TEACHING YOUR DOG
TO SETTLE DOWN, SIT, FIND & DOWN
These come from Katie Patmore, Millhouses Dog Training,
39 Bannercross Rd, Sheffield, S11 9HQ. 0114 2962271. Classes and
problem dog behaviour counselling. She is a very special person, lovely
to both humans and dogs.
HOW TO TEACH SETTLE DOWN
This is one of the most useful exercises your dog will ever learn. It will
teach your dog to settle down whenever you want him to. It is not a stay
exercise.
1. Practise this every day, once or more times if you want to.
2. Start at home at a time your dog is likely to settle, ie after
a meal or a walk. Make is as easy as you can for yourself and your dog.
This may be the first time he has been ignored, so this exercise is not
without some stress for some dogs. Usually this will be of short duration
3. Either put your foot on the lead or tie it to a chair you are
sitting on. You are going to stay with your dog at least until he is used
to this exercise.
4. Your dog is to be given NO commands whatsoever. Silence. No responses
whatever he is doing. Do not tell him to settle or lie down, or stay. This
is because he might then get up and down like a yo-yo just to hear your
voice and have you communicate with him.
5. Most dogs settle quite quickly, but be patient. If your dog wants
to stand for the duration of the exercise then that is his problem, not
yours. Most, however, settle down fairly quickly. If the dog chews the lead
during a settle, spray the lead with bitter apple.
6. Your dog must not be released until he is settled; but that does
not mean he should be release every time he is settled. He should think
to himself: I am only released when I am settled but not every time I am
settled.
7. When the time comes to release him (after 20-60 minutes) he must
know that he is being released. So donıt just release him, hoping he will
stay where he is. He needs to know that the exercise has finished, so that
he does not keep trying to see if he can wander around. Give him praise
and a release command.
8. Gradually increase the distractions, so that eventually you can
do this exercise with friends around, in the pub, in the vetıs surgery,
in fact anywhere where you want him to settle quietly.
9. Never use this as a punishment. It is a guiding exercise, to guide
him into good behaviour.
HOW TO TEACH "SIT"
Choose a good food treat. Stand facing your dog and show the treat. Move
your hand and the treat over her head towards her tail. Her head will follow
the treat and her bottom will hit the ground. At exactly this moment say
"Sit" And give the treat and praise lavishly. There is no need to press
her bottom down to the floor. If you move the treat correctly, she will
do it of her own accord.
Always use the same command word "Sit" on its own with no added words. Make
sure all the family stick to the same single word. Do not teach anything
else until this is part of her repertoire.
Practice this not just at home but in the park, and elsewhere so that she
does it in all circumstances. Once she is really good at it, you don't have
to reward her with food every single time but you must continue to reward
her with food every now and again so that she stays motivated to obey.
For this bit of behaviour it is best to use the word "Flat" rather than the words "Down". The word "Down" is often used in other contexts - like telling a dog to "get down" from a chair - and this makes it more confusing to a dog. So use the word "Flat" and make sure all the family know this.
When the dog has begun to learn to sit, show him the treat while he is sitting. Then move your hand to ground level, saying "Flat". His head and body will start following the treat. Move the treat forwards along the ground so that to get it he has to lie down. As soon as he is in the right position, give the treat and praise lavishly.
Always use the same command word "Flat" on its own without any added words and make sure the family all use the same single word. Do not teach anything else till this is part of his repertoire.
Practice this not just at home but in the park, and elsewhere so that he does it in all circumstances. Once he is really good at it, you don't have to reward him with food every single time but you must continue to reward him with food every now and again so that he stays motivated to obey.
HOW TO TEACH FIND
Teaching your dog to find, while out walking, is to gives it the chance to express its hunting and foraging instincts. This will make walks more exciting and does not require difficult training. We can't give them a caribou in the garden, but we can give them a hunting experience.
1. Hold your dog's collar and throw a titbit three or four yards ahead
on grass.
2. Let him mark the spot with his eyes.
3. Let go of his collar with the command "Find" or "Seek",
showing with a sweep of your arm, the direction of the titbit. He will
have seen where it went, but you are going to need that arm indication
as you make it more challenging for him.
4. Don't keep burbling to him. Only give him verbal encouragement if
he has lost the plot and forgotten what he is meant to be doing.
5. Once he has found and eaten the titbit, call him back for a much smaller
and less tasty titbit. This is to teach him that once he has found the
thrown treat, there is nothing else there for him. He has gone out to
do something specific, not to have a general sniff of the area.
6. Repeat this three, four and five times, perhaps in different places.
7. Once he has got the hang of it, start to make it more challenging for
him, by turning him round after he has marked the spot so that he looses
sight of it for a second or two.
8. Gradually increase the difficulty. Throw it further, or even across
a stream, and distract him before he goes in search.
General rules for "Find"
1. it is best to start on a relatively still day, or make sure the wind
is blowing the scent towards you both, so that he is able to pick up the
scent easily.
2. The titbit must be large enough to crunch, so that you will know if
he has found it before you call him back.
3. Weight gain!! Use part of his daily food allowance, or, if on a walk
you have done several "Finds", then cut down the food he has
at his next meal.
4. He must find something - to motivate him. In normal life not every
hunt ends in a kill, nor every foraging expedition in a full stomach,
but in the wild dogs would get hungrier and try harder. Your domestic
dog does not get hungrier each time so needs more motivation.
5. The idea of making the "Find" harder is to make him have
to search really hard. The searching is a major source of pleasure for
your dog.