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| 30 / 30 CLASS HOMEWORK |
| 30/30 Class Week 1 Homework You are the trainer! You get what you and your family put into your dog. Everyone in the household must agree to work together and come up with ONE set of rules for your dog. SIT: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog sit politely beside you. Hold one treat under your thumb with your palm facing up. Slowly lure your hand over your dog’s nose and up back over your dog’s head. Keep your hand at dog’s nose level to prevent your dog from jumping. As the dog’s head rocks back, their behind should go into a sit. Immediately click & treat (now called C & T) when your dog sits. Repeat several times and try luring your dog to sit in several different locations around your house. STAND: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog standing still. With one treat, lure your dog into a sit (as explained above). When dog sits, do NOT C & T, instead quickly place your palm at your dogs nose, slowly luring the dog from a sit into a stand. C & T! Your hand should be flat at the dog’s nose - and keep it close to your leg. We don’t want your dog walking, but simply standing up in place. DOWN: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog lying down beside you. As described above, have your dog in a sit but do not C & T. With a treat in your hand and your palm facing down, slowly lure your dog’s head down toward the floor by bringing your treat from his nose to his toes. When he is lying down, C & T! ATTENTION: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog’s attention on you. Stand up straight. Touch a treat to your dog’s nose and then move the treat between your eyes. When your dog looks up, C & T! Slowly increase the amount of time your dog is looking up at you by talking quietly to your dog. This will help keep your dog’s focus on you! RECALL: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog come when called. Get your dog’s attention on you by saying his name and “COME” in an excited voice. C & T on the FIRST step your dog takes toward you. Your dog should love to come to you, so make it fun, be exciting, and give lots of praise every time! WAIT: The goal of this exercise is to teach your dog to wait for a command. We’ll start by teaching your dog to wait for food from your hand. Take your dog’s collar with your left hand and hold a flat palmed right hand with treat & clicker about a foot away. When your dog stops pulling for the treat, C & T! We will apply the wait command to other situations. TOUCH: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog‘s nose touch a target. Offer a plastic lid to your dog. If your dog expresses interest toward the lid, click and treat. Repeat several times until your dog immediately touches the lid with his nose. Week 1 Continued: Learning the Agility Obstacles! TABLE: Your dog must sit or down and hold position for five seconds. Practice asking your dog to sit and down on various object, such as the furniture or the sidewalk. This will make your dog more comfortable to jump onto the table and immediately lie down. JUMP: Your dog must jump over the top bar without displacing it. Your dog will have to jump in the direction indicated by the handler. We will use the command “Jump” or “Over” as your dog goes over the obstacle. BROAD JUMP: Your dog must complete the jump without displacing it. Your dog will have to jump further horizontally rather than vertically. Practice lying things out at home that will not hurt your dog (cardboard boxes, etc.) and have your dog jump over! TIRE JUMP: Your dog must jump through the opening in the tire. Your dog must jump through the opening; not under or around - the command is “Tire.” TUNNEL: Your dog has to run one-way through the entire tunnel. The command will be “Tunnel.” Encourage your dog to move quickly through the entire tunnel, not to linger inside or back out. Do not let them run through and then turn around to go back in! CHUTE: Your dog has to enter the tunnel and exit through the chute. The chute is a piece of material that attaches to the end of a short tunnel. The fabric will drape on the ground and your dog will not be able to see through the chute. WEAVE POLES: Your dog must weave through each pole. Your dog must enter the poles with his left shoulder against the first pole. Keep your treat low at your dog’s nose to encourage them not to jump as they complete the weave. CONTACT OBSTACLES: (A-FRAME, DOG WALK, SEE-SAW) Your dog must have four feet on the obstacle and make contact with the painted ends. Contact obstacles will eventually be several feet off of the ground - because it is dangerous for your dog if they fall off, we must teach them to have all four feet on the obstacle and be stable. Practice having your dog walk on curbs, low walls, etc. Encourage them to be stable up high! 30/30 Class Week 2 Homework SIT / STAND / DOWN: Work on sit first - ask your dog to sit. Instead of using a C & T right away, ignore your dog and stay beside your dog while internally counting to five. If your dog remains in the sit, C & T. If your dog gets out of the sit, tell them “Uh - Oh” and try again. Work this in the Stand & Down as well. WAIT: Take your dog over to the door and ask them to sit. Put a treat and your clicker in your right hand and gently hold your dog’s collar with your left hand. Begin to open the door , if your dog gets up or begins to pull, tell them “Uh Oh” and ask them to sit again. Repeat, and when your dog stops pulling to get the treat, C & T! Your dog not pulling at all? GREAT! Continue the exercise and add the command “WAIT.” ATTENTION: Stand up straight!! Touch a treat to your dog’s nose and then move the treat between your eyes. When your dog looks up at you, don’t instantly C & T. We want to slowly increase the amount of time your dog focuses on you so quietly praise your dog with “good watch” or “good look” or whatever you want to call this command. The goal for this week is a 15 second watch. If you aren’t having success, lower your expectations and gradually increase time. Begin to add distractions to your dog - have someone walk by, play the radio, etc. If your dog looks away, tell them “Uh Oh” and quietly ask them to keep focusing on you. TOUCH: We are now going to teach your dog to touch your hand. Offer your hand to your dog (similar to your hand signal for stand). Have a cookie in your hand and when your dog goes to sniff that cookie, C & T! Once your dog understands to target your hand, start to move your hand all around your body - teach your dog to target your hand regardless of where it is. Repeat several times until your dog immediately touches your hand with his nose. SURFACE TRAINING: It is very important for your dogs to learn how to walk on various surfaces. Practice walking them on concrete, bricks, gravel, uneven surfaces, up ramps, stairs, etc. This week, work on exposing your dog to as many surfaces as possible. Work your obedience commands on various surfaces - make sure your dog will lie down on a tile floor, a wet floor, etc. The more you expose them to in a positive and gentle manner, the better they will be at agility and the more confident they will be in life! CONTACT OBSTACLES: Our obstacles will now be off of the ground at a low height. Practice leading your dog onto the obstacle, making sure all four feet are on and your dog is steady. If your dog steps off of the obstacle, don’t yell or scold them. This will only make them more nervous of the obstacle. If your dog steps or backs off, start the entire obstacle again. It is normal for your dog to be nervous at first of being off of the ground - the more relaxed and calm you stay, the more confident your dog will be! Do not hesitate to reward your dog with treats & praise every second they are standing solid on the obstacle. To practice at home, take a plank or strip of carpet and practice walking your dog across. When they have all four feet on, reward them! 30/30 Class Week 3 Homework WAIT BEFORE OBSTACLES: We are now going to add a hand signal for “Wait.“ Take your dog over to the obstacle and tell them to sit. Give the command “Wait“ and use your hand signal. Only have your dog wait for a split second before releasing them to complete the obstacle. AUTOMATIC SIT / DOWN: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog automatically sit or lie down instantly when you ask. To be successful in agility, your dog will need to instantly sit or lie down on the table. It’s also a nice lesson to teach your dog - so when you ask them for a behavior, they instantly complete it! To practice, ask your dog to go up on something raised above the floor. As soon as they have their feet on the object, give them your hand & verbal signal for “Sit” or “Down.” Reward as soon as your dog gives you the behavior! It will take no time at all for your dog to realize that they need to do the behavior as soon as you ask! ATTENTION: Practice your eye contact with your dog while there are many distractions. Take your dog onto a busy sidewalk and practice having them focus on you while people, other dogs, traffic, etc. passes. Reward any small amount of eye contact your dog offers you - remember, it is very difficult for them and goes against all of their instincts to not focus on what is going on around them! Reward their effort, and gradually start to increase your amount of distractions. Practice keeping your dogs eyes on yours in class while another dog does agility obstacles. This will help your dog understand that everything good and positive comes from keeping his eyes on yours! RECALL: Your dog needs to be able to come to you the first time you call them, even if there are other distractions around. REMEMBER - your command for this is your dog’s name and the word “Come” - ONE TIME! So, “Fido, Come!” Is your command for calling your dog to you. If your dog doesn’t come to you immediately, regardless of how tempting it is to repeat yourself, DON’T DO IT! If you repeat yourself, you will teach your dog that they can ignore your command - they don’t have to come to you and you’ll just keep calling them. No one wants a dog with this behavior, so if you call your dog and they don’t immediately come to you, GO GET THEM!!!!! Remember, if you call your dog to you from the end of their leash and they don’t come, they will NEVER come from the other side of a field! Start your recall work off very slowly and positively. If your dog doesn’t come to you the first time you call them, every time, they should never ever be off-leash in an unsecured area. Recall work takes a lot of diligent time and effort on your part. This week, we will work on calling our dog to us with added distractions. Have your dog on-leash and in a sit. Have someone stand near your dog, but don’t allow your dog to interact with them. Your distraction person should ignore your dog - no matter what! Tell your dog to “Wait” and give them your hand signal. Walk to the end of your leash, and call your dog to you! Hopefully, your dog will come right to you instead of running to that person. If your dog ignores you and runs to the other person, take several steps backward and excitedly talk to your dog - encourage them to run right over to you! 30/30 Class Week 4 Homework STAND FOR EXAM: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog tolerate you or a stranger giving them an exam. They should be calm and stand still. Your dog should be comfortable being examined by a groomer, the vet, or by you & your family. This will help when you have to clip your dog’s nails, wipe off their feet, etc. For this exercise, ask your dog to “Stand.” Have a really great treat in your hand and allow your dog to nibble on it. While they are focusing on your hand, take your free hand and gently run it down your dog’s back. Once they are comfortable with this, begin to gently lift their leg, touch their ears, face, stomach, tail, etc. Make them feel very comfortable and confident in your motions. Keep your hands very slow and calm - it will make your dog feel more secure. MEETING & GREETING / OFF: The goal of this exercise is to have your dog politely meet people by not jumping on them and to teach them to get off! Set your dog up to politely meet strangers! No one wants a dog to jump all over them! Make sure no one in the family is rewarding your dog for jumping - if anyone pats your dog or even touches your dog when they don’t have all four feet on the floor, they are being rewarded for jumping! We also need to teach our dogs “Off” - get off of me, the furniture, etc. Remember, be consistent!! If you allow your dog to jump on one person, they will try to jump on everyone! Not jumping on people: Ask your dog to sit when someone approaches. If your dog goes to jump on the person, tell them “OFF” and immediately ask for another sit. When your dog sits, reward them! If your dog doesn’t jump, reward them with a lot of praise - great job! Getting off of furniture: If your dog is up on something he shouldn’t be on, drop a treat on the floor. When your dog jumps off to get the treat, tell him “OFF” and click, allowing your dog to get the treat. LEAVE IT: This is an exercise to keep your dog safe and out of trouble! Your dog will never get an item that you deem as a “leave-it” item! Place an item such as a tissue, paper towel, or other tempting forbidden thing to your dog under your shoe. (No open toed shoes for this exercise!) Wait for your dog to stop trying to get it and then reward! Toss the treat a short distance away from your foot to give yourself time to pick it up. Then, start over again! Once your dog gets to the point where they are not paying attention to whatever is under your shoe, make it a little more difficult for them! Begin to drop your “leave-it” item - but make sure your dog CAN’T get it!!! Tell them “Leave-it” as you drop it - when it hits the ground, cover it with your shoe. If your dog ignores it, reward them!!! RECALL: Practice these fun recall games everywhere - inside, outside, at the park, etc! 1. Have someone gently hold your dog in a different room or out of sight - call your dog and when they come, be very excited and reward them! 2. Hide & Seek: Have someone gently hold your dog while you run and hide. Call your dog and allow them to find you - give him a treat when he does! Repeat with everyone hiding! 3. Popcorn Recall - Have two people, both armed with treats, practice with your dog. Call your dog back and forth and make sure your dog is rewarded for listening to your command, not just running to you out of habit! 4. Tunnel recall - have a group of friends line up and call your dog through that tunnel!!! 30/30 Class Week 5: Performance Review This week, your instructor will evaluate your progress in everything covered in the first (4) weeks of class. You will be sent home with a progress sheet, that will let you know what you and your dog excelled in, and what may need a bit more work. There is no homework for week 5 - except for your continued commitment to loving and training your dog! Thank you for taking a class with Go Play! and we hope to see you and your dog very soon! Remember, anything can be an agility obstacle - a fallen tree, a stone wall, etc. Get creative and HAVE FUN WITH YOUR DOG!!!!! |
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