. Don’t tell them what to do. You don’t even need to talk to him/her. This would be the time to check your phone. Let your dog have a couple of minutes to do dog stuff.

When your dog is done watching, or at least staring intently at the squirrel, say something like “Okay, let’s move on!” and go. This is another instance where distance is your friend. Be far enough away so your dog can see, be seen, and still listen to you, a little bit.

Chances are the next squirrel won’t be as fascinating as this one was. Will your dog ever not notice squirrels? You hope not! It’s one of the things dogs are meant to do. Will they be able to glance, recognize, and ignore? In time, as long as you teach them that’s the proper way to behave in public.