1. I want my dog to stop jumping on people. Excellent! Put your dog on leash anytime you will encounter other people, whether it's at the front door, out on walks, or around your house Stand on your dog's leash so that they can only sit or stand in place when approached and then have people approach your dog. Start with quiet people approaching and work up to giggly, bouncy, squealy people approaching your dog. Yes, you can practice this! For 5 minutes every day, set your dog up with the leash on to do these controlled greetings. Have treats and reward your dog for sitting or standing in place (wiggling is okay!) for greetings. Over time, you will challenge your dog more by loosening the leash and moving up to no leash at all for greetings in and around your house.
2. I want my dog not to beg at the table and in the kitchen. Absolutely! Decide where it is you want your dog to be when you are eating at the table and/or working in the kitchen. Most dogs prefer to be able to see their people, so set up your crate, x-pen, etc. at a distance that work for you to easily remove them from your table and/or kitchen area. Get a rug or mat and place that where you would ultimately like your dog to be while you are eating or doing food prep. Put some treats in your pocket. As your dog follows you into the kitchen, walk them over to the mat, have them sit or down, and ask them to stay. Go back to your food preparations. If they start to get up, mark it verbally, "Nuh uh. Get back on your mat." If they return to the mat, walk over and give them a treat. You can repeat stay. If they don't return to the mat, walk them to their crate or x-pen and leave them there for 2 minutes or longer if they fuss. Bring them back out and try again. For meals at the table, park your dog on their mat before you sit down to eat. Tell them to stay and give them something to do there while you eat (a bone, a Kong, etc.). If they finish their treat or leave it behind to come beg at the table, verbally mark the behavior, "Nuh uh. Back on your mat." If they return to the mat, they can stay in the room. If they balk at staying on their mat, it's back to the crate or x-pen for the rest of your meal. This will not make the crate or x-pen a negative thing; it will, however, make you dog want to learn self-control and stay on that mat so that they don't miss out on food prep and meal time observances, and those occasional treats from your pocket!
3. I want my dog to drop the ball/toy when we are playing. Sounds reasonable! Start with two balls or toys and a bag of treats. Hand your dog a ball or toy, but don't give it to them completely. With their mouth and your hand on the toy, happily say "Drop it!" and put a little tug/pressure on the toy as you hand them a treat. They will (obviously) need to let go of the ball/toy to get the treat. Do this repeatedly until your dog is happily dropping the toy/ball for a treat. Practice the same exercise with several different toys so that you know it will work no matter what toy you are playing with. Now, add in that second toy or ball to the game. When your dog drops the first one, don't give a treat, but immediately toss the second toy. Now, the second toy getting tossed quickly after dropping the first one itself becomes the reward!
4. I want my dog to heel on walks. Then you need to be willing to work toward this goal! Start by walking your dog, without a leash, around your house. Hold treats in a closed hand down at your side and right in front of your dog's nose. You can say "Heel" as you walk around. If your dog jumps at your hand, lower it. If your dog goes in front of you, lure them back to your side. Once you can easily do this indoors without a leash, move to your yard and do the exercises again without a leash. Once you can do this, you are ready to do the exercises with a leash on both in the house and in your yard. You can expect your dog to pull when the leash is put on them as that's something they've been doing all along! Use high value treats in your closed hand and do it the same way you did when they weren't on leash. Don't yank on the leash; use your voice and the treats to encourage your dog to stay at your side. Once you can do this in your home and yard, move to doing the heel exercise as part of your walks. Do not make it the goal of your whole walk though! Loose leash walking, exploring, and sniffing are what a dog's walk should really be about; use the heel when walking in busy, populated areas and when maneuvering around tight spaces.
5. I want my dog to come every time I call. Definitely! First step is to remind your dog that coming to you when called is rewarding. Even if it takes your dog the whole 5 minutes to come to you, you need to reward them! Start inside your house and work up to outdoors. Don't hesitate to put them on a long leash so you have a way to encourage coming when called. Always praise and treat when then get to you. Turn coming to you when called into a game. Have your dog sit for you and then toss a treat away from you. As soon as they pick it up, say their name and call them to you. When they get there, say "Yes!" and toss another treat. Now your dog sees that coming to you doesn't end the fun...the fun has just begun! If you feel that your dog has made negative associations with the world "come," then change what you say. Teach them to touch your hand instead, tap your foot, etc. Try whistling or clapping to get their attention before you try to call them. And remember, if they are barking at squirrels, chasing the neighbor's cat, playing with their dog friends, etc., then don't bother calling them. Go to your dog and collect them instead.
Hope this gives you some ideas on training exercises to do with your dogs for 5 minutes every day. If your dog can breeze through these exercises, then do 5 minutes of trick training instead. And even if they aren't perfect on everything, add in some trick training to break up the routine and add some levity. Always praise your dog for their efforts and don't forget to stock up on their favorite treats.
As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.
Ozzie practicing his stay with distractions on a hike this summer! Incorporating training exercises into trail walks, trips to the beach, and walks around town are critical to context proofing, that is teaching your dog how you want them to behave regardless of location or what's going on around them.
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