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Life Skills Class week 2

Eye Contact

Eye contact stage 2:

Now that you have practiced eye contact with your dog Standing in front of you, your dog is ready for the next stage.

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  1. Start off with rewarding your dog for eye contact by dropping a treat on the floor in from of you.

  2. Repeat this 5 times

  3. Then turn your back to your dog.

  4. Reward your dog for moving in front of you and finding your face by dropping a teat on the floor in front of you.

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Trouble Shooting:

If your dog stands next to you looking at the side of your face do not reward your dog for eye contact. You want your dog to learn to activity search for your face by moving from behind you to standing in front of you and giving you eye contact.

Recall

Recall - adding distance:

Now that you have practiced your recall hand touch cue at home your dog is now ready to start adding in some distance.

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  1. Take a couple of steps away from your dog

  2. Say your recall cue followed by placing your hand out to the side (palm facing your dog)

  3. As soon as your dog comes over to touch your hand mark your dog then place a small handful of treats on the floor in front of your dog.

  4. While your dog is eating the treats off the floor walk/run over four steps away from your from your dog.

  5. WAIT for your dog to finish all the food THEN recall your dog again

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repeat steps 1-5. Start your training in the house, slowing increasing the distance as the days go on. Then try doing the training in your back garden.

Focus

Engagement -  Unclipping the lead:

Teaching your dog to engage with you when you get the the park will help stop your dog from pulling on the lead or running off as soon as you unclip the lead.

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​Step one:

  • Wait for eye contact

  • Mark your dog once they look up at you by saying "yes" or "good"

  • Scatter some treats on the floor

  • Unclip the lead while your dog is eating the treats.

  • Clip the lead back on before your dog finishes the treats.

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Step two:

  • Wait for eye contact

  • Mark your dog once they look up at you

  • Grab a handful of treats.

  • Start to feed your dog from your hand

  • Unclip the lead while your dog is eating the treats.

  • Clip the lead back on before your dog finishes the treats.

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Step three:

  • Wait for eye contact

  • Mark your dog once they look up at you

  • Unclip the lead

  • Give your dog one treat.

  • Wait for eye contact again.

  • Reward with one treat

  • Wait for eye contact

  • Give your dog their release cue and start to walk off.

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Your dog will start to learn that even though the lead has been unclipped they should stay close and give you engagement until they hear their release cue.

Lead Pressure

Lead pressure:

In this training video we are teaching our dogs that when the lead goes tight they should automatically check in with you rather than pulling against the lead. Dog's naturally will pull more when the lead is tight as they think this will reduce the pressure of the lead. We want to train our dog's to stop and look at us every time the lead goes tight rather than ignoring us.

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