Stay, Come & Follow

When you practice recalls, be sure to reward them when you grab their collar, and have them sit before you release them.

Leslie and Bebe have clearly spent a lot of time training together, and Bebe clearly loves being close to Leslie.  So much so, in fact, that Leslie doesn’t like to “Stay” when Leslie walks away.  This makes it all the more important to praise successful stays.

Training an inattentive dog takes lots of concentration.  Use energy and short, quick command sequences to keep them interested, and reign them in before you lose their attention.

Practicing “Come Here” & “Go To” is a great way to increase control for other family members.  After you give the “Go To” command, it’s important to be silent and still, so as not to distract the dog.

If you want to teach your dog to heel nicely, it’s best to start by luring your puppy to heel off leash.  Then you won’t be tempted to use your leash for physical control, and when you do introduce the leash, you won’t end up with a puller.

When you interrupt a puppy play session with a successful recall, you are challenging the pup with doggy distractions, and then giving hem a huge reward by telling them to go play again.

Challenge your dog to beat their longest stay.  Start with easy, short duration stays and build up slowly, practicing on whatever is most difficult for your dog.

The first step of a recall is the hardest, so practice that first step over and over again, with a string of single step recalls.

If you think your dog is going to break give them with an instructive reprimand that reminds them that they need to focus on you and what you’re doing.

Fine tuning your recalls and sits takes practice.  With a big dog you’ll want to extend your hand out to the dog to stop them before they come barreling into you.  Use big exaggerated hand signals to show your dog what you want.