Clean Run - May 2015 - 53

As much as teaching these happy, exciting,
pushy behaviors might be contrary to everything you have heard about self-control,
you have to ﬁrst get your dog excited and
pushy before you start with self-control.
With "crazy" dogs that do not have motivational issues, self-control is important
part of training from puppyhood on. But
with dogs that have playing or motivation
issues, I do not start with self-control. I ﬁrst
encourage them to show their passions,
to become "pushy," and to show me what
they want. Then I teach them to put all of
their effort into getting what they want.
After mastering all that comes the time for
self-control games.

Putting Excitement on Cue
Besides knowing what triggers dog to act
excited and motivated, there is another
thing that is equally important-knowing
how your dog behaves when he is excited, happy, and anticipating something
great. When you know that, you can put
his enthusiastic behaviors on cue and use
them anytime you want to make your
dog excited and happy.

When you see that your dog has connected being restrained with the harness
to something fun and rewarding (he gets
excited the instant you hold him by the
harness), it time to upgrade the game.

Use a harness with a handle on it to
restrain your dog.
© cLean run

© istock Photo

Now, before I introduce you to another
fun exercise, I would like to say a few
words about transferring value. Once we
ﬁnd something that our dog likes, we can
start to transfer the value to other things;
that is, with the help of high-value rewards
the dog really likes (e.g., food, toys, selfrewarding behaviors), we raise the value
of things our dog doesn't like but we want
him to like (e.g., taking food, playing
with us, doing agility) That is why I keep
repeating myself like a parrot: get to know
your dog. When you know what excites
him the most, you can transfer that excitement to any other behavior that you want.

Another way to connect the harness with
something exciting is with the help of
self-rewarding behaviors. For example,
you can use the harness restraint exercise
any time before your dog is about to get
something he really likes: playing with
his doggy friends, before you let him
go to run freely, before you let him go
swimming, etc.

© cLean run

So, before we start with any serious
work, observe your dog for a few days.
Observe his reactions and try to ﬁgure out
what behaviors he offers when he is excited? Observe him in situations that you
know make him happy and enthusiastic:
when you come home, before he gets
his food, before you two go on a walk,
when he is playing with his friends, etc.
How does he react? Does he bark when
he wants to go out, does he spin or jump
before you give him his meal, does he
whine when he really wants something?
Mark those behaviors with a clicker (or
a word) and turn them into tricks that you
can use later on an agility course or as
a part of your start routine.

as 1-2-3-Go). Throw the reward 12'-15'
ahead of him and when he shows eagerness to go after it-while the reward is
still moving through the air-let him go.

And now onto the last exercise for this
month.

Harness Restraint Game
© istock Photo

The harness restrain is a version of classical restrain we discussed at the beginning of the article. It is a fun game that
you can play at home on your own and
it can help you later when transferring
value and excitement to agility.

© istock Photo

Initially you will do this exercise with
the reward that your dog likes the most
(high-value reward) so that you can
transfer that excitement and eagerness
to the harness restraint. Use a harness
with a handle on top so you can restrain
the dog easily. The goal of this exercise
is to teach the dog that after you restrain
(hold) him with a harness and say the
cue, something great will happen.
How to Play

When your dog is excited, happy,
and anticipating something great,
mark the behavior.
May 15 | Clean Run

Hold your dog by the harness, show him
the high-value reward, and say something
exciting like to really get him anticipating that something good is coming (such

Release your dog while the toy
is still in the air.
Upgrade 1: Running to Static
Toy/Food
Once your dog has mastered the initial
stage of the game, one of the things you
can add to the harness restraint exercise
is gradually teaching your dog to run
with excitement to a static toy/food. In
the ﬁrst stage, you let the dog go while
the toy/food was still moving to awaken
the predator in your dog. Now you will
start delaying the release until you get to
the point where you let him go after the
toy/food has already stopped moving.
This way you gradually teach him to run
with excitement and speed to a "dead"
toy/food as well as a moving toy/food.
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