The Down Low

This guy now knows; Sit, shake(hands), hug, off (still when he chooses) and this week is dedicated to the "down" ... and getting control of his marking, oh my goodness the marking!

This week a new boy dog came in and he's upset the balance a bit. Toad's marking has increased 10 fold. Sorry buddy, but your Momma runs a shelter, new dogs are what your life is now about!. He's doing pretty good at meeting (none are face to face until he has more training) Toad needs words like Off or No or Leave It, in order for me to be more comfortable... without the words he simply cannot understand my expectations and that will be frustrating for both of us. I do not want him to equate new dogs with frustration.

Back to "Down". Toad now understand the clicker and he is engaged in figuring out how to make it "click". Dogs when learning a new command/trick will offer behaviors. Slowly with the help of the click/marker they eliminate some steps. So when I was luring him into a down position, he would offer his "sit" which had worked in the past, then shake then head butt then hugs (which knocked me from my crouched position to flat on my butt more then once). He is definitely learning to learn. He now understands that I'm trying to communicate with him and that certain sounds indicate a request for him to do certain tasks.

The Mechanics of it; From  the dog in a sit position and you crouched in front, with food in your hand, slowly move the food from the dog's chin to chest to floor. Too close to you and the dog will stand up, too far back and the dog will back up... find the sweet spot and repeat!

I think I should mention that I don't work on one thing at a time, currently I'm teaching him the dremel, paw handling, catch, back up, leave it etc.... as he hangs with me, and phrases get repeated/rewarded, he continues to learn. Remember he is at the same stage as puppy. Words like sit or down are very specific and taught

There is a momentum that grows when you train a dog, Toad is gaining that now. Last week he got the clicker and sit came so fast that I added "shake" This week he's caught onto "down" already and I'm at the proofing stage where we are working it into his day (he's actually offering this behavior at the breakfast table as well, so he knows it's reward worthy ).  I ask both verbally and with hand signals, or either... mix it up. I ask him for a down when we are on the sofa, when I'm sitting, crouching, standing. He is doing it so consistently that we have added  "roll (over)" He is performing it successfully, but certainly doesn't have it mastered yet! We may have one that takes him a few days.

In the meantime, he's mouthing (from frustration), sitting, downing, shaking and hugging me trying to work out what this new sound means. Roll Over, I am confident is not a command anyone attempted to teach him, It's interesting to see him with a completely new situation.

We are having training moments for sure. He knows, specifically, not to touch the coffee if it's on the stand beside the sofa, but if I have it on the coffee table, it's a new day! Tea on the stand is fair game... he's detail oriented, and rarely wrong once he knows/understand the situation. Sometimes I'm catching up to him, sometimes he follows my lead.... okay rarely.