LFBC Dog Training Week 2 Homework Sheet

Instructor: Mandy Miller

541-661-6093

Continue to practice: name game, sit stay, get back

New this week:

“Heal”      “Enough”      Levels of correction       Submissive Ears

Levels of Correction

You need to make sure that you have the meanings of your corrections straight in your head, so that you can be consistent in what they mean. For instance, when I say "NO", it means: that was very bad, never do that again. So, I would use this correction if my dog ever growled at me. If I were to say "no" when my dog starts barking at someone who is approaching the house, I would be telling him that that behavior is ALWAYS wrong, therefore I do not use this word in this situation, I use "enough", which I have defined as "stop that behavior".

Another level of correction in my household is: uh uh, which means: that was bad. Usually it has to do with the dog not obeying, and if not heeded will be increased in intensity and eventually lead to physical consequences (ie water bottle, being swiftly taken out of the room, or, if . So, what is the right correction when he on

Body Language part 2: Submissive Ears

Submissive ears, are when the ears are back and flat against the head. When you get on to your dog for something, or if they know the did something wrong and they have that “guilty” look on their faces, what makes them look so guilty? All dogs look surprisingly similar when they make this face- their heads are low, they are afraid to look at you, their ears are as far back and against their head and they can get them, and their bodies are pushed into the ground, as though they wish it would swallow them up. They are literally begging you not to kill them. SO, how does knowing this help us? When you see them drop their ears, you know that they have repented, and admit that you are the one in charge, so you can stop the scolding. Stopping when they surrender earns respect from your dogs.

“Heal”

You want to teach your dog to walk with you, without pulling, or getting ahead. I consider this “heal”. If the dog starts to get ahead of me, I spin on my heal and go the other way with a corrective sound, so that he is behind me again. The dog wants to continue walking towards what they see ahead of you, that is why they are pulling, so if you turn around every time they get ahead, they will pay attention to stay beside you so that you continue the way they want to go. The key is to make sure that you do not have anywhere specific to go, otherwise you will get frustrated that you just keep spinning around in circles. As frustrated as you are, the dog is even more so, so just hang in there until he figures it out! This is step one.

Step two is when you are pretty sure he is paying attention not to get ahead, and so then move to a corrective sound and an abrupt stop when he gets ahead. When he stops, you go again.

Step three is just a corrective sound, but he only gets one chance. If he does not stop or slow way down right when you make the sound, you stop abruptly. So it is really just a delay in the stop.

“Enough”

You want to let your dog when to stop doing what he is doing, even though he is not doing anything wrong. If your dogs are playing really loudly while you are on the phone, or the baby is sleeping, or one of the dogs is tired and you just want them to stop, you should be able to say “enough” without making the dogs think that they were doing anything wrong. You do this by saying enough, and when they look at you, give them a treat and say good dogs! Nothing negative about it at all. If they go back to playing, say with your lowest level of correction “ah ah”, and physically separate them. If they start again, repeat.

You can use the same premise with barking. When your dog is barking, and you want him to stop, you go between him and what he is barking at and say “enough” authoritatively, with the quiet signal. If he barks one more time, spray him with the water bottle while giving a verbal correction.