Clean Run Magazine - June 2009 - 80

Proofing with DistrActions Exercise #1 Take the bowl of food and sit on the ground by your dog. If the dog only has eyes for the treat bowl, cover it with your hand. Once the dog stops licking, nudging, or focusing on the bowl, say Yes and immediately give one treat from the dish. Your goal is for the dog to leave the uncovered dish alone without any negatives or prompts from you. With the bowl of food by your side, ask your dog to sit. If the dog ignores the sit command and instead dives into the bowl, place your hand over the treat dish and prevent the dog from stealing treats. Let the dog learn what will get him the reward rather than correcting and saying no. Simply prevent the dog from eating the treats by covering it with your hand. Try again until the dog can sit, down, or turn around with the treat bowl uncovered by your side. Remember to reward each correct performance. Then build from there. Exercise #2 This next exercise is great for people who lure too long. What the dog perceives as the lure now becomes the distraction. Hold a cookie just above the dog’s nose with one hand, and with your other hand and voice ask the dog for a down. The hand with the treat remains still as the dog downs. Can the dog willingly leave the cookie above his nose and down on one command? Exercise #3 Put your dog in a down, put a cookie on the ground by him, and ask him to sit; as with the previous exercise, the dog needs to move away from what he wants. You can both reward the dog with another cookie or release the dog to the distraction treat. Work up to having three treats in front of your dog: one ahead, one each to the left and to the right. Ask for behaviors and reward the dog for leaving the three cookies alone. Further, ask the dog to do one behavior and release to only one cookie; immediately ask for another behavior and release to the second cookie; and a third behavior and release to the last cookie. Now make it a bit more difficult. Put a treat on both the dog’s right and left side, and ask the dog to come to you away from the treats. Reward the dog well for coming away from the treats. This helps the dog realize listening to you is what earns him the treat. DelAyeD grAtificAtion Finally, we need to teach the dog delayed gratification—that often he will be rewarded on the table, but just as often he will get the reward afterward. Put a bowl of treats on the kitchen counter, run to the bedroom with the dog, cue a down on the bed, and run back to the treats to celebrate. Continue to work further and run to three different rooms, ask for behavior in each, and then back to the treat dish. Does your dog willingly leave the treats and move with you to another room and obey easily or does it take repeated commands? Once mastered on the flat, you need to re-teach all these exercises later on the table. Once the dog has been heavily rewarded for taking a position on a bed and couch, I expect him to offer this behavior as I stop a bit farther away. This is the start of send work. Be sure to include some short sends in every training session. (Note: I call all the beds, couches, and so on, Table.) Only after the dogs can change position on cue in a variety of settings and under many different distractions do I want them to get on the table and to be asked for a position there. Introducing the Table The first time my dogs see a table, our only focus is getting on it, playing, and eating cookies. If the dog seems hesitant, I sit on the table and encourage him to get on; I pet, praise, and just relax with him. Tugging is also a way to increase fun on the table. A calm, easy introduction to the table can actually alleviate many problems. In a class situation this is equally important. Give each dog several chances to get on and off for rewards. The dog needs several short sessions of this kind before asking for any position on the table. Now put it together: Have a bowl of dry, non-crumbly treats, ask the dog to get on the table, and ask for the behaviors you have worked on the flat. Progress to the food exercises previously described where treats are the distraction on the table instead of on the ground. (Food is placed as a distraction after the dog is on the table, not before.) Even in classes, give each person ample time on the table to work the skills they’ve been perfecting at home. Since dogs are used to food distractions and have learned to ignore treats in front of and next to them I never have problems Angelina knows there’s a treat on each side of her and one in front of her. She also knows the game includes ignoring them until given the release. 80 A quick sit is hard as she moves away from the treats she wants. But, for obeying quickly, she is allowed to eat only the center treat. She is ready to perform another behavior to get the remaining treats. Clean Run | June 09

Clean Run Magazine - June 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - June 2009