Week 1 (1) Lured Sit, (2) Lured Down, (3) Leave It (4) Follow the Hand (5) Off

THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL LURING EXERCISES.   I SOMETIMES USE ONE OF THEIR MEAL TIMES TO DO THESE.  I WOULD WORK ALL OF THESE FOR 5-10 MINUTES IF YOU CAN AND JOEY DOES NOT GET FLAT.

ALSO, IF JOEY IS HAVING TROUBLE WITH A PARTICULAR EXERCISE, YOU CAN PRACTICE THAT EXERCISE ALONE FOR NO LONGER THAN 5 MINUTES LATER.

THE GOAL FOR THIS WEEK IS JUST TO GET JOEY USED TO THE POSITIONS AND COMMANDS.

EXERCISE 1 Lured Sit: 

NOTE:  YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE TO LURE HER FOR THIS ONE.  DO USE THIS BEFORE LURING THE DOWN THOUGH.

STEP 1:  Take the treat and hold it right up to their nose (do not snatch it away if they jump or keep it far from their nose).
STEP 2:  Then you move the treat past their head and over their rump area.    Make sure they follow your hand and that you do not move it too quickly.
STEP 3:   Once their bum is on the floor and their two front feet are also on the floor, give them the food reward and say "sit".

EXERCISE 2  Lured Down:

STEP 1:  Start your puppy off in the sit position.
STEP 2: Holding the treat in front of their nose, move your hand down to the floor (slowly make sure the nose is following, and then on the ground away from her).   If it does not work the first time, you can just set your puppy up and begin again.   Remember to move the treat slowly and near your puppy's nose.   You want your puppy's nose to follow your hand and the treat into position.   If your puppy has a real hard time with this, you can warm her up or just do the luring under your bent leg on the floor for the down at first.

NOTE:  RIGHT NOW WE JUST WANT HER TO LOWER HER HEAD (AND LATER HER SHOULDERS, AND THEN ALL OF HER) WHEN WE SAY "YES" AND GIVE THE TREAT)
STEP 3:   Once the puppy is in a down position (or getting closer to the position), give her the food reward as you say down.

EXERCISE 3 Leave It:

Equipment Needed: 6’ Leash, Training Collar, and Food Reward  

Explanation and Goal of Exercises: This begins to teach your dog to leave something or someone alone. This is important as later on your dog could be interested in something dangerous to themselves. The goal of this exercise is to start the process and understanding of the “Leave It” command. 

STEP 1: First, have your dog on leash and collar so they do not wander off. 

STEP 2: Take a food reward and put it in your closed fist. 

STEP 3: Present your fist to the dog, but not all the way up to their nose. 

STEP 4: Say “leave it”. If they are at your hand already do not snatch your hand away. Snatching your hand away ends up having the dog go after your hand in an unpleasant way later on. 

 

STEP 5A: If they leave your hand alone, say the release word, “Yes”, as you open your hand for the dog to take the food reward. 

STEP 5B: If they are licking, gnawing, or pawing your hand or in any way trying to the treat, wait it out until they back off and stay off.  When they do that, say the release word, “Yes”, and open your hand to give them the food reward. 

AFTER THIS: The next step will be to use the directions, but with your hand open at first. The other difference will be that you will close up your hand if the dog attempts to get it, but you have not given the release word, “Yes” 

EXERCISE 4 Follow the Hand or Spin:

STEP 1:  Hold the handle of the leash in one hand.
STEP 2:  Put a treat in the other hand.
STEP 3:  Make sure you have the puppy fairly close to you on the leash.
STEP 4:  Place the treat close to or right on the puppy's nose if needed in a closed hand.

NOTE FOR STEP 5, SHE WAS ALREADY DOING THE COMPLETE SPIN.   SO GIVE HER THE FOOD REWARD ON COMPLETION OF THE SPIN.
STEP 5: Then lure with your hand so the puppy's head turns to start.   Don't expect more than a head turn at first.  If they do go around with their body at first, then great!   The second time, they may not.  Just be patient with the puppy or dog at first, as they do not understand exactly what we want yet.   This is the teaching or showing phase of training. 
STEP 6:   When they turn their head, say "good boy" or "good girl" (notice we are not giving a command at this point), and then open your hand so they can take the food.

EXERCISE 5 Off:

STEP 1:   You will have your food reward preloaded in your hand.

STEP 2:  If your puppy jumps up on you during the luring exercises, say "off" and hold the food reward out from your body.

STEP 3A:  If your puppy does not follow the treat in or get off of you, then you can tug or lightly push her off.   This will not get a food reward.

STEP 3B:  If your puppy does get off of you on their own or following the food, you can use the marker word "good" (meaning good job, keep going) and then the release word "yes" (also a food reward is coming sometimes).