Monday, June 13, 2011

How I'm Training Ami

Ami is getting better and better in her training, and is having a blast learning! I have been taking her to a dog 4-H class where she is learning how to heel, wait, stand for exam, leave it, quiet, and stay. She is great at heel, leave it, and quiet, but is having a bit of trouble with stay, wait and stand for exam.
Heel is where the dog has to stay by your left side and not walk in front or away from you. Heel is achieved by putting a choke chain on your dog and pulling back on the leash and saying heel when it walks ahead or away from you. Your dog should sit beside you when you stop, and don't forget the treats! Treats make it funner for the dog and helps it learn faster. After a couple weeks (more or less) of practice the dog should have it down pat.
Stand for exam is pretty tricky, you have to get your dog to stand, stay when you walk away, and not move when the judge (stranger!) comes and touches the dog. Not easy with a dog that's scared of strangers, especially when it's master isn't right there. First you have to train your dog to stand by saying "stand", making your dog stand and, of course giving it a treat. After that, you teach it to stay while standing by having it stand, telling it to "stay", then standing right in front of it for a little while and giving it a treat. You can then gradually stand farther and farther away from your dog until you can walk away with it still standing.
Stay is where the dog has to sit, lay down, or stand and stay there for a minute. First teach your dog to sit, lay down, or stand before teaching it to stay. This helps your dog understand what you want it to do, and helps you train your dog. After your dog knows what to do, you can start teaching it to stay. With the leash on the dog, have it sit, lay down, etc, tell it to stay and quickly stand in front of the dog. Gradually stand farther and farther away from the dog, don't let it break and walk away. As soon as you see you dog starting to move go to its side and tell it "free", giving it a treat afterwards.
Wait is where the dog has to sit, lay down, or stand and come sit in front of you when called, after that it has to go back to heel position. Tell your dog to wait once it's sitting, giving it the same sign you used for stay. Walk away and wait a second before you call your dog. When you call your dog you should have it come and sit right in front of you while facing you. After it has that down, tell it to go back to heeling position by saying "finish". The dog should go behind you, back to heel position, and sit. Give it a treat when it's finished.
Leave it is one of the easier things to do, you simply get the dog to leave something alone while saying "leave it" until they know what it means.
Quiet is fairly easy to get your dog to do. You tell your dog to be "quiet", if they don't you hold their muzzle for a couple seconds until they get your point. After some practice, the dog should be quiet when told.