Phases of Training & Name Game

Hello PACmembers...

Today is the day that you have all been waiting for. Today, we begin to teach basic obedience.

Today's tasks include understanding the phases of training and the "Name Game".

There are 3 phases of dog training.

1) The Learning Phase - During this phase your dog is LEARNING new commands & behaviors using strictly positive reinforcement. Correcting a dog at this stage of the game is like punishing a toddler for going to the bathroom in a diaper. We will use treats, toys, & praise to get results during this phase.

2) The Correction Phase - This phase never begins before 8-9 months of age, and only after you are certain the dog knows the command 110% ! In this phase of training we will continue to reward the dog when he performs correctly, however if he chooses not to obey, then we will administer a correction. The correction maybe verbal, using body language, or a collar correction. This will vary from dog to dog. Hitting your dog with your hand is never a correction...it is abuse and will not be tolerated.

3) The Proofing Phase - As a rule, dogs do not generalize anything well...especially early on. During this phase of training we focus on introducing the dog to as many distractions and situations as we can. We work on "proofing" his commands in these new situations until we are confident he can perform anywhere.

All of the training we are going to do over the next few weeks will be in the learning phase. This means NO corrections what so ever...at all....under any circumstances...! Odds are, during this phase, if your dog is not complying, you are the one screwing up. So if you start to get frustrated, roll up a newspaper really tight, and give yourself a good smack upside the head. This should be a reminder that you are the one making the mistakes, not the dog. At this stage he can do no wrong.

Let's start off with a very basic command. Your dogs NAME. Most of you probably don't think of your dogs name as a command, but it is. It means hey look at me, give me your attention, so I can tell you what to do next. If we can't get your dogs attention...it's going to be hard to get him to do much else. The NAME is the most important command and should be treated as such. I know right now most of you are thinking, my dog knows his name....I assure you there are plenty of situations that he doesn't, and these are normally the situations that we need his attention most.

Here is how the game works:

Get a little plastic baggy of very small treats (should be about 30 or so). These treats should be VERY high value (I recommend freeze dried liver). I want you to hang out with your dog and wait until he is distracted, not paying any attention to you (he should be OFF leash for this exercise). For most of us, this won't take very long. Once the dog is distracted I want you to say his name VERY clearly, ONE TIME! As soon as he turns and looks at you I want you to TOSS him a treat! Then you are going to wait until he is distracted again, and repeat this exact same process.

Some Basic Rules:
-The 30 treats should be used over the course of a day, do not play this game 30 times in a row for 30 minutes.
-Do NOT ever use your dogs name as a correction from this point forward. All the name means is "look at me"
-Your dog does not have to come to you when you say his name. All he needs to do is look in your direction...we are looking for eye contact. So, just toss the treat to the dog when you get the attention we want.
-If you are doing this game with a young pup, you may not be able to toss the treat. His mouth-eye coordination may not be good enough yet. I recommend sliding the treat across the floor, and starting this exercise closer to the dog.
-Practice this game in as many different environments as you can. Inside, outside, on grass, on carpet, with dogs around, without dogs around, with people around, while you are sitting, standing, laying on the ground, etc. You will find, over the course of the training, that if you change one dynamic in the environment the dog is often starting from scratch.
-You are going to play this game for one week, throughout each day.
-For those of you that have new rescue dogs and want to change there names...this is a great time to do it.

As always, if you have any other questions please post them in the comments section. There are about 30 dogs participating in this online training and we a growing by about 10 per week. Please encourage your friends and family to participate. Every dog can use a little bit more training.

A lot of you that have questions are sending me emails instead of posting to the comments. I want everyone to be able to learn from each other (a lot of you have the same questions, because most of them are on things I didn't explain clearly enough). I am going to begin posting some of the emails I get, especially if I think others will benefit from either the question or answer.

That is all for today...just start working the name game...tomorrow we learn how to teach sit using a hand signal!

Have a great day...your dog is!

www.petathleticclub.com