Happy Tails

Until now we’ve covered 5 of the 10 exercises that Shooter needs to learn in order to earn his AKC Canine Good Citizen^® (CGC) certification.  If I haven’t mentioned it before, your dog doesn’t need to be a purebred or registered with the American Kennel Club to receive his CGC certificate.  The program is designed to encourage all dogs, purebred and mixed breeds alike, to become responsible members of their families and communities.  Evaluators are instructed to make the processes fun and rewarding for both the canine and human members of the team.  Most evaluators, including me, want dogs to pass and have a great time doing it.  The CGC is the basis for anything and everything you want to accomplish with your dog—even if you just want him to be a happy companion and couch potato!

Item #6 involves “sit and down on command”  and “staying in place.”  We’ve already covered “SIT” and “DOWN” so this part should be easy.  You can repeat the commands several times and the dog can take a “reasonable” (it’s up to the evaluator to decide what’s reasonable!) amount of time to respond.  Shooter just needs to show that he knows how to “SIT” and “DOWN.”

The next part is a little trickier and infinitely more important—sometimes a matter of life and death.  That’s “STAY!”  I can leave Shooter in either a sit or a down. I’ll attach a 20-foot line, tell him to “STAY” and then walk to the end of the line.  Shooter can change positions, but he must stay in place until he’s called, which is Item #7.

Begin teaching “STAY” in tiny, tiny increments.  Shooter needs to understand the concept and have success before he’s asked to stay for any length of time or with ANY distractions.  Start with him sitting next to you.  Say “STAY” and put your open palm right in front of his nose.  Dogs are very cued into hand signals and body language.  If he stays for 1 second release and praise him with hands-on affection—even a belly rub.  Then do it again—maybe for 2 seconds this time.  I’m not exaggerating—just a few seconds at a time in the beginning.  If he moves, gently put him back into position and repeat the command.  Don’t get angry, he has no idea what he’s doing to get your praise at this point.  Just keep it happy and keep pushing him to remain in place for a few more seconds each time.  Eventually, Shooter will be able to sit still for 5 minutes at a time, but that won’t happen overnight or even in a month.  Every dog is different and some will catch onto the game right away, while others need more time for the lesson to soak in.

Don’t get frustrated or give up.  Just imagine how this skill could save Shooter’s life.  Think about being able to tell him to “STAY” in order to avoid being hit by an oncoming car!

Once you’re doing pretty well with Shooter sitting next to you, tell him to “STAY” and step right in front of him—your toes to his toes—close!  If he moves, go back beside him and start again. Don’t forget to talk to him and tell him what a good job he’s doing when he’s not moving.  This can be a boring exercise for an active dog and you need to make it worth his while.  When he’s able to stay put with you in front, try stepping to the right or left—still staying very close.  When you’re successful at that stage you can begin upping the ante.  Move further away and try walking all the way around him.  Ask him to stay while another person walks by.  Gradually add as many interesting distractions as you can come up with.  This is called “proofing” and is only done when you’re absolutely positive that Shooter understands what you want.  He’ll make mistakes, so expect them and don’t get excited.  Just put him back into position and start over.

The biggest hint I can give you in teaching a dog to stay is to master the “WATCH ME” OR “LOOK, LOOK”  exercise.  This is where we taught Shooter to look directly into your eyes.  If you can get him to look at you through the training of STAY, you’ll have a much easier time than if his attention is on everything else around him.  Not looking at you during this exercise is an avoidance behavior and makes life a lot more difficult.

Teaching Shooter to “STAY” is so critical that I’ve run out of space for a trick this week, but I promise to have a good one next time.  Until then, make sure those tails are happy and let me know how you’re doing.