The training tips in this section apply to training any new behavior whether training the behavior is covered in this book or not.
Initially Train in a Non Distracting Environment
We recommend initial training be in a small familiar room where you are the only interesting thing available for your puppy to interact with. Ideally, you should not work a young puppy on slippery floors. We have training mats in our training room, but a carpeted area could work just as well. If the floors are slick, your puppy may not be able to hold a sit without his front paws sliding into a down. An adult dog is probably fine on most any type floor.
We have started many puppies outside before we had an indoor training room. It can be done. However, it is far easier when you have fewer distractions. Eventually, you should be able to train outside as long as you have a quiet outdoor area and the puppy has been in your chosen training area enough to where the novelty of it has worn off.
Puppies vary in their initial ability to focus on you amongst distractions. As I mentioned, we’ve started many puppies on the work outside. However, there are some puppies where the distractions have to be reduced so much that your only option is to start the training in a very small familiar space such as a pen.
Eventually, you can and should increase distractions, but not until the dog is very good at performing in non-distracting places.
Train When Your Puppy Has the Appropriate Amount of Energy and Hunger Level
Dogs with an overabundance of energy should be trained when their energy level is lower and possibly when their hunger levels are also lower. Otherwise, they will be too excited to concentrate.More energetic puppies might be too amped up to train first thing in the morning before breakfast.
More laid back dogs do better when trained during times when their energy levels are at its highest and when they are especially hungry. Right before breakfast is probably the best time. If puppies are lazy and not trying, they are probably not hungry enough and are too tired.
If puppies are overly anxious, trying too hard, and are unable to concentrate, they might be too hungry and have too much energy. Get them some exercise and feed them something before training.
Keep Training Sessions Short with Appropriate Breaks
Short daily or twice daily concentrated training sessions are ideal. We recommend investing at least 5 minutes daily 5 or 6 days a week. That’s only 25-30 minutes a week! Short regular training sessions produce big results. You can train longer if you like.
With puppies, we never train over 20 minutes straight. For the novice trainer, we recommend that each session with puppies is no longer than 10 minutes. We often train puppies twice a day, but this isn’t necessary. (This does not include time spent with crate conditioning, house training, providing exercise, and other necessary new puppy responsibility). The number of times per day spent in training can be variable. However, early in training, I’d be consistent with training at least 4 or 5 days a week.
With adult dogs, we rarely train more than once a day. We never train over 30 minutes at a time unless there is a specific reason for it with a dog who is already well-trained. We train our adults 4 to 6 days a week when in training mode. Then we’ll give ourselves and our dogs a break for sometimes several months at a time.
Many trainers advocate for ending training sessions on a good note. I agree with that unless you run into a problem that is not easily fixed or if you get frustrated. You, as the trainer, need to step back from the problem and think about how to fix it before further confusing the dog. You may need to seek help from another trainer. The puppy or dog probably could also use the time to contemplate how to better earn his reinforcement. I have seen it happen time after time where I leave a training session with a dog that just doesn’t get whatever I’m trying to teach. Then when they come back to train the next time, they have it at the start of the session. When game-based fun positive reinforcement is used, dogs like to ponder their lessons in between training sessions! This is not an occasional phenomenon. It happens more often than not!
When taking breaks in between training sessions of 5 or 6 months, I have noticed a decline in perfection on such things as straight fronts and finishes. Too much time off can result in temporary sloppiness. However, these problems are usually quickly and easily fixed and I think the time off does both the dog and trainer good.
Train Skills in the Order they are Presented
For the most part, the behaviors discussed in this section need to be taught in the order that they are presented. The first behaviors discussed here are foundational. Behaviors that are further down the list are built on a foundation created by the behaviors listed prior. There are a couple of cases where the order might be changed. These cases will be discussed in detail.
Start Training Sessions with Review
Review skills already trained in order to warm your dog up for training and to further develop those already learned skills. Move through reviewing the skills sequentially in the order we’ve presented them until you reach the level that you are currently working on. For example, if you were teaching your puppy the Skill #5 exercises, you will still start your puppy’s training session with the skill #1 exercises. Then you will practice the skill #2 exercises. Then skill #3 and so on. You will eventually skip the earlier steps only practicing them on occasion.
The further along in the program you progress, the less time you’ll spend on the earlier steps. However, they still need review. Working on the easier steps serves as a confidence builder and a it gets your dog in the game so that he is more capable of moving on to the more advanced steps.
During each session, practice each step until the puppy knows it well. That could take twenty repetitions. It might take only one or two. If the dog is to the point in training where a particular step is consistently only requiring one or two repetitions, you can occasionally skip that step and review it only periodically.
There is no time-frame for moving through the steps. As long as you are moving forward, the pace doesn’t matter. The time spent on each exercise can depend on the amount of time you want to invest, how quickly you learn the process, and how fast your puppy learns the exercises. It is always better to train too slowly than to move forward too quickly. Therefore, if you aren’t sure if your puppy or you are ready to move forward, give the current step more time until you feel more confident in advancing in the program. We’ll show you which steps to review at each level and show examples of how long we review each step.
Tips for Keeping Sessions Interesting and Your Dog’s Focus on You
1. Have a plan.
2. Follow your plan.
3. Keep the dog’s focus after the reward event if you are training stationary exercises and using a stationary marker instead of a release marker. Although the dog is officially released after he hears his marker word, it works to your advantage to motivate the dog to reengage quickly after taking his food.
4. Reward rapidly if the puppy or dog is tending to jump out of position after taking his food before he has time to get out of position. Jumping out of position happens with many puppies during the initial phases of teaching a down/stay and focus in heeling. We will demonstrate how to use a technique we call “Rapid Rewards” in a video that demonstrates us training a puppy that tends to pop up after every down. It is much easier to keep a dog’s attention who remains in position than one that is constantly popping up. When they jump up, they often lose focus.
5. Initially, keep the game moving fast in order to keep the dog’s attention. It is far easier to keep the dog’s attention, than to regain it once you loose it.
6. Be exciting and upbeat. Your energy will transfer to your dog. If you lack excitement for the work, the dog will lack it as well.
7. Follow the tips in the section on timely food delivery in our chapter on the primary reinforcer.
Proof Skills Once They are Well-learned
Proofing is the process whereby we prove that the dog has learned the exercise and can perform it in increasingly difficult environments and situations. In correction-based training, proofing is setting the dog up for failure so that a trainer can show the dog all the things that he is not supposed to do. In our system, we ask the dog to perform in increasingly difficult situations under threshold. Our goal is to build confidence in the dog by showing him that he can be successful no matter where he is performing and no matter what conditions he is performing in. We don’t ask the dog to perform in situations where we think he will fail.
Though the goal is 100% success, mistakes will happen. We will inadvertently ask the dog to perform too much. If the dog fails, ignore it. Try again with lowered criteria or in a less challenging environment.
