Clean Run - April 2017 - 21

what he wanted was the other dogs,
but as our bond has developed, he
greets me happily and we spend five
minutes together before he joins everyone else.
We haven't done much actual training; I've focused on play and socialization. Tyzer, Shade's sire, is ball mad.
Obsessed with toys and obsessed with
me, left to his own devices he'd spend
all day dropping toys at my feet. I find
it unhealthy and Ty now always has to
find his toy, hidden in long grass or under a bucket if I do play with him. It's
become obvious that Shade is different, but I'm still very wary of building
that obsession again. People often ask
me "what's the most important thing to
teach a puppy?" The answer is whatever
you struggled with most with the last
one! However, play is important and we
started recalling into a toy at this stage
and firmed up our release cue, "that'll
do" or "thank you."

Assessing Where You Are
with Training
* Sit-on cue and successful in urban
situations, but not so much in new
areas like the Malvern Hills where
we like to walk.
* Down-reliant on a hand cue and is
not yet the nice, smart fold back that
I'm looking for.
* Walk backward-just getting established; I'd left it whilst his rear was
higher than his front since it would
have been too difficult for him.
* Recall-good with low distraction
levels.

* Fetch-good, but has a tendency to
run off with the ball whilst watching
me closely.
* Hold-beginnings of a hold. With
competition obedience in mind, I'm
looking for a "clean" hold with no
mouthing. I'm currently sitting on a
chair and asking Shade to place the
cardboard roll in my hand. He finds
it boring so five reps are enough.
Food still isn't quite doing it for him
as a reward.
* Roly roly (roll over)-accepted and
taken in stride, but not yet on cue. I
make sure to reiterate at least once
a week and will continue to do so
until he is at least a year of age.
* Open (your mouth)-again accepted but not on cue.
* Collar-going well. He doesn't yet
place his collar in my hand on request, but he doesn't object.

collar. We'll work towards a purely
verbal cue later.
* Basic heelwork training-I've started teaching him to follow my hand.
He picked it up quite quickly. It isn't
on cue as yet, other than the visual
cue of presenting my hand.
* Go-this cue is excellent. Shade
loves flying out ahead of me towards his toy. He doesn't yet have
an intellectual understanding of
the exercise, nor do I need him to
at this stage. What I'm looking for is
drive. I need him to drive away from
me, hard. At the moment I'm still
restraining him into the send and
we're building the association that,
it's fun and very, very exciting!

Update Your Pup's List
of Distractions
* Tyzer running, moving, playing

* Touch-going well and Shady can
now touch my hand with both a visual and a verbal cue; i.e., if I verbally
cue Touch, he'll look for my hand
to touch.

* Darcey moving at sighthound
speeds

* Ready-going really well. Shade will
now spring to his feet ready to play
when I give that cue.

* Unusual sounds

* Get it-also going well. He's not toy
obsessed like his sire, but in typical
Beardie fashion, once he's got an
idea he retains it. He now looks for a
toy to play with when I cue, which is
the response that I was looking for.

* Rewards

* Dexi in the hedge
* Horse manure
* Birds
* Toys, tug, hard rubber ball, Hol-ee
Rollers, octopus tug, soft tug
* Food-liver cake, cocktail sausages,
cheese, ham, kibble

* Thank you/that'll do-at the moment, the verbal cue is combined
with a hand cue of touching his

Get red up with the
Bling Tug Ring and Dynamite
Stick in patterns tie-dye for!

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