Training with Bailey continues and he is making headway!! Well I should say, I am learning how to train Bailey. One of the training tips we have been working on is to always make training a positive experience. Jessica explained that training a dog with positive reinforcement will eventually result in positive results. The way to stay patient through the process is to work in baby steps towards the goal. This week we worked on the command “go to your blankie” Below are the steps:
- Let dog smell super stinky dog delicious treats while secured on a leash (preferably someone is holding leash of dog)
- Walk several feet away and lay down bed/blanket and place several pieces of the treats on it
- Call dog with command “Come to blankie” and person holding leash handle lets go
- Dog charges to bed and eats up treats
After Baily did this well a few times, the routine changed
- Let dog smell super stinky dog delicious treats while secured on a leash
- Walk several feet away and lay down bed/blanket and hold treats in your hand
- Call dog with command “Come to blankie” and person holding leash handle lets go
- Dog charges to bed and looks for treats and doesn’t find them!
- Dog thinks, what do I need to do to get those treats!! I must have to sit! So Bailey did just that, he sat, and I fed him the treats.
After Baily did this well, the routine changed again. By the time he got to his bed I didn’t hand him the treats so he thought what do I need to do, I sat and didn’t get the treats, so the natural next step is to lie down on the bed. And he did and got lots of super stinky treats!
I shot a video with an old camera in my backyard. It is a little fuzzy as I was on the one shooting the video and giving the command but you will see Bailey learning his new command. In the video, you will see a long lead on Bailey. It is a 30′ soft leash that is used for training and helps me to have enough time to grab his lease if he gets distracted.
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