Kay9 Beginners Life Skills - Homework

Here is a breakdown of all the exercises for each week of your course, for you to practice at home

WEEK ONE

Exercises

ANCHOR MAT

ANCHOR MAT PART TWO

LURING WITH FOOD

EXTENDED ARM WATCH

(FOR 5 SECONDS)

VERBAL COMMANDS, sit, stand and down.

CLEANLINESS & ID

THE WAITERS HAND

Description

To create a positive association with the mat, we ensure that only 'nice' happen on this mat. Therefore, we give the dog a Kong, which also helps them to learn to ignore their surroundings and entertain themselves. It is important that whilst your puppy is enjoying the Kong or simply relaxing on the mat, that you don't interact with them. ie don't speak, look or touch them. This is to encourage them to learn to entertain themselves and not become needy of your attention all the time. They need to learn to 'be their own dog'.

To remove the Kong's we always SWAP it for a few treats, put onto the mat for the dog to eat. This helps the dog learn that hands give nice things to me instead of they take things I have of value. Then start to put one treat on mat bed until the dog eats them and gives looks up at you, giving eye contact. Once eye contact starts, the dog must be given treats into the MOUTH in order to maintain eye contact and not the mat.

Puppies have a mouth full of needles that can be very painful, so it is important that your pup learns to take food from your fingers softly, slowly and gently without using its teeth. So we learn to lure the dog into positions, by holding food in our fingertips, but as soon as we need to give the food to the puppy, we hold the food in an open hand as if feeding a horse. W with a flat hand, the puppy will learn to take the food with lips and tongue instead of teeth,

Now that your dog is able to look at you when you say the word watch, we now need to teach the dog to ignore the food in your hand and look at your face as it is that which earns the treat.

Sit in a chair with your dog in front of you and let your dog know you have treats. Hold a treat in your hand and with a straight arm, extend your arm out to the side of you. The dog will follow the treat and look at your hand. If he jumps towards the hand, raise it slightly out of reach and then do now move it.

Wait for the dog to think about what it should now do. During this process, your dog will look at you. When it does say 'watch' and give them the treat in your extended arm. Repeat and repeat!

SIT: As soon as the pups bottom hits the floor, say sit and release the treat.

STAND: Place the treat on the dogs nose and bring slowly forward. Say Stand as soon as the back legs have straightened out, but do NOT allow the pup to take any steps with the front paws. Hold the treat hand absolutely still.

DOWN: As soon as the pups chest hits the floor, say Down and release the treat.

DO NOT say ANY commands, before the dog is in position. Say it as the dog ARRIVES in position.

Your dog must be clean and groomed and also have the correct Identification by law.

Family Name, Door number, post code, mobile and land line numbers.

If we pull the dog around by the lead, the dog can quickly learn to dislike the lead. So it is important for us to get into good habits and NOT pull on the lead at any time. It is also far better for the dogs neck!

Place a treat in your hand and keeping the hand as flat as possible (put your thumb on the treat to stop it from falling off the palm), lower the hand with the palm facing the dog so that it is the same height as the dogs nose from the ground. When the dogs comes to the hand, make a sweeping gesture (similar to a waiter showing you to the table) with your hand, which will make the dog move from one position to another.

This is a great habit to get into, when you want your dog to move from one place to another, without using the lead.

Download a printable copy of Week One HERE

WEEK TWO

Exercise

BASIC POSITIONS

Naming

Commands + Timing

DEALING WITH SCARY THINGS

THE FRONT DOOR BELL

FOOD MANNERS

ASKING CONSENT TO TOUCH

DROP!

STAY (for 4 seconds)

Description

SIT: As soon as the pups bottom hits the floor, say sit and release the treat.

STAND: Place the treat on the dogs nose and bring slowly forward. Say Stand as soon as the back legs have straightened out, but do NOT allow the pup to take any steps with the front paws. Hold the treat hand absolutely still.

DOWN: As soon as the pups chest hits the floor, say Down and release the treat.

DO NOT say ANY commands, before the dog is in position.

It is very important that you learn how to help your puppy cope with things that may frighten them. If you notice your puppy showing any signs of fear, instantly either get out your treats and start pairing up the scary thing with food. If you do not have food available, use your calming voice and gently stroke the puppy to sooth it and help it cope as well as bring it out of that initial fear freeze.

When the door bell rings in most households, the whole family usually erupt into a frenzied bout of shouting out 'Ill get it' etc. This is when most dogs learn to instantly react to the door bell, running to the door, barking etc, Try to remain calm as soon as the door bell rings, to avoid it becoming a trigger to reactive door behaviours. The whole family should stop what they're doing and stand still. Start to count in your head, for 5 seconds and then calmly get up and go to the door quietly. Now the dog learns that it is a quiet activity, not one to get excited about.

Puppies have very sharp teeth, so it is advisable to teach food manners as quickly as possible. Hold a treat in your hand and when the dogs moves towards the treat, close your hand making a fist. Do not move the hand out of position, keep it still, just closed. As the puppy moves away from the fist, open the hand and take the treat forward towards the puppy and give the treat to the puppy. Stay silent at this point and repeat.

Everyone has a right to say no. Therefore it is good for your relationship building with your puppy to ask consent, to ask the puppy 'would you like to be touched'? To do this, simply offer the back of your hand towards the side of the puppy, about a foot away. If the puppy moves towards the hand and starts to interact with it (rubbing itself on it or licking it) that is a clear yes! If puppy doesn't approach the hand or backs away from it, that's a clear No! Puppy should not be touched at all if the answer was no, Otherwise he learns not to trust you because you don't keep to your word!

Puppies like to put things in their mouth, even things they shouldn't! So it is wise to teach a command for them to learn to drop things from their mouth quickly without conflict. So we teach the puppy that 'Drop' means something exciting is about to happen on the floor, next to our finger!

Place a piece of food on the floor and put your finger on the floor next to it. When the puppy arrives to eat the treat, say 'Drop' and repeat, always putting a treat in a different position each time. After about 10 trials, put your finger to the floor, then once the puppy arrives, the treat and say 'Drop'.

It is important to always remember to keep the distance you move away from the dog very short and also the duration you are away from the dog very short, to begin with. We can build on this at a later date, but only if we keep things short and simple to start with.

The hand signal for Stay, is a flat hand, closed fingers together and palm facing the dog. Ask the dog to sit and immediately, hide the hand holding the treats behind the Stay hand signal and rock backwards quickly, returning before the dog moves out of position and treat the dog.

Now repeat, rocking to the left, return and treat the dog. Now repeat rocking to the right and return to treat the dog.

Download a printable copy of Week Two HERE

Don't forget to practice Week one exercises!

WEEK THREE

Exercise

STAY (for 8 seconds)

WAIT

GROOMING & INSPECTION

GENERAL HUSBANDRY

FOOD MANNERS (foundation for leave)

HEEL-WORK

Description

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When the lead goes tight, stand still and wait for either the lead to loosen, the pup to turn/look at you. Be ready with a treat to reward this! Encourage loose lead walking!

Download a printable copy of Week Three HERE

Don't forget to practice Week one and two exercises!

WEEK FOUR

Exercise

STAY

WAIT

GROOMING & INSPECTION

LEAVE

TAKING A TOY AWAY - OUT

Description

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Place a treat on the floor and cover it with your hand. Your puppy will come to investigate and try to get at the food. Say nothing during this process. When the pup stops trying to get at it, produce the treat from the other hand and give it to the pup and at the same time, say ‘Leave, good leave’. You must aim for the food NOT to be

covered with your hand for at least 5 seconds.

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