Dog Gone Problems – First Session Summary

We created this page to help you remember all the things we covered in your first in home session with us.

After working with thousands of dogs with all kinds of behavior and training needs, we’ve found that many people make common mistakes with their dogs. To make sure that isnt the case with you, we cover a number of core fundamentals in our first session and this page is a summary of those things.

Now each dog and session is unique so while this summary is usually comprehensive for the first session. In some sessions, we have time to get working on one of the specific issues your dog has at the end of the session. If that was the case in your first session, that will not be included here. If you have questions on any lesson, technique or exercise that we covered, be sure to ask your Trainer or Behavior Specialist when they come back for your second session.

Below are links and videos that explain the core lessons from your first session in greater detail.

Marker Words

One of the first things we always cover with our clients is the marker word. A marker word is the fundamental that all modern positive dog training is built upon. This video explains how marker words are introduced and used.

It’s crucially important that you remember to walk around your home loading the marker in the first 2 days after your session.

Loading the marker is super easy, simply say the word in a normal tone of voice and then pop a treat in your dog’s mouth within two seconds. Remember your dog does not have to do anything for this exercise other than eat the treat. Say the word, then give the treat. Make sure they are 2 separate actions.

We recommend walking around your home, loading the word a couple of times in each room and in the hallways between them if there’s a lot of distance there. Usually we load the marker with 12 to 25 treats each loading exercise depending on the size of your home. Don’t worry about doing this outside, just focus on doing it in each room.

You only need to do this loading exercise 4-6 times with around 20 treats each time. You know you are done with this exercise when your dog snaps around to give you attention when you say your marker word once.

If we covered using a clicker in your session, the process is the same, albeit with a clicker instead of saying yes. The click sound and yes are considered the same.

We dont always need to use a clicker with our cleints, so if we didnt go over using a clicker in your session, not to worry.

Hand Targeting

To help our clients perfect the timing of using the marker word, we usually show them how to use a hand targeting exercise. This exercise was developed to help us move animals around without having to physically push or pull them. Just like humans, dogs dont like being pushed or pulled.

Make sure that you are saying your marker the instant the dog touches its nose to your hand, not when you deliver the treat (that is the most common mistake people make with hand targeting)./ If you need a refresher on the hand to targeting exercise, check out this video.

Other applications for this exercise are when you are fading the lure (transitioning from rewarding your dog with a treat to a pet), which we will go over in your second session. You can also use Hand Targeting to identify if your dog is comfortable with someone (if they refuse to touch the person’s hand, they’re saying “no”), and targeting can also be a great alternative recall (come).

As you practice, you should be able to start asking your dog to move to your hand from further and further away. By your next session, we would like you to have your dog be able to run from across the room to touch their nose to your hand, on cue.

Introducing the Cue

Speaking of dog command cues, we often use the hand targeting exercise to help people understand how and when to introduce a new cue word. This article breaks it down in more detail, but a qucik summary is listed below.

There are four parts to a dog cue;

1. The queue; for example, the word “sit”
2. The action; for example, a dog sitting down
3. The marker; for example the word “yes”  communicates to the the dog that they were successful
4. The reward; a pet, treat or attention

However, when we introduce a cue for a dog, we usually do the first step last; the cue

The best way to do this is to silently lure the dog into the position, then say your marker word when the dog does the action. Keep luring your dog into position this way without giving a cue until it is easy for you to lure your dog into position right away on their first attempt.

The beauty of the marker word as we only say it when the dog is successful, so you should be 100% accurate.

In your second session, we will go over how to transition from using a treat each time to get your dog to do the action. We call this fading the lure. You dont want to start trying to fade the lure until your dog has practiced enough so the action is easy. So practice the exercises we covered in this first session daily.

Our practice recommendation is 3 times a day for each exercise in shoirt 1-3 minute practice sessions. Shoot for breakfast time, lunch and dinner. Always end on a successful repetition as that is the memory your dog will draw on the most.

The last core fundamental we usually cover in our initial session is a sneaky easy way to train your dog. Its also a wonderful way to teach your dog polite manners. Its something we call….

Celebrating

One of the most common mistakes that people make with their dog is giving attention when the dog offers unwanted behaviors (barking, chewing, getting inot the trash, etc). Anything your dog is doing right before you give them attention is what you are rewarding them for. And dogs dont see a difference between good attention and chewing them out.

So telling your dog no for jumping, digging, getting in the trash, barking, etc. is only going to cause your dog to do it again. And again, and again.

The way we help our clients get out of this habit is to celebrate your dog’s desired behaviors. This is the absolute easiest way to train any dog, but only if you celebate often and regularily.

If you need a refresher on how the celebrate game works and how to do it yourself, check out the free positive dog training video below.

We have had a number of clients disregard this easy positive dog training exercise because it is so simple. But being easy is the beauty of it. Please dont disregard because it seems easy. This is a POWERFUL lesson.

Its important to note that it takes humans and dogs roughly the same amount of time to form a habit, 66 days. That’s almost 3 months.

To help our puppy parents remember to Celebrate in puppy class, we will point them and say “celebrate!” anytime we see their puppy sit, lay down, go to the dog bed, give them eye contact or walk towards their human.

When the puppy parent hears us say “celebrate,” they need to immediately say their marker word, then pet their puppy under their chin. Remember you only have about 3 seconds for a dog to make the connection. So it’s important that if your family member, roommate or friend tells you to celebrate, you should immediately say your marker word and then give your dog a pet under their chin.

This will help you and your housemates get into a habit of marking and rewarding desired behaviors.

We aren’t kidding when we say that there are thousands of puppies who have graduated from our puppy school who will walk up to a new person and sit down to ask for a pet. If the person does not start petting them, the puppy will resit, and resit and resit until they get attention. They do this because that action (sitting, laying down, coming) is what get them attention at home.

Out of all of the lessons and dog training tips that I have shared with the thousands of clients I have worked with, this is the most powerful lesson, but only if you get into a habit of doing it.

But if you celebrate on a regular basis, a beautiful thing happens. You won’t even realize that you’re celebrating when you do it. It becomes a habit, an automatic response.

Once that happens, just about every time that you pet your dog, it becomes a micro dog training session that increases your dogs respect for you as a leader, helps your dog practice basic obedience, increases your dogs confidence And teaches your dog manners.

Celebrating is truly the gift that keeps on giving – but only if you get into a habit of doing it.

Depending on how quickly we were able to go through the previously mentioned lessons, we sometimes go through another exercise. That is usually specific for each dog, so we wont summarize it here. If you did cover another lesson and you have questions or issues with it, let your trainer know at your next session.

Homework

Dog training is very much a number’s game. The more often you practice successfully, the better your results.

We recommend you practice these exercises (except loading the marker) in short, 1-3 minute practice sessions, 3 or more times each day. A good guide is breakfast, lunch and dinner times.

Dogs can only practice successfully for a few minutes before they need to take a break to allow it to go into their long term memory. So keep your practice sessions short and ALWAYS end on a successful repetition.

If you have difficutly or questions on any of these exercises, let us know at your next session.