DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Text by: David Harris
Video and Training by: Cindy Jacobs
Featured puppy: Gus von Prufenpuden
www.vonjacobs.com

To view day three click here:

In day three of our puppy vlog, Cindy is developing two new behaviors. By moving about and making the puppy follow her to get food she is building a foundation towards the come command. She moves away, then calls the puppy. Since the puppy is already moving towards her, the allows the puppy to associate the “Come” command with the behavior. This is one of the best ways to teach verbal commands. By association. Just like children learn words by association, puppies do as well. So, Cindy moves away and this encourages the puppy to follow, she gives the command to COME and the puppy learns by association what come means. In later, more advanced videos, we will demonstrate two additional exercises to build a super strong bond with you puppy as well as developing a strong recall (come) command.

The second behavior she is going to work on is Shake Hands. A very simple trick, but it has strong ramifications for your future training and is a good starter behavior. There is a more important purpose behind teaching behaviors such as shake and roll-over. That purpose is practice. By practicing these behaviors it gives you and your puppy more opportunities to learn how to communicate with one another. Your puppy is learning how to learn. You are learning how to communicate your intent. So, the more behaviors you can work on the more opportunities you will have to practice. As Cindy mentioned in Day Two of the Vlog, the puppies seem to build up steam and learn each new behavior faster than the behavior before. This is true because the puppy is learning how to learn, learning that what you doing affects them in someway and learning to communicate better with you. Each session and each new behavior learned will lead the puppy and you towards better communication with each other.

As you will learn through your puppy training experience, training is not something you do to a puppy, but rather it is something you do with a puppy. The process resembles a bio feedback loop. You do something, the puppy reacts, you adjust your stimulus based on the puppy’s reaction, then the puppy reacts again and you adjust again. Slowly, but surely like new dance partners you begin to develop a rhythm and flow in your training session. As you watch Cindy and Gus you will see this process in effect. She does something, he responds, she reacts, he response slightly different and on and on. As Cindy’s communication with Gus improves you will see that she becomes better at communicating her intentions to him. Her timing will improve and his understanding of what she wants will get better.

Enjoy day three of the vlog. Please feel free to ask questions.

David Harris

http://animalresortstc.com