Background Info Resource guarding is a term used to describe situations in which dogs are in possession of an item and want to retain possession of it. In the wild, this tends to be a life or death situation in that if the dog let another animal take possession of his/her food s/he would ultimately die of starvation. Dogs are naturally highly motivated to retain possession of the resource so that they survive. While this survival instinct served dogs well in the wild, it’s not one we appreciate in our pet dogs, so we need to teach our puppies to
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[print-me] Why teach “Watch”? Because getting your dog’s focus with a single word is very useful. You can distract him from enticing trash in the street, for example, or keep his eyes on you when walking past another dog. Plus, dogs that are rewarded for paying attention do it more. And attentive dogs are easier to train. How to teach “Watch” Step 1. Grab a bunch of small, delicious treats. Face your dog—he can be sitting, lying down, or standing. Step 2. At first, praise and treat your dog for looking at your feet or for turning in your direction.
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[print-me] Getting dogs to hold still can be a real challenge. Their energy seems to have no boundaries. Still we need them to greet nicely, wait at the door – to just hold still, but sitting still takes practice for a dog. The key to building a rock-solid stay is to practice small, incremental steps. Here we will focus on duration, teaching our dog to hold a sit for longer periods of time. Going too fast causes your dog to fail and is the best way to build a spotty command. Instead, we always want to work at our dog’s
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[print-me] Step One: Lure In this step you are literally persuading the dog to sit by slowly raising the treat above his head just between his ears while he follows the food. Start by getting the dog interested in the food by putting it right in front of his nose. Once he’s interested in the food, you’ll slowly raise it up above his head in a half circle motion. Keep the treat close to your dog’s nose—if you move your hand down too quickly or too far away from his mouth, he may not understand what you’re asking. Step Two:
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[print-me] The command “side” is used for a dog to roll over onto his side. To teach the dog to lie on his side: Step One: Lure With the dog in a “Sit,” hold a treat in front of his/her nose, then lure SLOWLY straight to the floor at the dog’s toes (dog moves into a “Down”). Step Two: Mark & Reward Continue luring the dog over onto his side by moving the treat over the dog’s shoulder. Mark (click) and reward when he shifts his body even slightly. If possible, lure until the dog lies his/her head to the
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[print-me] Step One: Lure. Mark & Reward Start with your dog in a sit. Get a treat, show it to the dog and then make fist, closing the treat in your hand. Hold your fist out in front of the dog. The dog will begin to experiment to see what works to get the treat out of your hand (usually sniffing, licking, etc.). The second the dog goes to paw at your hand, click and open your fist to release the treat. Step Two: Repeat it Repeat until your dog immediately goes to paw at your hand when you close
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