All the hard work training pays off with my pal German Shepard Mei Mei. There was a sidewalk sale this afternoon in Ridgewood today and so many people were walking and shopping on the sidewalks. I took Mei Mei there to train. We walked the entire town up one side and and back down the other side off lead. Mei Mei walked with me at heel position. She minded me and her business. She sat, laid down or stood and every corner listening to my commands. She waited nicely when people wanted to say hello. I am so happy and proud of her and I thank Dave Stapinski who trusts me to train and do brush up lessons with her. 

Its nice when Neo is learning the walk properly and its challenging when Neo looses focus and becomes distracted by smells and noises. Just have fun teaching him and work the training process. When is can not back into focus or attention. Stop sit him and begin the Stand/Wait/Sit exercise or the Down/Wait/Sit exercise. This will bring him back into focus. Practice heeling 15 minutes a day.He is a typical puppy and although we are teaching him and he needs to learn be patient and do not get fustrated.

The new exercise is the Come When Called or Recall: The dog is in seated heel position and attentive. Command “WAIT”, with right palm hand signal by the dogs eyes and place tension on the lead with the left hand. Step out with your right foot and walk to the end of the lead. With the lead in your left hand, call your dog’s name firmly while you pop the lead towards you. After the dog gets up, step backwards say "Good Boy" and command “COME”. PRAISE while the dog trots directly to you. Use the lead to teach your dog to come directly to you   When within arms reach command “SIT FRONT". With your right hand hold the collar under the muzzle and guide it upward while your left hand places the dog into a sit as you command “SIT/FRONT”. Then PRAISE. Eye contact.

Every time we want the dog to respond to it’s name immediately.

Every time when called we want the dog to trot smartly and attentively to you.

If the dog breaks the wait do not correct, simply call the dog to you.

Always use uplifting voice tones and praise.

Always encourage our dog to come to you as we want our dog to be happy to be with you. 

Practice this exercise 5-6 times per set.

Trained him yesterday. He is doing similar to Neo the Chocolate Lab. Began with heeling and the little guy begins to pull and he wants to go his way. With simple corrections with the lead and voice tone corrections and encouragement, he starts to pay attention and walks properly. If he becomes too far out of control, especially for the client he needs to be seated, focus and begin again. Suggested about 15-20 minutes heeling practice a day, breaking up the time.

Also reviewed Stand/Wait/Sit exercise. Neo is more willing to wait in place than Buck but Im sure Buck will catch on.

Then reviewed the Down/Wait/Sit exercise. Buck does well for the client on this one better than the other two. Began to teach the down with right hand signal.

I'll be seeing Neo for his forth lesson later this morning.

Neo had a good lesson yesterday.. Began with Stand/Wait/Sit exercises. Of course working on attention and eye contact skills. Next step: After the "Wait" Command left hand on rear. We want him to hold the standing position. He tried to sit. Quickly command correction, UHUH and place left hand under tummy. Positive Preventative Training. After a couple of times he did not fault. Learning to wait. ** Reviewed the DownWait/Sit. He did well. Next step. Slightly place left and right legs out. Hold in place with left hand on the wither. Then right hand signal while commanding DOWN and gently place down. He will begin to learn to move his legs on command. Praise then Wait, and Sit. ** Heeling was more difficult as he wanted to pull and lag. Using the lead and voice tone, teach him to walk together as a team. After two to three corrections with lead sit him and begin again. Focus. Thursday is his ne

The most important exercise to teach your dog is to heel properly and reliably. If your dog will never leave your side it will listen when called and come directly to you because it wants to be with you. How do we acomplish this? How do we teach our dog to understand never to leave our side when walking no matter what the distraction is? When we turn our dog turns with us. When we stop walking our dog sits,stands, or lays down depending on our command. If we walk fast or slow we want our dog to change pace or walk at normal pace.

Dogs learn at different rates. Puppies under 6-7 months will take longer. Although beginning the process with a puppy is better than starting an older dog because older dogs develop bad habits. But it's never too late to begin training.

It's very important initially to train your dog where there are no or limited distractions. Eye contact and attention skills must be developed.

Steps to begin to teach proper heeling:

1. Dog in seated position on your left side.

     A.  Dogs are always trained on the left side of the trainer.

     B.  Place your left hand knuckles forward on lead and be sure the clip is facing the ground and there is a U in the lead. When walking there should always be a U in the lead unless the dog is pulling,lagging, or sniffing. In those instances the lead will tighten.  When in formal training mode there is no pulling, lagging or sniffing. These faults must be corrected with a slight pull on the lead to teach the dog proper position and immediately place the lead in neutral position with the U. If your dog is faulting more than two or three times in a row than sit your dog and get your dog to pay attention.

     C. When teaching your dog proper position after a fault, verbal corrections are, Ah! Ah!, Let's go, hurry hurry, with me followed by Good boy or girl in an uplifting voice tone.

2. When ready say your dogs name, then once the dog is up and moving command Heel then praise. Step out with your left leg and if your dog does not respond teach it by pulling forward on the lead and back to neutral. We have to have a great response when saying your dogs name. We want the dog to move!

     A. With puppies, begin walking in a straight line then halt.  Maybe 10-30 feet.  As you come to a stop we need to teach your dog to sit.

     B. Don't pull up on the collar with puppies. Simply when ready, place right hand under muzzle and left hand cupping the tail set and command sit. Lift up on the muzzle and gently place the rear into a sit. Hold position and praise.

     C. Then begin again. Train heeling at least 15 minutes each day.

Began with eye contact and Stand/Wait/Sit and Down/Wait/Sit exercises. His attention was a little less than Chocolate Lab puppy Neo. Better than lesson 1. Jim worked him and he did well. Need to continue to hold and teach him the wait command and guide him into position on the stand and down commands.

This 1 year old King Charles is super active. No attention, No eye contact, jumps on everyone and pulls like donkey and she is in its own dog world. She also has separation anxiety. This dog needs a comprehensive training program. I worked her for 20 minutes and I know, if the client hires me I can make significant progress with the dog regarding behavior modification, eye contact and attention skills. This will not happen quickly and she will be a challenge but I know I can make life better for the owner and dog.

The owner Colleen trained him the last couple of days well. He was more attentive and had better eye contact. The Stand/Wait/Sit and Down/Wait/Sit exercise was good. Continue to be consistant with the training teaching him The Stand, The Wait and The Sit. Also The Down, The Wait and The Sit from the down. Be patient and guide him to the proper positions.

Follow Neo and Buck two 4 month old labs on their progression through the puppy obedience lessons. Both live in different households. Lets see how they do.

Olive 4 months is very sweet. Began training 5 weeks ago. Began training Eye Contact and Attention Skills and basic obedience commands with the proper response. She is coming along great. Best results are inside their apartment. Outside more challenging with the natural distractions. 

She is performing really well now with "Go To Your Place, Sit, Down and Stay" when someone enters. Before we began training she was out of control jumping and barking in a friendly manner when a guest or the spouse entered. 

The commands are: Go to Your Place along with a hand signal. Olive goes to her mat. Then the next command after getting eye contact is SIT, with hand signal, again once she is attentive the command is DOWN with hand signal, and then finally STAY command with hand signal. The Stay is at least 1+  minutes.

The guest enters and Olive remains in the down position until the owner goes back to her, praises her with voice tone and petting. Then Break or Release Command and Praise.