CHAPTER 1. THE TRAINING COURSE

It's not easy to characterize the course, as I taught it. Dogs with different needs and problems were brought together in the same training class. Most dog owners simply wanted to teach their dogs to be good companions—they were taught the basic course. Obedience, agility, tracking and hunting devotees worked on skills that gave their dogs a head start for doing those specialized tasks. Some dogs already had some advanced training, but were not yet under good control—they took the regular course, but did it on an accelerated schedule. Puppies were put on limited play-training.

In class, each student demonstrated what he or she worked on the previous week. The other students then critiqued how the student performed the task. I intervened with comment and aid only when needed, or when asked.

Some students used the instruction material as self-study—they only came to class when they needed assistance. The described training procedures are precise and detailed, and photo sequences (photos are not yet available in this version) clearly show how they should be done. But, when training by yourself, you may unknowingly perform some procedures incorrectly. For the best training result, then, I recommend that you either work informally with others or use this course material with professional instruction at a participating dog training club.

Mainly Reward Training Dogs can be trained to do basic obedience skills and most other specialized activities, using only rewarding techniques. In my experience, punishing procedures were completely omitted in the training of most "work dogs." It was done this way because punishment, even the mild sort, has the tendency to draw the dog's attention to his handler rather than to the task at hand. Kenneled work dogs are not required to observe the same rules of conduct that are demanded of the home-based Companion Dog. The handler of a work dog usually overlooks his dog's behavior anomalies, if they do not interfere with the dog's ability to do a required task, and who is willing to work whenever the occasion arises.

The Companion dog, however, lives in a diverse social milieu. He must observe some social niceties. Misbehavior and disobedience by the Companion dog in a social setting can be punished, and usually are. Punishment can take various/many forms: • If the dog tries to exit an open door to the outside before he's told he may, the door is closed and the dog loses the chance to play outdoors on that occasion. • If he fails to come when called during a social period, he can be given some penalty work, such as close-order drills for a minute or less. • The same drill penalty can be given to the dog who tries to step off the curb at a street corner before he's released to go on. • The dog who disobeys your command to "sit" or "down" when guests arrive or continues to annoy them in any manner can be made to spend a short time-out period in his home cage. • The dog who nips a person, no matter what the provocation, is given a serious "talking to"—nipping is unacceptable.A Gentling Effect on Temperament

Some dogs are shy or fearful and may show some defensive aggression. The gentle approach that's taken in this course has an ameliorative effect on the dog's temperament. In addition, if you are training in a class setting, your dog has a chance to meet old friends and become acquainted with new ones—making him more outgoing and friendly from the experience. The Game-playing class setting especially helps those dogs who don't yet know how to act with others—they may have had only limited friendly close encounters with other dogs. Socially deprived dogs gradually adapt to this friendly class setting, and are usually playing with other dogs after one or two sessions.

However, on rare occasion, you'll find a dog that is unfriendly with another in class. Fight they might, if given the chance. Though the course experience has a gentling effect on dogs, this type of aggression is handled more quickly with behavior therapy; a counter-conditioning procedure is usually all that's needed. Counter-conditioning helps to change an "aversive" circumstance into a "friendly" one (See Chapter 15. Behavior Therapy): You'd arrange for pleasant things to happen whenever the two dogs meet.The Governing Principles of the Program

The Dog: (1) learns a new strategy to get the things that he wants, and avoids their delay or loss. (2) learns that he gets most of the pleasures of life by working for them. (3) learns to recognize the occasions (signals, cues) and opportunities when he can earn rewards. (4) learns that he is not required to work, and that he may quit at any time without penalty beyond the loss of reward on that occasion.

The Handler: (1) takes the dog to places where he can earn rewards. (2) informs the dog when a reward-filled session is about to begin (the sound, READY, is the signal for doing that). (3) gives the signals and commands that tell the dog what to do when he is working for rewards and shows him how to perform. (4) delivers the rewards and/or nonphysical punishments when earned by the dog. (5) calms and relaxes the dog whenever he becomes anxious, fearful or aggressive. (6) gives the dog love, affection, and care at any time—the dog doesn't work to get them.

Dog-Handler Relationships: During training, or at any time for that matter, treat your dog as a close friend, rather than as an adversary. Avoid doing anything that will cause your dog to be anxious or apprehensive. Relax in his presence. Whenever you talk to the dog, do it in a soothing, quiet voice. Actively work towards improving your dog's quality of life with playtime, pleasure strolls, and plenty of pets and hugs.

The Leash Rule for Class Time: Keep your dog on leash while in class. Do not leash-correct or scold the dog for anything that he does during this time. Aggressive dogs must be kept out of reach of other dogs and people, until they become more friendly - with behavior therapy, if necessary.

The Course Exercises The core exercises for the companion dog are Sit, Down, Rise, Stay, Come-when-called, Halt, Send-away, and Casual Strolling on Loose Lead. Additional obedience exercises that anyone cares to do for fun or competition are heeling drills, Sit-front and finish-at-heel and Long sits and Long downs.

If you perform the training procedures as given, without modification, the control that you will get over these behaviors will be impressive. You will get that kind of control without stressing either you or your dog emotionally. The training thus has a positive effect on both you and your dog's disposition and temperament. Your dog, however, may have stressful moments. Whenever they arise, you will be shown how to deal with them with calming and relaxing techniques (see Chap. 15. Behavior Therapy).

Learning Principles Knowing how to correctly reinforce and disable behaviors is necessary for the training of any dog, by any training method. The reinforcing sounds, GOOD and OUT, are used in this course to reinforce (strengthen) desirable behaviors at the moment when these behaviors happen; while the disabling sounds NO and TIME are used to disable (weaken) unwanted behaviors. Try to limit the NO and TIME disabling mostly to social misbehaviors and only scarcely to training miscues in this first course.

You'll find this to be a highly sophisticated training method, but one that you can learn to use effectively. With it, you'll be able to get your dog to do anything that he is physically capable of doing, provided that you use the reinforcing and disabling signals correctly, and use the kinds of rewards that will get the dog to perform with enthusiasm.

Reinforcers: The reinforcing sounds, GOOD and OUT, tell the dog that the response he just made will be followed by a reward. To be effective, the reinforcing sound must come on at the exact moment the correct response is made. In that way, the sounds clearly tell the dog which responses are in his best interest to make. Following the reinforcing sound, the dog is rewarded.

The Reinforcement/Reward Rule: "First reinforce the response, then reward the dog." Never try to reward the dog without reinforcing the response first, otherwise you might find his response drifting into something different from what you had in mind. And never start any reward-delivery movements before you give the reinforcing sound.

Also, as a rule, always follow a reinforcer with a tangible reward. If your dog doesn't get a fair payoff for the work he performs, he likely will quit on you. If adequately compensated, your dog will be eager to perform. The rule holds even when the dog is in Obedience competition: when all exercises are completed in the ring, the dog is "told" that he will be rewarded after he leaves the ring.

Disablers

The disabling sounds, NO and TIME, are used mainly in advanced training work. They tell the dog that the response he just made is unacceptable for rewarding, and that he may have to do the task over again from the beginning (punishment). Dogs that are being campaigned for Obedience competition, for example, may do a minute or so of precision heeling as a penalty for doing a careless performance on any exercise. To be highly effective, the disabling sounds must come on at the precise moment the incorrect response or misbehavior is made. The disabling sounds in this first course are used primarily to disable social disobedience and misbehaviors.

The Disablement/Punishment Rule: First disable the behavior with a disabling sound, then punish the dog. Don't move to punish, until you've told him first that he misbehaved or disobeyed. Punishment in the training setting is usually in the form of delay or loss of reward or a light work penalty, and is rarely physically aversive.

Training Guidelines Do not urge your dog to perform. Your dog must be permitted not to respond whenever he wishes—or to quit working at any time, without penalty. Mistakes are ignored, and, if necessary, the trial is simply repeated. The dog's refusal to respond only forfeits the chance for him to earn some of the good things of life. If you do the procedures precisely as given, and use attractive rewards, your dog will begin and continue to perform well without urging.

Don't talk to the dog during the work session, except for giving commands and reinforcing/disabling sounds. Also, be as inconspicuous as you possibly can while doing the trial procedure. Don't do anything out of the ordinary to get the dog's attention. Don't even use the dog's name in any of the early training sessions; His name will be learned later to mean: "I want your attention. Expect to receive a command or signal to do something." The chance for earning rewards is a powerful persuader—let that work for you.

Allow the dog to beg. If your dog noses the food-containing hand, you must allow it. A normal impulse might be to say NO, or to move your hand out of the dog's reach. Don't do it. The behavior will disappear on its own, because the dog is never rewarded for doing it. Wait until he stops the objectionable behavior, and then resume the training trial.

We're going to start with a clean slate. Assume that your dog has not been taught any work skills. Don't give the dog any commands or use any procedures that haven't been taught yet in this course. Dogs who have already been trained to some extent before entering this course won't lose any of the skills that they already know—they will do them again, later, with a newly learned work strategy.

Team Training (optional, but encouraged)

In Team Training, two or more persons are involved in the training of a single dog—at the same time. Team Training resolves, to some extent, the problem of getting you to do all of the trial events correctly, in the proper order and with good timing.

The persons doing Team Training are Team Players. In Team Training, Team Players have defined roles in the training trial—each Player controls one or more trial actions.1 As an unlikely example, one Team Player may call the dog to work, another may tell him what response to make (with commands and/or signals), one other may show the dog how to respond, another may tell the dog about the "goodness" of his response, and yet another may reward the dog. However, in all probability, you alone, or with just one other person, would do all of the trial actions with your dog.

You will control a number of actions in the training setting—actions that the dog can see, hear, smell, taste or feel. For training to be efficient and effective, trial actions that you deliver must be done in the correct order with other actions—must never appear simultaneously or overlap with a start of any other action. In addition, correct timing of some trial actions is crucial.

In this course, no Team Player uses force techniques to get the dog to do anything. To do so would risk arousing some uncontrolled behavior-affecting anxiety, annoyance, fear or apprehension in the working dog. Moreover, the training outcome from negative intervention would be hard to duplicate by others, even if such interventions occasionally happened to work.

It's not correct to say that a trainer (or Team Player) controls the dog. Cues, signals and commands control behavior. Behavior control comes about from the way the dog reacts to actions that have been programmed by a trainer or Team Player.

CHAPTER 2. EVERY DOG LEARNS

The Association Model for learning. The Association Principle can explain virtually all learning. Learning happens when new actions are associated with old ones. Actions are events that trainers arrange in the dog's training setting. You will teach your dog the meanings of some useful actions that the dog can sense going on in his surroundings. To be an action, it must affect the dog in some way, i.e., make an impression, be perceived, rouse the dog to activity, and/or stimulate an emotion. An action can be a voiced command that is heard by the dog, a touch that is felt, a human scent that is smelled on a track…

The Association Principle is defined in a way that makes it useful as a training procedure. For our purpose, the principle is expressed as the close pairing of two distinct actions.

For association learning to work, two requirements must be met: 1) the two programmed actions must appear in the correct order; (2) the interval between the start of the first action and the start of the second must be quite short, yet not overlap.

A0 is followed by A1

Figure 2-1. The Association Model.In this model, A0 and A1 represent actions. A0 is an action that either has no meaning to your dog or has a meaning that you want to change; A1 is an action that means something to the dog, and which may even control his behavior in some way. Simply stated, the association principle says that if an action, A0, appears consistently before another action, A1, then the first appearing action (A0) will take on the meaning of the one that follows (A1).

Consider this example: Suppose you suddenly snap your fingers (A0). Your dog may show a mild reaction to the sound when you first do it. But when you do it again, the dog might not react at all. From this, you know that your dog hears the sound, but apparently, it has no particular meaning for him. Do it a third time, but now after you snap your fingers, get up quickly, grab the leash, attach it to the dog, and proceed outdoors. You have just performed an association procedure: the finger snap is A0, and going-out-of-doors (a pleasurable action) is A1. When you do the pairing one or more times, your dog should be leaping with excitement whenever he hears the finger-snap.

If the dog is to learn the meaning of the first-appearing action, A0, he must at least be aware of its presence. When you see that your dog pays no attention to one of your actions during an early training period, you must emphasize the event in a way that it's noticed, i.e., by giving a louder voice command, exaggerate a signal, etc.…

Speed of learning an action is most favorable when the time interval between the start of action A0, and the start of action A1, is in the range of several milliseconds to about one-half second. You will show good training technique when you start the second action about one-half second after the start of the first. Do not begin both actions at the same

time—that is, don't overlap the beginning of both actions. Also, do not do them in the reverse order, otherwise the desired learning will be delayed or not occur at all.

If you don't have the knack to "time" the actions too well, you may increase the time interval between actions to one second. Training will just take a bit longer. Better yet, do Team Training with your dog (see the section, Team Training, in Chapter 1). Have another Team Player deliver one of the actions in any pairing.

Again, by Association Learning, you have the ability to change the meaning of an action, as perceived by the dog, by properly sequencing and timing it with an action that has the desired effect. The procedure is used extensively in dog training.

Accidental Associations We know that associations between actions can be made by chance. Consider this coincidence: With outstretched arms, you call the dog to you. When he comes, and a split second after you touch him in a petting gesture, a frightening noise sounds. You can imagine what the dog will do when you reach out to pet him again the next time.Arranged Associations.

Arranged associations are what you will be doing in this training course, where it's assumed you have control over the training setting and training actions, and, consequently, over what the dog learns. In this instance, associations between actions are made by design, and not by accident.

When you arrange an association between two actions, the first appearing action can be said to become a predictor of the second, as was cited above in the finger-snapping instance. One of the first associations that you will make in this course will be between the voiced GOOD and a food delivery—in which case, GOOD will become a predictor that a food tidbit will follow.

Learning New Commands and Signals. Your dog will learn new commands (and signals) that will be paired with ones that the dog already knows—the latter may already be controlling a dog's response that is of interest to you. For example, if you want the dog to learn the meaning of the voiced command DOWN, and the dog already knows to go down to an arm-and-hand signal, then you would pair the new "command" with the familiar "signal" in this order: the new command DOWN comes first, followed closely by the arm-and-hand signal. When paired this way over a number of associations, the command DOWN will come to control the down response when given alone.

Altering an Emotion With the Association Procedure, you also have the ability to change the emotional character of a first-appearing action to that of a subsequently appearing, more desirable, one. That is, if the first-appearing action of a pair is fear-eliciting (A0), and the second action is pleasure-eliciting (A1), then the consistent and close pairing of the two actions in that order will result in the first-appearing one, A0, also eliciting pleasure.

As an example, hunting dogs that have a fear of gunfire can be helped to overcome that fear: Something pleasant can be made to happen to the dog whenever a gun is fired nearby. For instance, a tasty morsel could appear immediately following gunfire. The dog would soon look forward, with anticipation to hearing a gun sound.

If you reverse the order of the two actions, then the pleasure-eliciting action will become fear-eliciting. That is, suppose the trainer fired the gun immediately after giving the dog a tasty tidbit. In only a few such associations, the dog would fear to pick up the tasty morsel. So, watch the way you order the actions (provided you have control over them in your training setting). It makes a difference.

CHAPTER 3. THE REWARD SYSTEM

In the Reward System, the dog develops a strategy for turning on pleasant events. The system is quite versatile and works exceedingly well with dogs of any age, size, and temperament. It does wonders for dogs that show fear, shyness, aggression, or any other emotional or temperament problem that the owner may feel is disabling; for dogs that need to be motivated to perform; and for those that require confidence building.Reinforcement in the Reward System

Reinforcement happens when you "tell" the dog that he made a good response, at the moment he made it. Thus, behaviors are strengthened (reinforced) with secondary reinforcers—not primary ones. The voiced sounds, GOOD and OUT, become secondary reinforcers1 when they are paired with food or other primary reinforcers over a series of trials. (See the section, "Reinforcing Sounds" under the heading "The Basic Sounds," below).

Most reinforcing is done with sound: It can be a voiced sound, a clicker2 sound, a finger snap… However, trainers in unusual circumstances use non-sound events as reinforcers. One time, I worked with a student who trained his deaf dog, and, on several other occasions, I helped deaf persons train their dogs—the students use "sign," unique movements of the arm and hands to reinforce behaviors in the training trials.

Reward-System Models Two basic variations of the reward system are available to the trainer. One is the Assisted-response Model, which you will use mostly in this course. The other variation is the Free-response Model. The latter model is often referred to as the Clicker Method, whenever a handheld clicker is used to tell the dog that he made a correct response, at the precise moment that he made it.

The Free-Response ModelEssentially, you allow your dog to respond freely in the workplace—to do anything he wants. You do not tell him what to do or show him how to respond. You just wait for the

behavior that you've designated to be correct to happen. Then, at that moment, you'll tell your dog that a reward will follow.

This model is used sparingly in this course. One instance of the model's use is to get early control of the Down response. It's a fascinating and fun way to train your dog. It's used in this text to show you how a behavior can be brought under control in a wholly different way, still without coercion (See Down Training in Chapter 13).

The procedure is meant to show you, in the most direct way, the relationship between behavior and its consequences. Example: One time, Audrey, a class friend attempted to condition the behavior of a professor while he lectured. The behavior that she tried to get him to do was "gaze in her direction with greater frequency." Whenever the professor looked in her direction, which wasn't too often at first, she'd look up at him and slightly nod her head. It wasn't long before the professor looked in her direction with ever-greater frequency. Then it was time to extinguish the behavior. To do that, Audrey looked down at her notes instead. The professor stopped looking in her direction. She again reestablished the conditioned behavior by "the look and nod." I asked Audry to stop before the professor realized what she was doing.

The Assisted-Response Model This model is the method of choice for training most performance skills in this course. It's the more traditional way of training a dog. In this model, the dog is "told" to make a response—commands and signals do the telling. Then the dog is "assisted" in making the response, without waiting for the dog to do it on his own. The trainer says GOOD or OUT precisely at the moment the response is completed. The delivery of a reward then follows in a deliberate, unhurried way. You will begin Assisted-response training immediately after the dog learns the meanings of the GOOD and OUT sounds.

This method isn't difficult to perform. The procedures are described in clear and ample detail, and the photographs (may not yet be included in your packet) show you precisely how to do them. Nevertheless, the beginner-trainer often fails to give proper attention to these details. For this reason, beginners should do their training at a participating Dog Training Club, where expert observers can critique their performance and make needed corrections.

Most dog owners want their dog to be obedient and friendly with people and other dogs. To accomplish this, two distinctive training strategies are employed: Game Playing initially teaches the dog the obedience skills; then Social Obedience in these skills is practiced for compliance in the social/real world setting.

"Game playing" is a gentle way of training your dog. In Game-playing, coercion is totally absent. Your dog is allowed to refuse a request to perform or to quit "playing the game" whenever he wishes, without penalty. Game playing always begins with "the call to play a game", continues with the game itself, and ends with a "grand" reward (see "Essentials of Game-playing," below).

The work-seasoned dog becomes very cooperative when he hears the call to play, and is eager to perform any task that you may have in mind. He should then perform with little or no hesitation during the training session. He will persist in the work even under demanding circumstances until the grand reward turns up.

When the dog is first exposed to the structured game, the effort that he must expend to get rewards is quite small—he is only to pay attention to what is going on (see Chapter 5, Getting Started). By simply observing, the dog learns to notice all of the session actions and how they relate to one another.

The dog's Game-playing strategy is to turn on the sounds GOOD and OUT—sounds that are followed by tangible rewards. In Social Obedience training, the dog's strategy is to avoid turning on the sounds NO and TIME, which are predictors of unpleasant consequences. NO is used mostly as a warning sound. TIME tells the dog that he earned a penalty; though compulsive, the earned penalty for social disobedience is done with a light hand. A discussion of compliance work is found in some skill-training sections of this manual.

Prompting New signals, commands, and other stimulus actions in the training trial are learned by association with actions that follow them. Learning happens when a "new" action is "paired" often with an action that the dog knows something about, and which is already controlling a behavior (response). The "assisting" action, the second-appearing action in the "paired" sequence, is called a "prompt." It's called that because it "helps" the dog to make a correct response every time. By pairing a new signal or command with a prompt for a number of trials, the new signal or command begins to control the same response.

The training trial provides the dog with the required experience that results in a speedy acquisition and correctness of any performance. The trial typically starts with a command or signal that the dog is meant to learn. It's followed quickly by assisting the dog to make the response. In these training trials, the dog is helped with a prompt (assistance) before he has a chance to make the response on his own.

The Assisted-response Method doesn't tell you what kind of prompt (assist) you are to give your dog to help him make the desired response. It only says that the prompt you choose must get the response every time. For example, suppose you want to train your dog to sit whenever you say, SIT. To do that, you could follow the voiced SIT by pressing down gently on the dog's hindquarters, provided that your dog sits whenever you perform the pressing action.

Said again: A prompt can be any trainer-action that already controls the dog's response. That is, it gets the response to happen every time. Pairing such a prompt with a new event helps to get the new event to control the same response.

Testing versus training. When the trainer waits for the dog to make the response on his own before she considers delivering a prompt, it's called testing. Testing is not training:

the wait period between the first event and the second of the paired events in testing is too long for the dog to make the connection between them. When the trainer attempts to apply the prompt before the dog has a chance to perform it on his own, it's called training. However, you may do an occasional test trial to inquire whether your dog is learning.

Some experienced trainers do little or no testing during their training sessions. They know that learning has taken place when the dog makes the response, or begins making it, before the trainer has a chance to deliver the "assisting" prompt. Alternatively, the experienced trainer may gradually fade out the amount of help given the dog. For example, following the command to halt in "Halt and Stand-stay" training, the response-assistance at first is a non-jerking full restraint imposed on the dog's lead to halt. In no time at all, the aid (prompt) that's given following the halt command is simply a light tug on the lead.

In passing, prompts are not allowed in Obedience competition. Prompts are considered to be extra commands, and thus incur a scoring penalty at these trials.

Essentials of Game-playing The Game-playing Format is the blueprint for most of the dog's training and maintenance work. The principle features of the Game-playing Format:

The Call to Play a Game. When you are about to begin a training session, ask the dog if he wants to play a "game." The voiced READY does the asking—said in a normal, questioning tone. Be sure to "ask" before you make any moves to start the game, otherwise the dog may mistakenly begin to use your body movement as a cue that a game is about to be played. You don't want the dog to jump about with anticipation whenever you get up to do something else.

The Game-playing Trials. A trial is defined as a unit of training actions. It often begins with a quiet/still wait period action. The wait can vary from between one and five seconds from one trial to another. Following the wait, your dog may get a command to do something—after which, you would help your dog make the response. At the moment the dog responds, you'd say GOOD (or OUT). The trial ends when you reward the dog. You would then begin another trial with a varying "wait period."

The Training Session. The training session, beginning in Chapter 5, has all of the components of the Game-playing Format: the call to play the game, the training trials, and the grand reward that the dog gets at the last trial of the session. In the early sessions of Game-playing, your dog is not asked to do anything except be aware of what is going on (see Chapter 5). Asking the dog to do something begins in Chapter 6.

The Basic Sounds The Call to Work Sound. The READY sound signals the dog to work3—it's supposed to get the dog to come to you and begin attending to the game that you are about to play. The dog learns the meaning of the READY sound in several working days. You are likely to see a marked reaction to the sound, when learned.

Reinforcing Sounds. The voiced GOOD and OUT are reinforcers. These sounds have the power to reinforce (strengthen) behavior, because they are associated with rewards. You will be using the GOOD or OUT sounds whenever your dog responds in ways that you want. In one or more days, your dog should "expect" a tasty tidbit to follow every GOOD sound, and "anticipate" a more attractive reward to follow the OUT sound.

Timing and Sequencing of Actions The sound, READY. If the dog is to use the READY sound to predict when a Game playing session is about to begin, the sound must be the first action to signal a training session. For example, when you are ready to work with your dog, say the sound while you are absorbed in another activity, say, reading a book, watching television, exercising,… The sequence might be: say the READY sound; lay down your book; get up out of your chair; go to the kitchen; get your training foods ready for the coming trials; take all of your training aids with you to the place where you will do the work; begin the session.

Do not start any movement to conduct a training session before you say the sound. Otherwise the dog may learn to use your movement to predict the beginning of a training session, when often, no session is intended.

The command for the dog to do something. The voiced command or signal usually follows a brief wait period (see Part 2 of Chapter 7: "Sit and Rise"). The command must come on before you start any movement to assist the dog to make the response. If you start your assist movements before you voice the command, the command will not likely be learned—the dog will be reacting to your movements, or the dog will fail to respond, as if it doesn't know what to do, and the dog will unfairly get the blame for that.

The reinforcing sound GOOD (or OUT). The reinforcing sound must be timed precisely at the moment the response is made. What constitutes a "good" response by the dog must be clear in your mind before you begin an exercise. For instance, in the early steps of Sit Training, the response is defined as a Sit only when the dog's back-end comes in contact with the ground. That's when you will say the reinforcing sound. Later in Sit Training, you will reinforce the Sit-stay—when the dog had been sitting for a short period of time.

The GOOD sound is used in every trial except the last. On the last trial, the OUT sound replaces the GOOD sound, and a grand reward follows. The dog doesn't know that the last trial is being run until he hears the OUT sound.

Rewarding the Dog. Do not begin any food delivery movements before you say the reinforcing sound. Otherwise the dog will latch onto your movement to predict an impending reward, rather than use the reinforcing sound to do that. If the dog wrongly becomes conditioned to your movement to predict a reward, he will continually look at you for the movement "signal." You will thus be restricting the dog in the kinds of things that he can learn.

CHAPTER 4. MOTIVATING YOUR DOG

Most reward-training in this course is done with food, because it is training-effective and does not waste training time. Your dog will be turned-on as a performer if the training food that you're using is tasty. Many kinds of savory commercial "treats" are available for use as rewards (some of these should be cut up into smaller bits).

Petting-and-Praise (P&P) does not work well as a "reward" in the present Training System; rather, it's meant to work in the Compulsive System. Don't confuse the sounds, GOOD and OUT, with praise. That, they are not. GOOD and OUT inform the dog about an impending reward. When training, say these sounds in a neutral tone of voice.

You may, if you want to, Pet-and-praise your dog immediately following a training session, But do it only after you say the OUT sound, and are in the process of delivering the arranged "grand" reward. Also, you are urged to praise and hug your dog at any time outside the training session—the dog is never required to do work to get them.

Sampling Foods In this chapter, your dog will sample some of the foods that you plan to use in training. The sampling of each kind of food takes about a minute to do. Rummage through your refrigerator for appetizing and nutritious foods, or use some that are suggested here. Avoid large amounts of salted and sweetened foods. Also do not give chocolate to your dog; many dogs are allergic to it.

Tidbit Foods Most dogs will eagerly work to get:Moist & Meaty® Chicken Dinner by Purina. It's a tidbit that's about the same size and tastiness as Pounce®.Pounce® by Puss n' Boots. Most dogs relish it, though it's a cat treat. It's nutritious, it's a nice size, and doesn't mess your hands. For smaller dogs, this treat can be broken in half, without crumbling. It comes in a handy, small cylinder container.Baked or cooked ham, cut into small cubes, is a good choice as the main tidbit food. Have the Deli person cut one or two 3/16 inch thick slices (when you get the correct thickness, ask the Deli person what dial number the Deli slicing machine was set at). Cut each slice into tidbit pieces—each approximately 3/16 inch Square (about the size of a green pea). Various prepared luncheon meats that are firm and low in fat and sodium content.

If the dog eagerly consumes the treat food, use it in your upcoming association training with the GOOD sound in chapter 5. If the dog snubs your choices—fails to assume a begging attentive stance—deprive him of any other food for an hour or more, then try again.

Dog Handling while Tidbit Testing You will be doing some of your training off-leash, especially when you're working indoors or a fenced-in space. When outdoors in open space, be sure that your off-leash

dog will not run off. Otherwise, put him on leash, but then, drop your end of the lead and stand on it during the trials. If you have a small dog, put him on a table—that way, you won't be continually bending over him.

The Tidbit Tasting ProcedureDo this procedure off-leash if you are working indoors; on-leash, if working outdoors.

1. Relax.2. Put about 10 tidbits in your hand. Hold both hands at midriff level.3. Take one tidbit in your other hand and give it to the dog.4. Continue with the remaining pieces, with little hesitation between deliveries.

You will know if a food has reward properties, when he becomes very attentive during the above procedure. When you get that all-important effect, begin using the food in the forthcoming GOOD-food pairing procedure in the next chapter. Don't be concerned if your dog is begging. Allow it.

Grand Foods Grand food follows the OUT sound on the last trial of a training session in this course. Some items that can be used as grand foods:

a ½" piece of hot dog or slice of sausage a rounded teaspoon of a tasty canned dog food a teaspoon portion of ice cream or sour cream a ¾" cube of good quality headcheese or other luncheon meat a part of a small Milk Bone© Biscuit, Snausage©, a short strip of Cheweez©

Beefhide or any other tasty convenience treat and, especially, a spoonful of tasty table scraps. Save a part of whatever you have

been eating, and use it as a grand-food reward.

Let the dog sample a variety of foods, one morsel at a time, to see how eagerly he accepts them. Soon, the dog's attention begins to be focused on you and your food delivery movements.

Grand-food Tasting Procedure. Preferably, have the dog in the off-leash mode.Open a can of a tasty dog food (or use another kind of appetizing food, such as table scraps).Put the dog's food dish on the floor.Place a rounded teaspoon of food into it.Let the dog eat the food.Immediately after he has consumed it, place one more rounded teaspoon of food into the dish. If the dog eats eagerly, stop after delivering 2 portions. Plan to use the food to follow the reinforcing sound, OUT, in forthcoming training.This ends all of the food-sampling sessions.

The Daily Food Ration The "dog in training" should get a good quality dry dog food as his daily ration at the end of the day. The amount of "dry nugget" ration depends on how much reward food he

consumed that day. Allow the dog 10 minutes to finish his daily ration; then remove the food bowl. This is supposed to get the dog to begin eating immediately when the food is put in front of him.

Many dogs are not inclined to finish off the hard, dry nugget food in one sitting, and may not get it all eaten within the 10 minutes allowed. To make the ration more palatable, mix a tasty moist food with the dry food—about 1/3 can of moist food for a medium size dog . For another kind of nourishing and tasty ration, mix a watery, warm oatmeal with the dry food (Oatmeal is my favorite breakfast cereal when topped with brown sugar, light cream and melted butter. "Sorry pup, you get the lite style." See below). If the end-of-day ration is quite tasty, have the dog do some work for it in the forthcoming training: About a minute in Down-stay or Sit-stay are suitable exercises for that ration—select any behaviors over which you already have established control.

Since the dog will be working for food during much of his training, he should be at least a little hungry during the training session. Dogs that are 1 yr. or older, should be fed their normal food ration once a day at the end of the workday. This means that training on the following day is begun about 12 to 16 hours after the dog's last full meal. Dogs that are less than a year old should be fed their food ration twice a day, morning and evening. Training should be done an hour before they are fed these rations. But, in general, it is not as important for puppies to be deprived of food before training as it is for older dogs; most puppies seem to be ready to eat any time that food is available.

The Oatmeal Recipe for a medium size dog: Measure ¾ cup water; bring to a boil; add slightly less than 1/3 cup Quick Quaker Oats (or equal); bring to a boil again; stir for 10 seconds; turn the burner to "simmer"; continue stirring for almost one minute more; remove from heat and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. It is then about the right consistency and cool enough for mixing with the dry food. Most dogs will consume the food mix in less than a minute.

CHAPTER 5. GETTING STARTED

You may be eager to train your dog to do something—anything. Not yet. In this chapter, the dog is still not required to do anything, only to observe what is going on.

In the present chapter, you will use the Game-playing format to teach your dog the sounds, READY, GOOD and OUT—sounds that your dog must know before he does the exercises beginning with the next chapter, "Stay in Place." For details of the Game-playing format, see the section, Essentials of Game-playing in chapter 3 and in the present chapter.

The main features of the format: After you call the dog to play with the READY sound, do a number of trials each of which end with the GOOD sound and a tidbit reward. On the last trial of the session, end with the OUT sound and a grand reward.

In the present work, your dog will learn that: READY is followed by preparation to begin a reward-filled activity.GOOD is followed by a tidbit reward.OUT is followed by a "grand" reward.

The Game-playing trial Training trials in the forthcoming exercises typically begin with a "wait" period. The wait time varies from one to five seconds. Three trial modes, still quiet, touch and motion, define what you do during the "wait" period.

Still quiet mode: This mode is the optimal condition for learning the meaning of most sounds, signals and cues by the dog. In this mode, you will stand still and quiet during the wait—but do it with normal breathing. READY and OUT are the first sounds learned in this Mode. Sometime during the wait, say the GOOD sound and follow with a tidbit; or say the OUT sound and follow with a grand reward.

Touch mode: This mode is used to adapt your dog to various kinds of touching that you and others normally do when physically examining, grooming, petting and handling the dog during a training exercise. See the section, "GOOD-tidbit pairing trials, done in the Touch mode," below).

Motion mode: In this mode, the dog learns to ignore inconsequential movements that you may make during the training trials (see section, "GOOD-tidbit pairing trials, performed in the Motion mode," below).

Using the Game-playing Format Do this work off leash. Allow the dog to be sitting, standing, reclining, or moving about during the session trials. To get the dog started in these early sessions, give him a few free tidbits (as you did during the Food-sampling Procedure). This will get him interested and attending to what you are doing. And, for convenience, a small dog may be placed on a table for this work.

The three sounds READY, GOOD and OUT are essential to the training system. At the end of the first week, you will know if your dog is prepared to begin the work of chapter

6 and later chapters: You will know he's ready when he remains eager to continue through the tidbit-rewarded trials; and becomes expressively elated when he hears the OUT sound.

A word of caution: If your dog frequently quits on you during the session, or does not bound about excitedly at the READY or OUT sound, then he is not prepared to undertake the work of the coming chapters. If he does not appear motivated, it might be that the tidbit foods and/or grand rewards are not enticing (tasty) enough. Also, if you did not do the procedures as described, your dog may not have gotten the proper experience to make the required associations between the sounds and the rewards that follow. Repeat the first week's schedule if you want to; your dog will enjoy playing the games.

Day 1 of training-week 1Teaching the OUT/food association

On day-1 of week-1 schedule, do three sessions of OUT/food associations. GOOD/tidbit trials are not included in these OUT/food sessions. Choose from three different training procedures (see next) or, for variety, use all three Good/tidbit procedures. Then, start using the Game-playing format on day 2.

OUT/food association — one procedure: Place a tablespoon of his favorite food into a pan. Keep the canned (or other) food on a table or kitchen counter out of the dog's reach.Place the pan with food on a counter (or any other place that's out of reach of the dog).Allow the dog to move freely off-leash—indoors or in any enclosure.Stand still and face your dog for 3 to 12 seconds. You may hold your arms at your side or held still at midriff.Say OUT while standing still.Then, and only then, move to place the pan on the floor in front of the dog.Go to action 1 to begin another trial.End the training session after 4 trials.Rather than the foregoing, you may use one of two alternate procedures (see next) for teaching the OUT sound.

OUT/food association—another procedure Tie the dog to something firm, or, as an alternative, have another person hold your dog on leash.Set a food pan on the ground just out of reach of the leash-restrained dog (about 2 feet away).Place a tablespoon of his favorite food (a canned food is convenient) into the pan. Put the can of food out of the dog's reach.Stand about 4 feet back from the pan (the pan is between you and the dog). Stand still facing the restrained dog and wait 3 to 12 seconds. Vary the wait interval between trials.Say the sound, OUT.

Then, and only then, bend down, pick up the pan and set it in front of the dog. Your movements should be deliberate, though not especially rapid.Begin another trial with action 2 above.Do 4 trials.The session ends.

OUT/food association—and yet another procedure Hold the dog on leash. Set a food pan on the ground. Place a tablespoon of the dog's favorite food (a canned food is convenient) into the pan. Don't let the dog get at the food—hold the dog by the collar as you bait the dish. Place the food can out of the dog's reach.Lead him away from the pan. When you are about 8 feet away, turn to face in the direction of the food dish, and halt. Hold the dog on a short lead. Stand still and wait 3 to 12 seconds—vary the wait interval between trials. Say the sound, OUT. Say it emphatically, but without startling the dog.Then, and only then, jiggle the leash forward and unfold it to full length. Walk rapidly to the food dish. Let the dog eat the food.Bait the food dish again, etc. The session ends after 4 trials.

Day 2 of training-week 1 Still-quiet-mode in the Game-playing format

On day-2, do six training sessions, using the Game-playing format. In each of these sessions, schedule 8 GOOD/food pairing trials and one OUT/food pairing trial.

The call-to-work and session preparation: Say the call-to-work READY sound before you begin your training session.Pause a scant instant after you say READY before you start your move to begin the session preparation.The dog must not get any hint that the sound, READY, is about to come on. However, you may look at the dog when you say it.After READY, go to where you keep your training gear and foods. Your movement must be deliberate, but there's no need to rush—the dog will have no trouble learning "the routine" that follows this sound.Carry the training gear and foods to where the work will be done.When you reach the workstation, put a tablespoon of canned dog food (if you are using that as the grand food) into the dog's food dish. Set it aside out of the dog's reach (on a countertop or table, for instance). The grand food is used on the last trial of the session.Take ten tidbit foods in your hand (for small dogs, take half the number of pieces and break each in half).

At the start of several early sessions, give the dog a couple of free tidbits to get his attention.

Either hold all food tidbits in your closed hand during the training session, or put the tidbit pieces in a dish on a table close-by. Tidbit food in a dish: After you say the GOOD sound, reach for one tidbit from the dish and give it to the dog. The action of reaching for the tidbit and making tidbit-delivery movements do not have to be done rapidly, but done only with deliberate motion. Remember to start your food-delivery movements after the GOOD sound.

GOOD-tidbit trials in the "Still-quiet" mode Clasp both hands and hold them still in front of you at waist level. Clasping your hands in this way comes to be perceived by the dog as "the sign of the feeder." It helps the dog to know that the training session is still on, and to know who is going to feed him whenever you have others helping you (Team Training is discussed below).Stand motionless, relaxed and breathe normally while you begin a one-to-five-second wait in this mode. Make no movements that will draw the dog's attention. Also, do not fiddle with yours hands during the wait period.Say GOOD. Be sure to say the GOOD sound while still in the fixed pose.Continue the motionless stance for a fleeting moment after you make the sound. This will ensure that you will not start your movement to deliver the food before the sound.Then pass the food tidbit promptly to the dog.Go to action 1 and begin another trial, etc.Continue the "GOOD-food" pairing trials until you've delivered all of the tidbit foods.

The last trial of "Still-quiet" mode session: 1. When you no longer have any tidbits to give, do one more trial. The dog doesn't

know that you are out of tidbit foods.2. Wait several seconds in a motionless stance—hands at waist level in front of you.3. Say OUT.4. After the sound, move to deliver the grand reward—that is, set the dog's dish on

the floor in front of the dog. These moves need not be hurried, just deliberate.

Do not initiate any food-delivery movement just before you say the OUT sound, otherwise the dog might use the change in movement to know when the grand reward will appear, rather than to listen for the OUT sound.

On the first several training sessions of the first day, do the trial actions even when you don't have the dog's attention. Then, beginning on the following day, when the dog starts to attend often enough, you can wait until you get his attention before doing the GOOD-food or OUT-food associations.

5. Wait at least one minute before starting another session.Days 3 and 4 of week 1

Continue to do 4 training sessions in the still-quiet mode feature and add 2 training sessions with the touch-mode feature—both modes are performed in the Game-playing format.

The Touch-mode in Game-playing The call-to-work and session preparation:

6. Say the call-to-work READY sound before you begin your training session.7. Pause a scant instant after you say READY before you start your move to begin

the session preparation.8. The dog must not get any hint that the sound, READY, is about to come on.

However, you may look at the dog when you say it.9. After READY, go to where you keep your training gear and foods. Your

movement must be deliberate, but there's no need to rush—the dog will have no trouble learning "the routine" that follows this sound.

10. Carry the training gear and foods to where the work will be done.11. When you reach the workstation, put a tablespoon of canned dog food (if you are

using that as the grand food) into the dog's food dish. Set it aside out of the dog's reach (on a countertop or table, for instance). The grand food is used on the last trial of the session.

12. Take ten tidbit foods in your hand (for small dogs, take half the number of pieces and break each in half).

GOOD-tidbit trials, done in "Touch" mode.1. During the wait period, touch or handle your dog as you would for examination or

training trials. For example, on some trials, you might examine the dog's ears, on another, examine his foot pads; his mouth; his skin. You might lift his front feet off the ground; push down lightly on his hindquarters, … But whatever touch or handling you choose, continue doing that particular one for the duration of the wait period. Vary the wait period from 2 to 5 seconds.

2. Say GOOD at the end of the wait period. Be sure to say the GOOD sound while still handling or touching the dog.

3. Continue the touch and handling for a fleeting moment after you make the sound. This will ensure that you will not start your food-delivery movement before the sound.

4. Then pass the food tidbit promptly to the dog. Start your food-delivery movements after the GOOD sound.

5. Go to action 1 and begin another trial, etc.6. Continue the "GOOD-food" pairing trials until you've delivered all of the tidbit

foods.The last trial of the session:

7. When you no longer have any tidbits to give, go to action 1 and begin one last trial of the session. The dog doesn't know that you are out of tidbit foods.

8. Say OUT. After the sound, move to deliver the grand reward—that is, set the dog's dish on the floor in front of the dog. Your moves need not be hurried, just deliberate.

Remember, do not initiate any food-delivery movement just before you say the OUT sound, otherwise the dog might use the change in movement to know when the grand reward will appear, rather than to listen for the OUT sound.

9. Wait at least one minute before starting another training session.

Days 5 and 6 of week 1

On days 5 and 6 do all three trial modes—Still-quiet, Touch and Motion, each done in separate sessions. Do a total of 6 to 8 sessions per day (choose any mode for any session). A single session of 10 trials takes only a minute or two to do.

The Motion-mode Session.This is virtually the same procedure as the Touch-mode, with this exception: Replace the touching that you did in the 2-5 second wait period of the Touch-mode with a motion action. The motion in this mode can be a stretch exercise, various calisthenics, walking in a circle… The GOOD (or OUT) is sounded while still in the motion. Also, remember that the dog is not required to respond in any way yet—he still only observes what is going on.Say the call-to-work READY sound before you begin your training session (see "The Call-to-work and session preparation" under "The Still-quiet-mode in the Game-playing-format," above).

The Begging Problem Some dogs beg during these procedures. If your dog noses your food-containing hand or playfully jumps on you, you must allow it. A normal impulse might be to say NO, or to move your hand out of the dog's reach. Suppress the impulse. For one thing, if you were to give the sound, NO, the dog might be confused what it's to do or not do. For another, moving your hand out of the dog's reach prevents the weakening of the nosing/begging response. The response will disappear only if the dog has a chance to do it without getting rewarded for doing it. The correct procedure is to wait until the dog is no longer nosing your hand, or jumping up, then proceed with the trial. If there is a chance that your dog's jumping about might cause you discomfort, or even injury, you may turn away to avoid the jump. Then stand still again.

To restate, ignore the begging during the trial. The dog will soon stop doing it without your intervention. However, the dog is permitted to beg after he hears the reinforcing sound, GOOD or OUT — just before he gets the reward.

Team Training In Team Training, two or more persons (Team Players) get involved in training a single dog at the same time. You share training-trial actions (events). It's a way of training that can be applied to any or all of the exercises in this course. Early on, Team Training helps you do timing and sequencing of trial events correctly. Team Training is especially helpful when the dog learns more complex skills. Doing training this way with others can be fun and dogs tolerate it—if not also enjoy it. The following is one way that Team Training can be used to perform trial actions.

Basic Game-playing with Team Training. Team Player 1 performs these actions: calls the dog to work with the READY sound; does the preparations for training; says the reinforcing sounds, GOOD and OUT during the training trials. To begin, She:

1. says READY (the call to work).2. does the preparations for training.3. places one tablespoon of a tasty canned dog food into a food dish, and places the

dish out of reach of the dog. The dog gets this reward after the OUT is sounded on the last trial of the session.

4. gives the required number of food tidbits to Team Player 2, or places them in a food dish on a table nearby.

5. makes herself comfortable close to the dog. She may sit or stand, but must be still, so that she doesn't give the dog a hint or clue, ahead of time, what is about to come next.

6. waits one to five seconds while Team Player 2 performs one of the trial modes, still quiet, touch or motion (see mode descriptions earlier in this chapter).

7. then says GOOD.

Note: If the dog is begging, she holds off saying the reinforcing sounds until he ceases.8. begins another one-to-five seconds' wait mode after Team Player 2 delivers a food

tidbit, etc. She repeats actions 6 and 7 until all tidbits are gone.9. says OUT when Team Player 2 has no more tidbit food to give out. She remains

still after she says the sound.10. breaks from her stance after Team player 2 delivers the "grand" food at the end of

training session.

Team Player 2 is the feeder. She:1. takes tidbits from Team Player 1 (or keeps them in a dish nearby).2. performs one of the trial modes. If doing a the Still-quiet mode, for example, she

stands straight and still, so that she doesn't influence or distract the dog's performance in any way. She has both hands closed, and holds them in front at waist level.

3. tells Team Player 1 when she is ready.4. hands a food tidbit to the dog when she hears Team Player 1 say GOOD.

If the food is in a dish, she stands still until she hears the GOOD sound, then and only then starts her movement to pick up a tidbit from the dish and hand it to the dog. Her food-delivery movements are deliberate, yet unhurried.

5. again assumes the motionless Feeder stance after the dog takes the food. She remains still even when the dog is nosing her food-containing hand. In time, this nosing will cease because the behavior is never rewarded.

6. assumes the same Feeder stance for the last trial when she is out of food tidbits,. She lets Team Player 1 know when she no longer has any tidbits in her hand.

7. waits a scant moment after she hears the sound OUT said by Team Player 1. She then hurries to where the grand-food is kept, and places the food dish in front of the dog.

When you use 2 or more players, the dog normally will fix his gaze on the Feeder, not the one who delivers the sounds GOOD or OUT — even when the Feeder happens to be a stranger to the dog. Don't do anything to change that.

If both Team Players are acquainted with the training procedures, then you and she can occasionally switch roles. She can now say the relevant sounds and you can be the feeder. Team Training is not only "fun and games" for the dog, but is a way that can be used later to control more complex task actions, and even help to alter undesirable temperament problems.

Afterword You did not ask your dog to respond in any way during these startup trials. He just became preoccupied in what you were doing, in anticipation of an impending GOOD or OUT sound and a reward that followed.

A trial began with a wait of 1-to-5 seconds' duration, followed by a said GOOD (or OUT), and ended with a reward. Even such a simple procedure had to be done by you in a manner that was precise and disciplined, so that there was little chance of getting unwelcome learning by accident. In the Still-quiet mode, for example, you stood still in a relaxed pose, and faced your dog during the wait. You then said the GOOD (or OUT) sound. You were careful not to make any sudden moves or to begin the food-delivery movement just before you said it. You followed the GOOD sound with a deliberate, yet unhurried, delivery of a food tidbit—all done the same way on every trial.

When you replaced the GOOD sound with the OUT sound on the last trial of the session, you made sure that you did nothing different just before saying the sound— anything that would alert the dog that the OUT sound was about to happen on that trial. A grand reward always followed this sound.

It will be up to your dog to try to turn on these reinforcing sounds in the upcoming exercises.

Optional Training Innovations The course offers two optional innovations that you are encouraged to incorporate into your training. Team Training is one (see "Chapter 1" for a general description, and this chapter to see how it might be done). Not only does Team Training help you become a more effective trainer, it's a fun way for two or more persons to get involved in a single dog's training.

The other innovation has one person training two or more dogs at the same time. The course allows you to do this in special instances: 1. When the dogs are not required to make a response (see early chapters and following example* and, 2. When an exercise ends in a Stay response (see example at end of Chapter 6—Sit and Rise).

*Multiple-dog training (Incorporate in "The Training Session" section above):If using the Still-quiet mode, clasp both hands and hold them still in front of you at waist level.Stand motionless while you begin a 1-5 second wait. Breathe normally.Then, say GOOD.

Continue motionless for a fleeting moment after you make the sound. This will ensure that you will not start your movement to deliver the food before the sound.Then, pass a food tidbit promptly to one dog, then to the other—no need to hurry the rewarding, the dogs will adjust nicely.Go to action 1 and begin another trial, etc.Continue the "GOOD-food" pairing trials until you've delivered all of the tidbit foods.

The last trial of the session:When you no longer have any tidbits to give, do one more trial. The dogs don't know that you are out of tidbit foods.Wait several seconds in a motionless stance—hands at waist level in front of you.Say OUT.After the sound, move to deliver the grand reward—that is, set a dish with food on the floor in front of each dog. Remember, do not initiate any food-delivery movement just before you say the OUT sound— otherwise the dogs might use the change in movement to know when the grand reward will appear, rather than to listen for the OUT sound. Wait at least one minute before starting another session.

CHAPTER 6. STAY-IN-PLACE

Thus far in this course, your dog was not told to do anything. He was simply exposed to some training actions. In the present work, you will teach your dog to Stay-in-place whenever you move away from him. Stay by hand-signal is taught first (Steps 1 and 2), and followed by teaching a Stay by voice command (Step 3). Stay is probably the most useful behavior that your dog will learn in this course. In these exercises, the dog is allowed to be standing, sitting or lying down when you signal or tell him to Stay. You will want your dog to maintain his present attitude, with little or no moving about during the Stay period.

The early Stay signal. Begin the trials by facing the dog, and, without waiting, place the flat of both hands in front of the dog's face in a non-threatening way—palms facing the dog for two to five seconds. The signal fills the wait-space in the Still-quiet mode (see modes discussed in the section, "The Game-playing trial" of Chapter 5).

This signal often gets the dog to stay in place, reflexively. You may bend your body, if necessary, while performing this action. Maintain the "early Stay signal" in place for several seconds. If the dog Stays, say GOOD, and end the trial with a tasty tidbit (food is kept in a dish on a nearby table, not in your hands). If the dog breaks from the Stay, repeat the procedure. When the dog begins to stay still with this early Stay signal—it usually happens in the first training session—replace the signal with the "refined Stay signal," next.

The refined Stay signal. After one or two training sessions with the "early Stay signal," refine the signal as follows: Place the palm of one hand close to the dog's face for a

fleeting moment, then bring your hand back to your side—all in a continuing, yet unhurried motion. You will not move away from the dog during Step-1 Stay trials. Follow the signal with a wait period (see action 7. of Step 1, below).

This exercise lends itself to Team Training, as are most exercises in this course. It's a fun way for you and your dog to "play the game," that is, sharing the below actions with another person.

Step 1. Getting a Dependable Stay1 Say READY. It asks the dog if he wants to play a game.2 Pick up your training foods and go to the work site.3 Place the food tidbits in a plate on a nearby table.4 Allow the dog to be sitting, standing or lying down.5 Face the attentive dog.6 Without waiting, give the Stay signal.

Begin with the "early Stay signal." Then, when appropriate, change to the "refined Stay signal," also done at Step 1.

7 You want your dog to Stay-in-place for two to five seconds. If the dog breaks during the wait period, repeat the Stay signal.

8 Say GOOD when you get the Stay. If you are still using the "early Stay signal," hold the signal in place until you say GOOD. The dog is allowed to break his Stay after the GOOD sound.

If the dog is sitting or lying down during the Stay trials, you may on occasion want to do Stays when the dog is standing. In which case, you would entice the dog to break from the Stay after you say GOOD. To get the dog to break, hold the tidbit close to him, but still far enough away so that he has to rise to get it.

9 Deliver the food tidbit.10 Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another Stay trial. Do eight to

ten such trials in the session.11 On the last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, and follow with a grand

reward.

Problem: What if the dog repeatedly breaks from the Stay in action 7, above? Solution: Make the following change in the training step:

1 Allow the dog to be sitting, standing or lying down.2 Face the attentive dog.3 Without waiting, give the Stay signal (use "the refined Stay signal." See

definition, above).4 Then place your hands lightly on the dog and hold him in place for two to five

seconds. Experiment with the best way to do that (if you are doing Team Training with another Team Player, she could hold the dog lightly in place).

5 Say GOOD while still holding the dog in place. Then let go the dog.6 Allow the dog to break from the Stay after you say GOOD. 7 Deliver the food tidbit.

8 Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another Stay trial. Do eight to ten trials in the session.

9 Gradually fade out the holding correction. When the dog no longer needs to be held in place, resume the work without the "hold-in-place" correction.

10 On the last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, and follow with a grand reward.

Do one or two more sessions in this step, then go to Step 2.

Step 2. Stays with Distractions Continue Step 1 trials, but now make brief and smooth distracting movements, such as slowly backing-away from the dog after you give the Stay signal (you are now in "motion" mode). If the dog moves before you release him with the GOOD sound, start the trial over again. That is, go to the dog and deliver another Stay signal and go on from there. Do other distraction movements at this training step, such as a stretch exercise away from the dog. Add complexity to your distraction in small increments from one trial to another. If the dog continues to break from the Stay at any distraction level, go to a simpler level for awhile, or have another Team Player hold the dog in place after the Stay signal is given.

On the last trial of a session, reinforce with the sound, OUT, and deliver a grand reward.

Plan to do about 10 trials in each training session; conduct five to eight training sessions per day, for as many days that it takes to get a reliable Stay under the above distracting conditions. Two training days should give you the desired control. Then do Step 3.

Step 3. Learning the Voiced STAYIn the present Step, an additional action—the voiced command STAY—is added to the basic trial configuration.

Learning the Stay command is achieved by pairing it with a Stay signal that already controls the response. The voiced, STAY, in time, will come to control the same "stay-in-place" response, when given alone. For learning to take place, the voice-command STAY must appear a moment before the hand signal is given. No part of the signal must be started before the command is voiced. In this way, the hand signal is used as a prompt for learning the command, STAY. Perform the following actions, with simple distractions, for one or two days. Plan to do about 10 trials per training session and five to eight training sessions per day.

1 To begin a session, say READY.2 Pick up your training foods and go to the place where you will do your training.3 Place the tidbit foods in a dish on a table.4 Allow the dog to be sitting, standing or lying down.5 Face the attentive dog. Hands are at your side.6 Without waiting say STAY.7 Follow closely with the Stay signal (see "The refined Stay signal," above).

8 After giving the signal, walk away and leave your dog in Stay. While away, you may do a brief distracting movement.

9 Say GOOD while you are still doing the distraction. 10 Allow the dog to break from the Stay. 11 Deliver the tidbit.12 Go to action 5 of this Step. You are ready to begin another paired command-

signal Stay trial.13 On the last trial of the session, replace the GOOD sound with OUT. 14 Follow with a grand reward.

In the work of this chapter, your dog was already in a particular attitude (Sit, Stand or Down) when you told him to Stay. In the next chapter, you will first tell your dog to change attitudes, and then you will tell him to Stay.

CHAPTER 7. SIT AND RISE

You are not going to teach your dog to Sit or Rise, or for that matter, any other behavior in this course—the dog already knows how to do them. Rather, training puts these behaviors under signal and voice-command control—it's what you do in dog-obedience training.

In this chapter, allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down anytime that he wants. If the dog is standing, do a Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.

The Sit Trial Getting the Sit response under voice control is accomplished in two training parts.

Part 1: Get a dependable and stable Sit prompt. In this part, you will choose the best way to help the dog into the Sit response. To be a good helping action, it must get the response every time. This part also helps the dog to adapt to your handling during the helping action. The "touch/handling" that you do in this part is not yet called a prompt. It becomes a prompt in the second part when it is associated with learning the Sit command.

Part 2: Pairing the SIT command with a prompt. In this part, the dog learns the meaning of the voiced command, SIT. Learning is accomplished by pairing the command SIT with the prompt of your choice (see the next section, "Prompt candidates for Sit training." The pairing is done in this order: first, give the command; then do the prompt. Enlist the aid of another Team Player to perform one or more of these trial actions—it makes it easier for the actions to be performed correctly.

"Prompt" candidates for Sit training Choose an action that is listed in this section. Then run a number of trials (Part 1, below) to get the dog familiarized with the routine. Continue working with your selected action

until you are able to get the response every time and with little effort. Then use it as a prompting action in Part 2.

Pressing down lightly on the dog's haunches The knee-tuck Light upward tug of the lead Upward raising of the dog's head Bending your upper body over the dog

Pressing down lightly on the dog's hindquarters. This prompt is favored by dog trainers because most dogs willingly sit when light to moderate pressure is applied there.

The knee-tuck. Some dogs resist the modest downward pressure on their haunches. An alternate plan is to unlock the dog's back knees by sliding your hand from on top of his hindquarters to the back of the knees. A light forward pressure then tucks the knees. With a "break" in the knees, the dog usually goes into the sit. If necessary, additional pressure can then be applied atop the haunches, with the same hand, to complete the response.

A light upward leash-tug. Some dogs will reflexively sit when you give the leash an upward tug. This event is not all that reliable as a "prompt" choice.

Nevertheless, the leash-tug can be learned later as a new signal, if you wish, to control the Sit response. It's done this way: When the voice-command SIT comes to control the Sit response by itself (the control is achieved in Part 2 of the present work), the command can then be used as a prompt for learning this signal, or any other signal, to control the same Sit response. In such a training trial, first deliver a momentary upward tug on the lead, then follow closely with the voice-command, SIT.

Raising of the dog's head upward. This action is quite effective, but its use as a prompt has not been widespread. When doing this action, you will have no food in your hands (the food can be kept in a dish on a nearby table). The action: While the dog is facing you with anticipation, gently cradle his muzzle in both hands. Then slowly raise the muzzle. When done this way, a non-stressed dog will usually sit. He probably does that to reduce the mild strain on his neck.

Bending your upper body over the dog. This action also gets the dog to raise his head, except that in this procedure, the dog is not touched. To do it, hold your closed hands (the Sign of the Feeder) at upper-chest, rather than at midriff. As you face the dog straight on, slowly bend the upper part of your body over the dog. This usually gets the dog to raise his head, and then to sit.

The Rise Trial Rise-command control is also in two parts:

Part 1: Work to get a dependable and stable Rise prompt. In this part, you will find the best way to help (prompt) the dog to Rise. To be a good Rise prompt, it must get the

response every time. The "handling action" of this first part becomes a prompt when it is used with the RISE command in the second part.

Part 2: The dog learns the meaning of the voiced command, RISE. Learning is accomplished by pairing (associating) the command, RISE, with the prompt of your choice. The pairing is done in this order: first the command, then the prompt. Enlist the aid of another Team Player to do one or more actions in the trial—it makes it easier for the actions to be performed correctly.

"Prompt" candidates for Rise training The dog is less inclined to go from the Sit attitude to a Stand, than he is to go from the Stand to the Sit. The Rise-prompt options are few. You will just have to pull the dog off the Sit. Two ways are suggested here.

Lifting the dog's underside. When you are ready to do the helping action, bend over the sitting or downed dog. Place your hands under the dog's belly. Gently pull upward until the dog is standing, then say GOOD, and follow by releasing the dog. If you are doing Team Training, the Team Player who does this prompt should be the owner of the dog—it's less stressful on the dog.

Dog is pulled off the sit. Attach the leash to the dog's collar. With the dog sitting in front of you, take up most of the slack (without exerting any force on the leash), and hold your end of the leash at waist or chest level with both hands. When you are ready to do the helping action, take one or two steps backward, putting a gentle to moderate pull on the lead. The dog can release the strain on his neck by rising from the sit. At the moment the dog is up, say GOOD. Follow with a tasty tidbit. Do not start your food delivery before you say GOOD.

Part 1. Getting a dependable prompt

You will not "tell" the dog to sit or rise in this first training part. The present trials resolve which Sit and Rise actions will work best as prompts. This work will enable the dog to adapt, with composure, to your handling. Continue to run these trials until the chosen handling action gets the desired response easily every time. Then use it as a prompt in Part 2.

The action, "Upward Raising of the Dog's Head," is arbitrarily used here to describe the Part 1 procedure in the Sit trial. You can choose another. The "Lift the belly" is used here when you are doing the Rise trial. Design and substitute any other helping action that works best for you. Part 1 trials do not begin with a wait period.

1 Say READY when the dog is not expecting it. 2 Go to the kitchen to pick up your training foods. Then proceed to the place where

you will do the work. Place 10 to 15 tidbits in a plate on a nearby table. Do not have any food in your hands during these trials.

A. If the dog is standing:

3 Face the attentive dog.4 Without waiting, proceed to assist the dog into the Sit by raising the dog's head

upward (or by any other assisting action). Don't hurry or force the Sit.

Keep in mind that you do not tell the dog to sit in this training part. You're only trying to make the helping action work well before using it as a prompt in Part 2.

5 At the moment the dog's butt touches the floor, say GOOD, then release the dog's muzzle, and reward the dog.

If you want the following trial to also be a Sit action, hold the tidbit of the previous trial just out of reach of the dog so that he has to rise to retrieve it. Then go to action A.3. above.

If you want the dog to be sitting at the start of the next trial, deliver the tidbit to the sitting dog. Then go to B.3. next.

B. If the dog is sitting at the start of the trial: 3 Face the attentive, sitting dog.4 Without waiting, proceed to assist the dog into the Stand by bending over the dog,

putting your hands under his abdomen, and lifting up (or by any other lift action). Don't hurry or force the Rise.

5 When the dog had been standing for about one-half second, say GOOD, withdraw the lifting action, and move to deliver the tidbit. The dog is then ready for the next trial (see directions A or B, above).

Do 10-12 trials per session. Run as many sessions as needed for the dog to become compliant to the helping sit and rise actions.

Team training—See chapter 1Involve family members or friends in Team Training. It's fun and results in more effective timing and sequencing of trial actions. Establish beforehand which Team Player will do which action in the part-2 trials. In Team Training, one Team player assumes the Feeder Stance with hands closed at mid-waist or chest-high level (this Team Player may have food tidbits in her hand, if she does not also help the dog do the response-prompt).

You may be performing all training actions yourself, but get practice with Team Training first, if you have anyone to help you. When doing this training by yourself, don't assume the feeder stance; your hands will be busy doing other things.

When the dog has adjusted well enough to response assisting, go to the next part.

Part 2. Teaching Voiced SIT and RISE

In this part, the Sit trial and Rise trial each now have these actions: a voice command for the dog to do something and a helping prompt that the dog experienced in Part 1.

The Part 2 trial sequence: After a quiet wait of one to five seconds, give a command, then follow with a prompt—an action that puts your dog into the appropriate response. As in the earlier bare-bone work, you must observe proper care in the way you perform the two new actions. Don't make any sudden moves to start the prompt action before you give the command. Also, continue your prompting action until the GOOD is sounded. Say the GOOD sound and do tidbit rewarding as you had been doing in the earlier bare-bones work.

Allow the dog to sit, stand or lie down at the start of any trial. If the dog is standing, do a Sit-training trial; alternatively if the dog is sitting, do a Rise-training trial.

If you are doing Team Training, you can have as many Team players as there are actions in the trial. However, for practical reasons, no more than two players usually do the Team training. In our Parks and Recreation Dog Training Course in Bel Air, Maryland, we sometimes involve 4 persons in the Sit and Rise trials, simply to demonstrate Team Training at its fun best.

All Team players are instructed not to start their action until the preceding action is completed by another Team player. If a player makes an error during the trial, just laugh it off and continue—the dog is forgiving. After a number of training trials, the players can switch roles.

The command, SIT In this part, pair the voice-command SIT with the Sit prompt. The trial begins with a quiet wait period of one to five seconds during which the dog is in the stand attitude. Following the "wait" period, say SIT. Pause less than one-half second, and then begin the prompt (helping the dog into the Sit). Don't overlap the voiced command and the prompt—they're done in sequence.

Make sure that you have the dog's attention at the start of every trial. If your dog isn't attending, go back to doing the basic bare bones trials of week one until you get the basic attentive control. When the dog's backside touches the ground, say the reinforcing sound, GOOD, and give him a tasty tidbit.

The command, RISE In this part, pair the voice-command RISE with the Rise prompt. The trial begins with a quiet wait period of one to five seconds. The pairing begins when the dog is in the sit attitude. Deliver the command RISE first, pause shortly (less than one-half second), and then begin the prompt. Don't overlap the two events—they're done in sequence.

The dog is then ready for the next trial, which teaches the Rise command if the dog is sitting during the wait period; teaches the Sit command when the dog is standing during this period.

Continue to use prompts in your Sit and Stand work until your dog begins to respond too quickly for you to deliver them.

Sit-stay and Stand-stay Training In the above part of this chapter, the dog earned the GOOD sound at the moment he sat or stood—no Sit-stay or Stand-stay was attempted. In the present section, you will link Stay with the Sit attitude and Stay with the Stand attitude.

Chaining. Linking one response to another is called chaining. Some chains can have many links. Each response link in the chain has it's own controlling action. For example, the controlling action for the Sit response is the command, SIT; the controlling action for the Stay response, the next response in the chain, is the command, STAY; the GOOD (or OUT) sound is the controlling action for the last response in the chain, i.e., breaking from the Stay response to pick up the tidbit or grand reward. The GOOD and OUT actions always come on at the end of the last response link. Each successive controlling action in the chain should be timed precisely at the moment the previous response in the chain is made.

Prompting chained responses. Prompt any or all of the dog's responses that are part of a chaining trial. For example, in Sit-stay training in the present section, continue to help the dog do the Sit response, if it's still necessary. You may also prompt (help) the Stay response with hand-in-face signal, plus gentle restraint, if necessary.

When the dog becomes proficient in the procedure, you can eliminate the STAY command: the SIT command will come to mean, "Sit, then Stay sitting." Similarly, the RISE command will come to mean, "Rise, then Stay standing."

Step 1. Sit-stay and Stand-stay Actions 1 Say READY.2 Pick up your training foods and go to the place where you will do your training.3 Allow the dog to Sit, Stand or Lie down during these trials. (We don't think that

your dog will be lying down. However, your dog will be doing it later when he receives Down training).

4 Face the attentive dog. Hands are at your side.5 Wait quietly for two to five seconds.

If the dog is sitting: 6 Say RISE. Then prompt (help) the dog to stand up.7 At the moment the dog is up on his four legs, signal a Stay (see the refined Stay

signal in the Stay in Place Chapter). Then go to Action 8.If the dog is standing:

6 Say SIT. Then prompt the dog to sit. 7 At the moment the dog sits say STAY. Then go to the next action.8 Follow the STAY command closely with the Stay-signal prompt (see 'The refined

Stay signal,' above).9 After giving the stay signal, walk away and leave your dog in Stay. Then do a

distracting movement for two or more seconds—See Step 2, below, for more on "distractions."

If the dog makes an unauthorised break from the Stay, say NO in a calm voice, and then go to Action six (6).

10 If the dog stays, say GOOD while you are still performing a distraction.11 Allow the dog to break from the Stay. 12 Deliver the tidbit.13 Go to action 4 of this Step. You are ready to begin another paired Sit-stay or Rise-

stay trial.14 On the end of the last trial of the session, replace the GOOD sound with OUT. 15 Follow with a grand reward.

Step 2. Distractions in Sit and Stand After you give the command, STAY, followed closely by the Stay hand-signal, make brief and smooth distracting movements, such as slowly backing away from the dog. If the dog moves before you release him with the GOOD sound, start the trial over again. That is, go to the dog and put him gently in the response that he broke from. Then deliver another Stay command and Stay signal and go on from there. Add distractions in small increments from one trial to another—make it easy for the dog to be correct.

You will be finished with this step when the dog stays in place after you make the following actions: Command and Signal the dog to Stay; turn away from the dog; walk about 5 paces; turn to face the dog; stand in place for several seconds; return to the dog; go around his left side to his right side (the heel position); stand there for a moment; say GOOD, and give the dog a food tidbit. The dog is allowed to break from the response when he hears the sound, GOOD or OUT.

Conduct several training sessions per day, for as many days that it takes to get a reliable Stay under the above distracting conditions. Do about 5 trials in each session. On the last trial of a session, reinforce with the sound, OUT, and deliver a grand reward.

Step 3. Teaching the Sit "arm/hand" signal. For this step, you will want the dog to be standing. If the dog is sitting when you begin, give the dog a Rise and Stand-stay trial.

When the dog is standing, say STAY. Then turn away and leave your standing dog; Take two steps; Turn to face your dog; Wait several seconds, then deliver the Sit "arm and hand" signal (see next), followed closely by the command, SIT.

The Sit "arm and hand" signal: Your arms rest at your side during the wait. The signal begins by raising your right arm (no bends) toward the dog, to about 45 degrees from the resting position. The palm of your hand faces the dog. The arm is then brought back to your side—all in a continuous fluid motion. When doing the pairing, the voiced SIT is said when your arm is at its furthest forward position.

In this procedure, you're using the command, SIT as a prompt. To be useful as a prompt, the voiced, SIT, must get the Sit response every time. Simply by pairing the new signal with the Sit command over a series of trials, the dog will then begin to Sit to the "arm and

hand" signal when given alone. Be sure to observe the sequence: first the new Sit signal, then the Sit command.

CHAPTER 8. THE HEEL POSITION

On occasion, you may want your Companion Dog to be at your side and under control. Getting the dog close to you is especially useful when a situation on the stroll appears threatening. Besides, when you get your dog to the Heel position, he is less likely be a nuisance to anyone, or get into mischief.

Working Dogs are brought to Heel for a different purpose. It's the position from which they are released to do some work. The Stand-stay at Heel is the normal controlled stance for many working dogs. When called to Heel, the working dog goes into an automatic Stand-stay. It's the stance that is geared for immediate action—the dog expects a command to do something of a work nature. However, when there is a lull in the working dog's activity, the handler will put the dog in a resting Sit or Down attitude with a command or signal.

In the present lesson, you will teach your dog to do an automatic Stand-stay, the Ready-for-action stance, when he comes to Heel—I'd imagine that a dog, faced with an imminent threat feels more vulnerable when he is in sit or down. You have the option, of course, of putting the dog into the resting Sit or Down whenever you wish, anytime, with a command.

Defining the classic Heel position: When you are standing still, the neck/shoulder region of the forward-facing dog is lined up with your left leg, and close alongside you.

In the early part of your training, you will gently guide your dog to the correct position. Then later, you will use the command, HEEL, to tell the dog to come to your left side, to the precise Heel position. In yet another step, the Heel command should not only get a "Come to Heel" response, but also an automatic "Stand-stay." If you are doing Obedience competition, your dog shall learn the automatic Sit and Stay at Heel, but in a later training step. However, you may choose to have your dog do the automatic Sit-stay, in any event.

HandlingNo harsh leash handling is necessary to get the dog to learn a precise Heel position. Typically, you will gently guide the dog into Heel position. When the dog is there, he is told GOOD (or OUT), then is given a food tidbit (or grand reward). The dog is allowed to break from the heel position to pick up the food.

Correct timing Precise timing of the reinforcing sounds, GOOD or OUT, is essential. In the first phase of this training, the reinforcing sound comes on at the moment the dog is correctly aligned at your left side. After you deliver the reinforcing sound, you can go about the business of

rewarding the dog in a deliberate but unhurried way. You can even reach into your pocket or go to a nearby table for a food tidbit, after making the GOOD sound. Taking several seconds to find a food-piece will scarcely affect the dog's learning speed, since you already told the dog that he earned a reward when he made the correct response. Later in training, the command, HEEL, will mean, "Come to Heel, and Stay when you get there." In which case, you will deliver a reinforcing sound anytime the dog is in a Stand-stay (or Sit-stay).

"To Bait" or "Not to Bait" Some trainers, who use the Reward Method, attract the dog to the heel position with "food baiting." Simply defined, "baiting" is a food-following technique—the dog follows the movement of the hand that holds an exposed food tidbit. Baiting is not a suitable technique to use in most training situations. The main problem with baiting is that it strengthens a strong "begging" response at a time when the dog is trying to do something else.

In the "non-baiting" procedure that we use, no food is in sight or evident to the dog before he makes the correct response. When the dog hears the reinforcing sound, GOOD or OUT, he is allowed to break from the response—that's when he can take on a begging stance, in anticipation of the imminent food reward. The reinforcing sound means: "You made a good response; come and get your reward."

ScheduleTwo or more Come-to-Heel sessions may be done back to back—with a short one-minute break between sessions. Do 8 or 10 trials per session. A session takes one or two minutes to do. A tablespoon of a tasty canned dog food is a convenient Grand Reward that can follow the OUT sound in these sessions—you may replace the Grand food with "taking a stroll" reward at the end of one of the Come-to-Heel sessions.

Step 1: Teaching the Heel Position If your dog is a runner, do the work in an enclosed space, such as a room in your house or small fenced area, with your dog off-leash. Do not command the dog to do anything—allow him the freedom to do whatever he wants in this early training step.

The procedure 6 Start the session with the READY sound.7 Make the usual preparations (see "The Training Session" in Chapter 4).8 When you are set, face the off-leash dog who is close-by. Let your left arm hang

at your side. The closed right hand is held at midriff. You may hold the food tidbits in that hand or, preferably, have them in a dish on a table that's nearby.

9 When you have the dog's attention, move casually to his right side. The dog may try to maintain the facing position, since he was rewarded most often when he faced you. Be patient. You will eventually reach his right side, to complete the Heel position (as defined above).

10 You can speed up the procedure by using another person (identified in the text as a Team Player) to hold the dog gently in place for several trials—to keep the dog

from moving about. The Team Player may kneel at the dog's left side. Continue the "Team Training" procedure until the dog holds still on his own.

11 When you and the dog come to be correctly aligned at heel (the neck/shoulder region of the dog is lined up with your left leg), say GOOD, then step away from heel position, and deliver a food tidbit. Be sure not to step away or begin a food delivery before you say GOOD. Also, this is not a Stay-at-heel response—the GOOD is sounded at the moment the position is correct.

12 Leave your dog to begin another trial (begin at action 3 again)13 When you have done about 8 trials, do one more trial. 14 On the last trial of the session, deliver the OUT sound when the dog is in the

correct heel position. Then go to the place where you keep the Goal food.15 Give the dog a tablespoon of canned dog food, or something tasty from the

refrigerator.

For a session or two, you will be making all of the moves that end with the dog in the proper heel position. That is, the dog hasn't yet learned how to make the correct alignment without your assistance. However, during these trials the dog is learning, by association, that reinforcement comes only when both of you are physically positioned in that select way to each other. Though he soon gets to know that, he still may not know that he can turn on the reinforcing sound, by making the position-response himself.

It may be awhile before the dog begins to move to the reinforcing position, without your help. But, even when the dog starts to make the right moves that bring him there, always make sure that the dog is precisely there before reinforcing the response: For awhile, you will have to make almost every response "look good" with an additional corrective movement yourself.

Do five sessions of "getting-acquainted with the heel position" daily for two days. These sessions will help the dog, in the next step, to be lightly-guided into heel with a leash.

Step 2: Guiding dog into heel position In Step 1, the dog was permitted to walk about, if he so wished, on any of the training trials, except when you used another Team Player to hold the dog still. You were instructed to move casually to the dog to achieve the heel position. In the present step, you will make the same moves toward the dog's right side, but you will also lightly guide the dog in with a lead. Then, reinforce and reward, when you and the dog are in correct alignment.

Continue to do the work in an enclosed space, such as a room in your house. Put a leash on the dog. Do not say the dog's name, or voice-command him to do anything during the training session. Don't talk to the dog during the trial, except to say GOOD or OUT. Allow him freedom to move about between trials.

The procedure: 6 Call the dog to work with the READY sound.7 Make the usual session preparations.

8 Put the dog on loose lead.9 When ready, move four to six feet from the dog and face him. 10 Wait a second or more, and then walk normally toward the dog's right side. As

you make the turn into the dog, nonchalantly take up the slack in the leash. Then, calmly, but deliberately, lead the dog into the correct Heel position. During this action, try to get the dog to make part of the effort, but do it without coercion.

11 When the dog is close to being correct in Heel position, make the final corrective movement so that both of you will be in precise alignment.

12 When the position is "right" for reinforcement, halt, say GOOD, then release any tension that you may still have on the leash.

13 Face the dog and give him a food tidbit. The dog is permitted to break from the heel position when he hears the reinforcing sounds, GOOD or OUT.

14 Go to action 3 for another tidbit-rewarding trial. If the next trial is the last one in the session, go to the next action.

15 For this last trial, replace the GOOD sound with OUT, then deliver a "grand" reward.

16 End of session.

Continue to assist the dog to make a "precise" response by making part of the move to the correct position yourself. End each session with OUT and a grand reward. To repeat, don't say the dog's name or tell the dog to come to Heel, at this stage. Continue the "Come-to-heel" work, along with any other work session.

Step 3. Dog gets a momentary leash tug In the present step, a simple leash tug replaces the continued leash assistance. You will approach the dog to his right side as before. There, you will give the leash a light and momentary tug in a forward direction; Continue one step forward past the dog without pause, and halt. The aid that you give the dog to come to heel lasts only a moment—it's not continuous, as it was in the previous step. You want the dog to make the final step to come to Heel by himself. We find this step to be a nice transition between the one that gets the dog to know the heeling position (step 1) and one that gets control over the dog's heeling movement without any leash aid (step 4).

The procedure: 1 Say READY. Make training preparations.2 Put the dog on loose lead.3 Wait a second or two, then approach the standing dog from the side and rear.4 As you walk casually past the dog's right side, with no pause in pace, give the

leash a light forward tug.5 Continue to walk one pace forward past the dog. The tug on the lead is supposed

to tell the dog to come alongside you to the heel position.

If the momentary tug is not enough to get the dog to move to you, then gently guide him into position with the lead. You may still make a final move to the dog's position to make the perfect heel.

6 When the dog comes alongside you, reinforce with the sound, GOOD. Then turn to face the dog, and give him a tidbit. Do not break from the heel position before you say the reinforcing sound.

7 Go to action three if the next trial is still tidbit-rewarded. Go to the next action if the next trial is the last one in the session.

8 Say OUT when the dog makes the last good response in the session.9 Go to the place where you keep the Grand-food. Put one tablespoon of a tasty

canned dog food or a bit of table scraps into a food pan.10 After the Grand-food is eaten, wait another minute, and then start another training

session with the READY sound.

Continue the present trial procedure for the remainder of the training week, or longer, until the dog readily comes to heel when given a short-tug prompt. Be sure not to hurry through Step 1 training - it teaches the dog where the precise heeling position is reinforced. With just a bit more training in Step 2, your dog may quickly figure out that he can make the heel position happen—you see the dog make an effort to come to heel. In which case, you can accelerate the training. That is, keep walking slowly while lightly assisting the dog. As the dog tries to come to heel, guide him to the precise heel position with the leash. When he happens to be in the correct position, halt, and reinforce with the GOOD or OUT sound. Then turn to face the dog to reward him. Continue this training until the dog comes quickly into position with little or no leash-help. Otherwise, continue with training other tasks.

Step 4. The dog works off-leash The procedure of this training step is like that of Step 3, but now, the dog gets no leash aid. By this time, the dog should feel comfortable being at your side and wants to be there. The dog should be able to make the appropriate movement into the proper position with little trouble when off leash.

1 Say READY, and make the necessary training preparations.2 Have the dog off-leash.3 Take a several steps away from the dog. You can expect the dog to follow

wherever you go. For a couple of seconds or so, move about in a way that prevents the dog from coming to Heel.

4 Then, slowly approach the dog from his back and side.5 Pass closely along the dog's right. Expect him to move with you.6 When the dog comes close to being in the correct position, halt. You can make the

heel position more correct by making a minor correction movement yourself.7 Say GOOD.8 Turn to face the dog and deliver a food tidbit.9 If the next trial is tidbit-rewarded, go to action 3.10 Continue the procedure until you are out of tidbits.11 If the next trial is the last one in the session, say OUT when the response is a good

one. Then deliver the Grand reward.

Step 5. Teaching the command, HEEL

Pairing the command HEEL with a leash-tug prompt.1 Say READY. Make the necessary training preparations.2 Put the dog back on leash.3 Put the dog in a Stand-stay (see the section: "Sit-stay and Stand-stay training" in

Chapter 7). 4 Walk about the room to the limit of the leash length. If the dog breaks from the

Stand-stay, say a soft NO, then go to the dog and begin another Stand-stay.5 When you are ready to give the Heel command, turn and walk toward him.6 When you are two still two paces away from him, say HEEL, then abruptly make

an about turn. 7 Follow your about-turn closely with a leash-tug in the direction of your left side.8 If necessary, you may give the dog additional assistance, by moving toward the

dog's right side, or by easing him toward you.9 When the dog comes alongside, halt.10 When the dog is correctly aligned at Heel, Say GOOD. Then reward. You may

continue to help the dog by making part of the correct heel-position yourself.11 For the next tidbit-reward trial, go to action 3. Repeat the HEEL-trial procedure

about eight times.12 A good Heel response on the last trial of the session, earns the sound, OUT, and

the grand reward that follows.

Step 6. The Stand-stay at Heel In the previous steps, you said the reinforcing sound, GOOD or OUT, at the precise moment the dog was in the correct Heel position. In this step, you are going to add a new response, an immediate Stand-stay after he comes to a halt at Heel.

The procedureWhen the dog reaches the precise Heel position, say, STAY, rather than GOOD or OUT. Then help the dog to remain standing by gently holding the dog in the Stand attitude, if necessary. After the dog is in Stand-stay for one or more seconds, (vary the time), say GOOD or OUT, then reward as usual. Continue using the Stay-command assistance until you are sure that the dog remains standing without the Stay prompt. You may, after a week or so, stop saying STAY—the Stand-stay will be understood whenever the dog comes to Heel.

Step 7. The Resting Attitude at HeelIn this step, you will add another response to the chain—a response that was learned earlier. On an occasional trial, you may put the dog in a resting Sit or Down: After the dog's been in the Stand-stay-at-Heel for 3 or more seconds, Say SIT (or DOWN). When the dog has been in a resting attitude for about 10 seconds, say GOOD or OUT, then reward him. If the dog is still sitting at the end of a trial, then command and/or signal him to Rise (with assistance if necessary) for the next trial.

Automatic Sit-stay at Heel (optional)

You may prefer an automatic Sit-stay, rather than the automatic Stand-stay, when the dog comes to Heel (It's a requirement for Obedience trials). To get the automatic Sit-stay, you will do a variation of the Step 6 procedure.

The Procedure: Call the dog to Heel. At the precise moment the dog is in the correct Heel position, Say SIT—the dog should already know to Sit and Stay on the command, SIT. Nevertheless, prompt the Sit and Stay as you had in Chapter 6, "Sit and Rise." When you are sure that the dog will give you an automatic Sit-stay at Heel, you can eliminate the Sit and Stay commands. The command, HEEL, will then serve to get the dog to the Heel position, and without further asking the dog to Sit, he will automatically Sit, then Stay. Do not hurry through any of the training steps.

The automatic Sit-stay at Heel is also taught in chapter 10, "Front and Finish."

CHAPTER 9. COME WHEN CALLED

The Call-to-work, READY sound, that your dog learned in the first training week, has some Recall properties. He should come running whenever you say the sound, expecting to play a rewarding game. Until your dog learns the more appropriate command, COME, you can use the READY sound to get the dog to come to you. In keeping with the Call-to-work procedure, though, the dog should do some work when he comes. Have the dog do a single trial of Stand-stay, for example. After several seconds in Stay, reinforce with the GOOD or OUT sound and then reward the dog.

The sounds, GOOD and OUT, as well, have recall properties. But, in contrast to READY, no work is required when the dog reaches you. Don't neglect to reward him when he comes. Use the three sounds, in a pinch, until the dog learns the more relevant sound, COME.

Consequences for not coming when called. When in the Game-playing mode of Recall training, no negative consequences are given for not responding. However, when you deliver the command COME in a social setting—the dog is not in the Game-playing mode—the dog risks an unpleasant consequence for not coming when called. Disobedience in the social setting may turn on a warning sound, NO, or the more disabling sound, TIME. For the latter sound, you may have your dog do "precision straight-line heeling" for a minute or less, as punishment—a heeling skill that you should also teach your dog (see "Straight-line Heeling" in Chapter 10); any other kind of penalty work; or you may place him in his home cage for five minutes or longer.

Provided assistance. As with most Game-playing activities of this course, the dog is helped to make the correct response on every trial.

Team Training of Recall The Team Training procedure is an efficient and fun way to train your dog with one or more other persons. If you prefer, you can do the Single-person training approach—the procedure follows this Team Training section.

Step 1. Associating COME with release.This first step is relatively simple. Two events are associated with learning: (1) the sound, COME, and (2) the prompt: releasing the dog by another Team Player. At first, only the physical release is meaningful to the dog. It means, "Come to me." Then, by associating the sound, COME, with release, trial after trial, the dog will come to you when he just hears the sound. Association learning is most effective when the dog is released one-half second or less after the sound, COME.

Instructions for Team Player 1Pretrial Procedures:

1 Say READY. This sound should alert the dog to come to work.2 Place one tablespoon of a tasty food in his food dish and set it aside; reserve it for

the last trial of the session.3 Go to the place of training with your training foods.

Trial Procedures: 1 Place 10 food tidbits in your hand; then hold your closed hands at midriff.2 When the dog is away and facing you, stand still for one to five seconds in the

Still/quiet mode. Vary the time from one trial to another.3 Say COME in a pleasing voice, but loud enough for your dog to hear it clearly.4 Say GOOD when the dog is almost upon you (about six feet away).5 Remain still and upright until after you say GOOD.6 Bend forward to deliver the food tidbit.7 Go to action 2 to begin another trial.

Instructions for Team Player 2 1 You and the dog go to the starting point—about 20 feet from Team Player 1.2 Hold dog in place on-leash and face Team Player 1.3 Stand still and don't talk to the dog.4 Allow the dog to pull. If the dog fails to pull, take up any slack in the leash.5 Stand your ground, and hold the leash firmly with both hands at chest level.6 Never give the dog any leash aids, except to release the leash immediately after

you hear Team Player 1 say, COME.7 Drop the leash. If the work is done out-of-doors in open space, hold on to the

leash and follow closely on the heels of the dog to Team Player 1.8 If the dog fails to move toward Team Player 1 after release, immediately run to

Team player 1. The dog should follow. The dog will get the idea after several trials.

9 After the dog picks up the food reward, go to action 1 and begin another trial.

Unauthorized attempts by the dog to come to you in the absence of the Recall command are ignored—not disabled, punished or corrected by either Team Player.

Release by Team Player 2 may not be a particularly strong prompt for some dogs to come to you. In which case, add one or more other aids in sequence to the procedure: After you say, COME, and the dog is released from a taut lead by Team Player 2, you may, if necessary, try to lure the dog to come to you by bending forward and patting your thighs, and saying what a good dog he is. That surely should entice most dogs to come in. When the response aids (prompts) are no longer needed, remove them one at a time, from the procedure—the voice appeal prompt is the first to go, then the torso gesturing prompt, and lastly, the release of leash tension prompt. The "Taut-lead" release prompt is continued until the dog begins to show some wait on his own. This should happen in 3 to 6 training sessions.

Do about ten tidbit-rewarded trials and one goal-rewarded trial per session. Then go to the next step.

Step 2. Hold dog on loose lead In this training step, Team Player 2 now holds the dog on a loose lead. If the dog tries to come to you before you say COME, Team Player 2 holds her ground. Then, Team Player 2 immediately loosens the lead again, and waits for the Recall. With continued training, the dog will soon inhibit the "come-in" response until the Recall sound comes on.

At first, when the dog is on loose lead, he may fail to come to you when he hears the sound, COME. In that case, you may again use body and voice-appeal prompts for the dog to come in, a moment after giving the command. Use these prompts only as necessary. When you get the required control, go to the next step.

Step 3. Reliable Stay to non-recall sounds In the previous training steps, the dog came to you on the command, COME. However, it's not clear if the dog responded to the particular sound, COME, or to a sound of any kind that you might make. What would happen if you said BIRD instead of COME? In all probability, the dog would try to come to you then as well. To be sure that the dog is responding correctly, as he should to the sound COME and not to any other sound, a discrimination procedure is done.

The Discrimination Procedure. To do this, the relevant sound COME is delivered only on some of the trials. On the remaining trials, other sounds are said. The dog is permitted to come to you whenever you say, COME, but is prevented from returning to you when you say some other sounds. Two non-recall sounds, BIRD and STAY are used in the following discrimination procedure. They are meant to convey the message, "Do not come."

Perform the procedure of Step 2, with but with this one difference: On some trials, say BIRD. Team Player 2 is instructed to hang on tight to the lead and not release the dog when she hears that sound. After BIRD is sounded, wait another 2-5 seconds before giving another sound. On some occasions, the sound of the next trial can also be BIRD. This is done so the dog does not learn that a Recall sound always comes after a non-recall

sound. In correct Discrimination responding, the dog comes to you on the command, COME, and inhibits coming on the sound, BIRD.

The STAY sound, like the sounds BIRD and SKY means "Do not come." But unlike these latter sounds, STAY, has a meaning in its own right—it also tells the dog to remain in his present response topography. For instance, if the dog is sitting at the time the STAY command is delivered, the dog should remain sitting. If he tries to get up at the sound, STAY, he is placed back into the sit by Team Player 2. Remain at this step until your dog's discrimination performance becomes reliable.

Step 4. Use dog's name to get his attention Continue the procedures of the previous training steps, except for the following: The dog is going to learn to differentiate his Name-sound from that of other sounds. That is, if your dog's name is Randy, Team Player 2 is instructed to release the dog on the command, RANDY, COME—release follows the COME sound. The dog is not released when you say, POOCH, COME because the dog's name is not POOCH. This kind of control permits you to work with two or more dogs at one time in or outside the training session. It's when you will want the dog to whom the command is directed, to respond.

So that the dog does not anticipate the Recall command at the moment when he hears his name, occasionally follow the name RANDY with the command, STAY. That is, instead of saying RANDY, COME (if your dog's name happens to be Randy), sometimes say RANDY, STAY. With this kind of training, the dog will alert to the sound of his name, and wait for a command to do something.

Don't use the sound NO at this time, or show any displeasure when the dog responds incorrectly; or provide punishing consequences during the Recall work. Let the Prompts, restraint and release, do the work for you. Although discipline skills are being learned, you still want your dog to view the task as a fun game."

Step 5. Off-leash control The work in this step requires good command control in the previous step. Continue to use the same training setting, but without an assistant (the dog is in a Sit-stay or Stand-stay away from you. Do Tidbit- and Goal-rewarded trials as before. Use the informative sound NO whenever the dog breaks from Stay—at the moment he breaks—then place him again into the previous attitude.

1 To begin, say READY.2 Make the usual training preparations.3 Lead the dog twenty feet away from where you will position yourself for the trial. 4 Sit or Stand your dog. You may use physical prompting to get him into either

attitude.5 Say STAY and follow closely with the STAY signal when you are about to leave

your dog.6 Leave your dog, step off seven paces, turn to face the dog, and wait one to five

seconds in the Still/quiet mode.

7 Then choose one of four commands: COME, STAY, RANDY COME and RANDY STAY (if your dog's name is Randy) Select one of these at random for any particular trial (see "Errors in responding," below).

8 Reinforce and Reward as usual, after the dog returns to you on the commands, COME and RANDY COME.

After each successful response, you may have to lead your dog back to the starting place by the collar (or harness). However, most dogs learn quickly to walk alongside you to the starting place, without being led. Moreover, in some instances, an occasional dog walks back unaccompanied, and positions himself properly for the upcoming trial.

Errors in responding. Whenever the dog breaks from the Stay on the STAY and RANDY STAY commands, say NO at the moment of the break. Then go to the dog, and lead him back to the original Stay position. The No sound is strictly informational; it is not meant to foretell a punishing consequence (you're still in the Game-playing mode). If your dog is not yet steady on the Stay, go back to the leash-helper routine of a previous step for a period of remedial work.

Your dog might break at the moment he hears his name, without waiting to hear what else you have to say. In which case, the dog considers the Name-sound to mean, COME. By delaying the command that follows his name, on occasion, you are able to tell if the dog is making the error. Correct your dog as you would do for any anticipatory errors (see previous paragraph).

The Recall procedures of Step 5 are highly disciplining—requiring high levels of concentration and restraint by the dog. You would do well to continue running sessions of these discrimination trials, occasionally, during the work-life of the dog.

Recall training by yourself You can get the same kind of Recall control by doing the training yourself, but it may take longer. In this training, the new command, COME, is paired with the sound, GOOD, according to the Association Principle (see Chapter 2: The Association Model for Learning"). The GOOD sound already has some Recall properties, so it can be used as a "prompt" for the Recall response, in the present work. When GOOD is used as a prompt, the dog is rewarded even if he does not come to you—in which instance, you go to the dog and do it.

Pretrial procedures: 1 Say READY. The sound alerts the dog to the work at hand.2 Place one tablespoon of a tasty food in his food dish and set it aside; reserve it for

the last trial of the session.3 Go to the place where you'll do your training.

The alternate Step 1 procedure: 1 Place 10 food tidbits in your hand.2 Start walking slowly around the room. Your arms are relaxed at your side.

3 The dog may, if he chooses, to stay in place. That's an advantage. But, more likely, the dog will follow you wherever you go.

4 When the dog stops following and gets interested in something else, Say COME-GOOD. The voiced emphasis is on both sounds, with little pause between them.

5 Turn to face the dog and hold out a tidbit.

Training note: Keep walking while saying the two sounds. The dog must not get any hint of the sounds coming, beforehand. Turn to face the dog only after you've said the sounds. Begin your food-delivery motions immediately after you turn to face the dog.

6 When the dog comes to you, give him the tidbit. If the dog fails to come, go to him and deliver the tidbit (whenever you say the reinforcing sound, GOOD, you must deliver the food reward, no matter what).

7 Go to action 2, and begin another trial.

After several sessions of closely pairing the sounds, COME and GOOD, gradually start to unpair them. That is, after you say the command, COME, wait until the dog begins some small movement to come before you say the GOOD sound. In time, you will wait until the dog gets close to you (four to six feet away) before saying the reinforcing sound GOOD.

In this alternate procedure, the GOOD sound is initially used as a Recall prompt, then is reverted to its conventional usage, as a reinforcing sound for coming.

When you introduce Non-recall sounds, such as BIRD and SKY, in another step, the dog might come to you when you say these sounds. In that case, ignore him and continue walking casually. Do as many sessions as it takes for the dog to ignore the Non-recall sounds, but comes to you on the Recall sound.

Move about and allow the dog to move freely during Name-sound training (see Step 4, above). Ignore the dog when he comes to you on the wrong sounds. When you have good recall control up to this point, go to Step 5, "Off-leash control," above. In this step, you will place the dog in the Stand-Stay (or Sit-Stay) and then move away from him.

Automatic Sit when dog comes front The automatic Sit-front is a part of an Obedience exercise, called "Front and Finish." The complete exercise is found in Chapter 10. Until now, you handed your dog a tasty tidbit at the moment he came to you on recall. Now, when he comes front, he will automatically Sit and Stay facing you, and await another command.To begin, say READY.Make the usual training preparations. Keep the tidbits in a dish on a nearby table.Lead your off-leash dog about fifteen feet away, from where you will position yourself for the trial. Front the dog in the direction of the Recall. Command your dog to Sit (assist him into the Sit, if necessary).Say STAY and follow closely with the STAY signal when you are about to leave your dog.

Leave your dog, take five or six paces away from him, turn to face the dog, and wait one to four seconds in the Still/quiet mode.Then say, RANDY COME (use your dog's name if it's not Randy).When the dog is almost upon you, say Sit. Then move to assist the dog to Sit.As soon as his backside touches the floor, correctly align yourself with respect to the dog to make a good-looking Sit front.

Most Sit-front faults can be corrected by taking one or two short steps backwards at the time of the fault, then asking your dog to come in again. When the Sit-front looks better than before, help the dog by making part of the correction yourself, so that both of you will be in better final alignment and position. Some Sit-front faults that can be made in Obedience competition: not sitting close enough; poor sits; touching you on coming in; or sitting between your feet.

Avoidance training in Real World When you have achieved reasonably good recall control with the sounds that your dog has learned so far, continue his training outdoors where you usually take your on-leash dog for a stroll: your neighborhood street, field or park. Allow your dog to fully enjoy the stroll to the full length of the lead (use a long retractable lead if you have one). Allow your dog to investigate interesting smells along the way.

Occasionally call your dog to you while strolling. When he comes to you, give him a little "petting and praise" (when training on the stroll, you don't reward the dog with food). You don't need to overdo the petting and praise—it's meant to be not so much rewarding as informational that he successfully avoided the sound TIME and a work penalty that follows. After the petting and praise, send him off on his way to resume the stroll. Penalties (the nonphysical kind, such as a bit of precision straight-line Heeling, or a brief time-out from strolling and exploration) are administered to the dog for disobedience and glaring errors.

CHAPTER 10. FRONT AND FINISH

Front and Finish are two performance components that are required in several Obedience-trial Exercises. In these competition exercises, the dog first does something away from you, then completes the exercise with a Front and Finish. Even if you are not an Obedience buff, Front and Finish is another fun game that you can teach your dog to do.

The "Front" component of Front and Finish covers the performance: come-in to front of you and sit close facing you. The "Finish" component comprises the movement that the dog makes as he goes from Sit-front to the left side of you, where the dog again sits and remains until he is required to do something else. Your dog will be doing automatic Sits when he comes Front and then goes to Finish at Heel.

After you complete six training steps in this chapter, do the practice drills, Finish and Front and Finish, as described in "Maintenance-Practice Trials (it follows the Step 6 section). Continue these practice drills simply as fun exercises for your dog, or as an exercise that you might prepare for the Obedience ring.

"Front and Finish" is organized into the two training parts, "The Front" and "The Finish." Later, they are combined to become the "Front and Finish" Obedience exercise.1

The Front Continue the work in section, "Automatic Sit when the dog comes front" in the "Come when called" chapter until you are ready to complete "Front and Finish" exercise (Step 6, below).

The Finish The Shaping of Behavior. "The Finish" is a performance2 that the dog doesn't normally do without training. However, he can be taught it by means of a "shaping" procedure. Shaping, in the training sense, is comparable to clay sculpturing: At first, the clay is a featureless mass. Then, little by little, it begins to take the desired form. It is the same with response shaping: The beginning performance in this process is one that the dog can normally make, and which may little resemble the end performance—but it is one that clearly starts the dog off in the direction of the desired one.

You begin with a response that the dog can presently make. The initially selected response must eventually lead, via the shaping process, to the desired "Finish" performance. By reinforcing the first-selected response with the GOOD sound every time, you can increase its rate of responding. As the dog responds increasingly more often, you may see an occasional response that is closer to the one that you want. Then you'll select only the better response for reinforcement; any responses that are not up to the standards of the newly selected one are no longer reinforced. As training continues, you will be choosing increasingly better responses for reinforcement. By this procedure, you put ever-greater demands on the dog's behavior until you finally get the behavior you want.

Do about 12 tidbit deliveries per session. On the last trial of the session, substitute the Grand-reinforcer, OUT, for the reinforcer, GOOD, and deliver a more substantial reward.

Shaping "The Finish" A closed-loop performance is said to be one that's done in a ritual fashion, repeatedly, until interrupted by will or outside intervention. Looping is also done during Down training (see Chapter 13). In that work, the downed dog rises from the Down to get a food tidbit from your outstretched hand; the dog downs again; rises to get another tidbit; etc.

The first established loop (see Step 1, below). The beginning training step of the present exercise results in a simple closed loop. The dog comes close to you in front and touches your hand, then turns away; goes directly away from you to pick up a piece of food, comes back to you, touches your hand, then goes away again to pick up the food, etc. In this fashion, the behavior is made to recur in a closed loop. You say nothing to the dog, except GOOD or OUT. It is said when the dog touches your hand, and just before you throw the food.

More complex behavior loops as training progresses. A more involved loop is formed at an intermediate training stage: when the dog moves toward you, continues around your right side, around your back and left side, and, without stopping, goes on out to get the food. The dog then returns to begin the loop-sequence over again. The response-loop appears "pear" shaped—the pointed end of which is made away from you, at the place where the food is picked up; the fat end of the loop is made close to you.

Ending the Behavior Loops. Looping ends with Training Step 4, below, when the dog's movement is interrupted at the Heel position. It is there that the dog is made to stop for a moment, before he is allowed to go out again. In another training step, the dog must not only stop, but must sit when he comes to Heel. Finally, the loop gets another interruption at Front, where the dog is made to sit and stay, before he is signaled to move to Heel.

Food Tidbits and their Method of Delivery In this training, tidbit food is delivered a new way: Rather than hand a piece of food to the dog as you did in previous exercises, you will throw it out in front of you. The throw is done for all but the end training steps. The throwing of the tidbit helps to get the dog in the correct position for making his approach to you and, finally, the U-turn around you.

Use popcorn to reward the responses of this exercise, because the dog can see it better where it's thrown—better than most any other kinds of food tidbits. Before training begins, let the dog sample the popcorn to see if he likes it. You can prepare the popcorn with polyunsaturated oil (safflower, for example). You don't have to add butter or salt after popping—but you might if you're making some for yourself. You can also buy the tasty ready-popped.

The Free-response Method of Training Training begins in the Free-response style (see "The Free-response Model" explained in Chapter 2—see also as it is used in Down training). The dog is permitted to do whatever

he wants within the enclosed training space, though he will undoubtedly begin attending quite strongly to your new way of food delivery.

Preliminary procedure: The dog learns where food can be picked up. Take a small handful of food in your left hand. Place one piece between the index finger and thumb and throw it out underhanded. At first, keep the throws short—have the food land in front of the dog or to his right side. In this way, the dog will soon make the connection between your left-arm movement and food leaving your hand. If the dog has trouble catching on, i.e., he does not retrieve the food, the dog may be too close to you to see and make the connection between your forward arm motion and the availability of food "out there." Say GOOD before you make each throw.

As these association trials progress, gradually increase the distance of your food throws to between 6-8 feet. When the dog consistently goes out to retrieve the thrown food, or just stands out there waiting for the next throw, begin Step 1. In this step, the dog will learn to turn on the GOOD (or OUT ) sound by touching the back of your right hand.

Step 1. The dog's nose touch response The dog learns some complex moves in doing the "Finish" part of the Recall exercise. You can help him make these moves by getting him to follow the motions of your right hand. A good hand-following response by your dog comes about when his nose-touch of your right hand is made a condition of turning on the GOOD or OUT sound. In this step, you want the dog to go wherever your hand goes, in his effort to reach it and make the touch. The nose-touch response is an early training aid, which is then eliminated from use as soon as practicable, in a later step.

1 Say READY. Then prepare your training aids for the training session.2 Place about 8 popcorn kernels in your left hand. Place one piece between the

index finger and thumb. Hold your food-containing left hand close to your side.3 Stand still, facing the dog. The dog should already know to Stand-stay and look

up at you. If he isn't standing, tell him to RISE, then help him do it. If the dog is standing too far away from you, go to him and begin the short wait period.

4 Wait a second or two. Then, bend forward slightly and extend the back of your right hand toward the dog. This is an inviting situation for the dog to sniff your hand. Don't be concerned if the dog does not willingly touch your hand first.

If you need to, touch the dog's nose (a light touch made with the back of your right hand).5 Say GOOD immediately after you or the dog makes the touch.6 Throw a piece of food straight out, underhanded, with your left hand. Don't start

your food throw before you say GOOD.7 Get another piece of food ready in your left hand, and begin another nose-touch

training trial.

Do the Nose-touch with your right hand; Food-throw, with your left. After a series of such conditioning trials, the dog cannot escape connecting the GOOD sound with the "feel of your hand on his nose." He should then begin to make a nose-touch response on his own, without assistance.

Test occasionally to see if the dog can make the nose touch response by himself. Extend your hand to the dog, as before, but stopping about 1 inch short of his nose. If the dog moves his head forward to make the nose-touch, it is clear that learning of the response has occurred. Don't be too quick to have the dog make it without your help, though. At the end of this step, the dog should consistently come to the stationary outstretched hand to make the touch.Step 2. Dog does an orienting response.

In this step, you'll want your dog to go to your right hand no matter where the hand is positioned and touch it.Start the session preparation with the READY sound. Begin these trials by positioning your right hand in front of you, about 18 inches away, with your body bent slightly forward.As trials progress, start as you did in Action 2, but then, when the dog's nose gets close to your hand, slowly move the hand several inches back or to the side, but always in sight and within easy reach.When the dog follows the hand and touches it, say GOOD, and follow with a thrown tidbit.

Don't make too large a hand movement for the dog to follow, at first. Make a larger shift only when he's making a strong hand-orienting response. If, at any time, the dog appears confused, make it easy by extending your right hand to his nose and touching it if you have to.You are finished with this step when the dog follows the hand through your right side and slightly to the back of you—when he does this quickly and consistently.

In the next training step, the loop will be made around you.Step 3. Dog moves completely around you Begin the session with the READY sound.Proceed to make your training preparations.Warm-up the dog by doing the Step 2 procedure for the first couple of trials.Extend your hand outward toward the dog, as you did before.In the new procedure: As the dog comes in, move your hand close to your front.Then, without stopping, swing your arm around your right side, and follow around your backside. Keep your hand moving at the speed of your dog, just out of nose-reach. If, at any time, your dog fails to follow your hand movement, shorten the shaping steps to get a strong hand following (Photos, when available, will clearly show how to do the actions 4 through 6).Say GOOD when your arm is as far back as it will go, and the dog's head is at the middle of your back.Lift your right hand out of the dog's way. The dog no longer has to touch your hand. Follow the GOOD sound with a food throw.

As you throw, take a short step forward and to your right so that the dog can easily complete his movement around you. This gets the dog to continue in a forward direction,

rather than back up when he hears the reinforcing sound. Make your body moves, as necessary, to get the dog around you, but eliminate these moves as soon as you can.

In about a dozen trials at this step, your dog should be making the movement around you in a smooth motion. Then, begin to stand still during the trial. However, continue to move your right hand in a sweeping motion from in front of you to around your back—staying just ahead of the moving dog's nose. Continue to run the sessions in this way until you get the dog to make a fluid movement around you every time.Step 4. The Dog Stops at your Left Side.First Session: Warm-up the dog by doing the Step 3 procedure for several trials: The dog moves completely around you and goes outward to fetch the food tidbit.In the new procedure: As he moves past your left side on his way to the food, brush the dog's breast lightly with both hands. Keep your hands still, while the dog brushes through them.Continue this procedure for the remaining trials in the session.Rest of Sessions: Warm-up the dog for the first couple of trials, by doing Action 2 of the "First session," above.

On the remaining 10 trials of this step, continue to cue the dog around you with your right hand.When the dog reaches the Heel position, halt him. Do this gently by wrapping both your arms around the front of the dog's chest. If you have a small dog, you may do these trials while kneeling—in other words, make yourself comfortable.When dog halts, lightly grasp his collar with your right hand.After a wait of 1 second, say GOOD.Then toss the food tidbit and release the dog.

You are finished at this step when the dog consistently and readily moves out from Heel when released.Step 5. The Dog does an Automatic Sit. Warm-up the dog for the first couple of trials, by doing the Actions of Step 4: "Rest of sessions," above.In the present step, continue to cue the dog around you with your right hand. Stop the dog's forward movement when he reaches your left side.Immediately after the dog halts, command him to sit. Then immediately "Prompt" the Sit response.As soon as he sits, say STAY. Then physically hold the dog lightly in place by his collar, to prevent him from breaking from the Sit. Do not correct the dog's bad sits at this time. Though, on every trial, position yourself in relation to the sitting dog so that a good sit is evident. If the dog does not willingly sit or does it haltingly, do some practice sessions of "Sit Training" (see Chapter 7, "Sit and Rise").Take a kernel of popcorn in your right hand and toss it outward. Following the toss, hold the dog in place and wait 1 to 5 seconds.

Then give the collar a light flip forward. The dog should feel the release, but don't do it in a coercive manner. If the dog hesitates to move out after the Send-away signal and physical release, simply throw out another food tidbit, and allow the dog to retrieve both tidbits.

Continue in this step until the dog sits at Heel without having to be restrained, and responds reliably to the Send-away signal. Don't be too quick to end this training step.

Another Way of Doing the Sit Prompt at Heel. If it's awkward for you to prompt the Sit, reposition yourself, and then do the prompt. That is, when the dog comes to Heel, grasp his collar with your right hand, tell him to sit, then pivot on your left foot, face the dog, and place your right foot in front of the dog. Physically place the dog into the Sit; signal him to Stay, then return to the original Heel position. Continue the trial.Step 6. The Dog Sits at Front.

Besides doing the automatic Sit at Heel, the dog must also sit when he comes Front before he goes to Heel. Both components Sit front and Sit at heel complete the Front and Finish exercise, as is required in the Novice exercise.

Immediately following a food retrieve, at this Step, gently guide him to your Front and make him sit. The dog should already be doing automatic Sits-front, if he's had the Come-front part of Recall training in the previous chapter. Continue to prompt the Sit-at-front, as necessary. If Sit-front is new to the dog, do the pertinent sections in the earlier "Come-in" part of the "Come when called" chapter.

After the dog had been in Sit-stay at Front for 1 to 4 seconds, motion him to go to Heel. Perform the motion with your right hand as described in Actions 4, 5 and 6 of Step 3, above. When the dog reaches Heel position, he comes to an automatic Sit (or place him in the Sit physically, but not aversively). Maintenance (practice) trials.

If you are doing the Obedience Recall exercise for competition, practice the Recall exercise precisely as is run in the Obedience Ring The training should include two practice drills, "The Finish," and "The Front and Finish practice drill," as they are described next