Week 1 (1) Name/Attention, (2) Lured Sit, (3) Lured Down, (4) Leave It (5) Send to Place, (6) Circle Place, (7) Long Place (8) Relax for Exam,

NOTE 1:  YOUR TRAINING SESSIONS FOR THE FIRST 6 EXERCISES IN TOTAL SHOULD BE 5-10 MINUTES IN TOTAL.   A TRAINING SESSION COULD EVEN BE LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.   YOU WANT TO GET TWO OR THREE TRAINING SESSIONS IN A DAY. 

NOTE 2:  IF YOU DON'T GET TO AN EXERCISE ON A DAY, JUST BE SURE TO DO THAT EXERCISE THE NEXT DAY.

NOTE 3:  ALL EXERCISES SHOULD BE DONE ON LEASH AND IN VERY LOW DISTRACTION AREAS IN THE FIRST WEEK.

NOTE 4:  YOU CAN WORK THESE EXERCISES ALONE EACH, OR YOU CAN ROTATE THROUGH THESE EXERCISES (EXCEPT THE PLACE EXERCISES SINCE THEY ARE NOT LURED AT THIS POINT).  I SOMETIMES ROTATE THROUGH THE EXERCISES SO THAT THE PUPPY DOES NOT GET BORED.

NOTE 5:  IF YOU ARE DOING THE EXERCISES INDIVIDUALLY, WE ARE WORKING SO THAT YOU START TO GET 4 IN A ROW WITHOUT MUCH EFFORT.

NOTE 6:  IF YOU GET 3 SETS OF 4 IN A ROW OF ANY EXERCISES, THEN YOU CAN END THE SESSION FOR THAT EXERCISE THEN.

EXERCISE 1  Their Name Meaning Attention to You in Distractions:

NOTE:  THE FIRST FOUR EXERCISES CAN BE DONE IN A LURING SESSION BY ROTATING THEM.  IF YOU ARE HAVING TROUBLE WITH ONE, YOU CAN SEPARATE THAT OUT FOR ANOTHER SESSION LATER.

STEP 1:  Your puppy should be on their 6' lead and a collar (or slip lead).
STEP 2:   Be sure you are prepared with kibble in your hand  BEFORE giving a command.
STEP 3:  Say your puppy's name.
STEP 4A:   Immediately upon your dog looking into your face (and not glancing immediately away), say your release word "yes" and deliver the food reward as you release them.
STEP 4B:   If they do not look to you, first try calling their name again.   Give them a few seconds in between so you aren't just rapidly firing off their name.   If they are just really enamored of something other than you, you could try to gently tug on their leash and see if they will turn.   You could also try to make a silly noise after you say their name.   Usually, though, once they know what the deal is with the food reward, it does not take more than three times to get them to look at you.
STEP 5:   You can either repeat this exercise from STEP 1 or start doing one of the other lured exercises.

EXERCISE 2  Lured Sit: (remember we don't say the command sit at this point until their bum hits the ground and their two front feet are also on the ground)

NOTE:  WE ARE DOING THIS ONE MORE WHEN HE GOES DOWN TO GET HIM BACK INTO THE SITTING POSITION.  SO HOLD THE TREAT SLIGHTLY ABOVE HIS NOSE TO GET HIM INTO A SIT FROM DOWN.

STEP 1:  Take the treat and hold it right up to their nose (do not snatch it away if they jump or keep it far from their nose).
STEP 2:  Then you move the treat past their head and over their rump area.    Make sure they follow your hand and that you do not move it too quickly.
STEP 3:   Once their bum is on the floor and their two front feet are also on the floor, give them the food reward and say "sit".



EXERCISE 3  Lured Down:

STEP 1:  Start your puppy off in the sit position.
STEP 2: Holding the treat in front of their nose, move your hand down to the floor (slowly make sure the nose is following, and then on the ground away from her).   If it does not work the first time, you can just set your puppy up and begin again.   Remember to move the treat slowly and near your puppy's nose.   
STEP 3:   Once the puppy is in a down position, give them the food reward as you say down.

EXERCISE 4 Leave It:

STEP 1:  First, have your puppy on their slip leash so they do not wander off. 

STEP 2: Take a food reward and put it in your closed fist. 

STEP 3:  Present your fist to the dog, but not all the way up to their nose. 

STEP 4: Say “leave it”.  If they are at your hand already, do not snatch your hand away.  Snatching your hand away ends up having the dog go after your hand in an unpleasant way later on. 

STEP 5A: If they leave your hand alone, say the release word, “Yes”, as you open your hand for the dog to take the food reward. (Later on, you can practice with the food in your open palm. You would close your hand if they go towards your hand and the food)

STEP 5B:  If they are licking, gnawing, or pawing your hand or in any way trying to get the treat, wait it out until they back off and stay off.   When they do that, say the release word, “Yes”, and open your hand to give them the food reward. 

STEP 6: Repeat

EXERCISE 5 Send to Place :

THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE PLACE (STEP 1):

NOTE THIS INTRO TO PLACE ONLY NEEDS TO BE DONE ONCE PER NEW PLACE AND OR NEW ENVIRONMENT.

STEP 1:   Position your place equipment in the middle of the room.
STEP 2:  Start walking your dog around the room.
STEP 3:   Walk with your dog over the place area.   When all four paws are in place, say "place".
STEP 4:   Repeat step three from every angle of the place mat or bed (remember, dogs can totally interpret something as "just from this direction", so help them to learn to generalize the command by doing this).
STEP 5:  After several (15 or so) repeats of this, stop short of the mat, and see if the dog is ready to step on themselves.  

SEND TO PLACE (STEP 2):

STEP 1:  You still have a leash and collar on your dog.   The place (board, mat, dog bed) item is in the middle of the room so you can walk around it, and use all sides to place your dog (so that they do not generalize).
STEP 2:   Now, as you approach the place, from a couple of steps away from the border of the "place item", extend your arm and point as you say "place" before the dog walks onto the place (different than before, as you were saying place as you walked over with your dog, and only when the four paws were on the mat).
STEP 3:  If your dog does not make it onto the place themselves, use the collar lead and your body language (i.e., nudge into the direction) to help your dog to the place mat.   Be sure once there, that all four of their paws are on it.   If paws are sticking out beyond the border, just place your feet near them.   If they try to walk off and you catch them early, you can normally just move towards them quickly, and they will walk back onto the place area. 

STEP 4:  I do this until I can get three sets of four sends in a row that don't need prompting or correction.   Once this has started, it usually takes 5-7 minutes.  Later, I use it as a warm-up for Circle Place.

NOTE:  I LIKE TO GET THREE SETS OF FOUR IN A ROW.  WHEN I TALK ABOUT 4 IN A ROW, I MEAN GOOD STEP ONS WHERE I DON'T NEED TO ENCOURAGE, BODY BUMP, OR GIVE A LEASH TUG FOR ANY OF THEM.

EXERCISE 6 Circle Place: 

Add to the above directions for send to place, but now you are concentrating on circle place.

NOTE:  I LIKE TO GET FOUR 1-MINUTE CIRCLE PLACES IN A ROW AS MY GOAL.

STEP 5:  Once all four dog feet are on the place board, and your dog remains in whatever position he/she wants to, hold your six-foot leash  (this is so your dog can't dart away and have a game of chase), and circle close to the borders of the place item (mat, board, dog bed).   When a successful circle has been made, you can tell your dog "good place" and give them a scratch under the chin (or food reward) "yes" break, and lead your dog off the place board.   You can tell him/her that this was very good.   You should only leave the place board once the performance has been good (i.e., you made circles around them very closely).

The goal is to build this up to at least a minute.  The biggest goal is to get four in a row of whatever time you have selected.   So if your puppy keeps breaking, then you probably need to reduce the time.

EXERCISE 7 Long Place:

NOTE 1: IN WEEK 1, YOU ONLY NEED TO DO THIS FOR 5 MINUTES.  I AM DOING THIS FOR A HALF HOUR, WHICH IS THE GOAL.  IF YOU HAVE TIME OR DO NOT WANT TO WAKE HIM, YOU CAN ALSO DO THIS FOR HALF AN HOUR.

NOTE 2:  IF YOUR PUPPY WALKS OFF, YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESET THE EXERCISE.

STEP 1: Walk to the place, pointing as you say "place."   

STEP 2A:   If your dog goes on the place, say "good boy" or "good [dog's name]" or "good place".     

NOTE: THAT "GOOD" HERE IS USED AS A VERBAL MARKER TO MEAN KEEP GOING OR GOOD JOB.  IT DOES NOT MEAN THE DOG IS RELEASED FROM THEIR JOB.   

STEP 2B:   If your dog does not walk on the place themselves, then you need to use the protocols in the send to directions.  You can use the verbal marker "no" if you would like first.  Then correct the dog via body bump or leash tug, until they are on the place.  

NOTE: THAT THE VERBAL MARKER "NO" SIMPLY MEANS "THAT WAS NOT WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR".  USED CONSISTENTLY, IT HELPS YOUR DOG PUT A PATTERN TOGETHER AND TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT NEXT TIME.  IT IS A WAY TO GET YOUR DOG TO USE THEIR MENTAL ENERGY.   

STEP 3:  At first, you will want to keep close to where you will sit, and the leash in your hand, to act quickly.   Now you want to take a seat that you have placed at the appropriate distance from your dog.  

STEP 4A:   At first, you will want to be ready to spring up should your dog try to leave when you sit or before you sit.   This is pretty standard and normal to happen.   You need to correct it as timely as your other training.   Ways to start the correction are to walk into your dog, step on the leash, tug on the leash, body bump them if they are not all the way off, and the like.  

STEP 5: Work on a 5-minute-long place at first, until your dog can do this most times without breaking out of it (no matter the normal distractions that happen in your home or yard).   You will want to build this up to 15 minutes and then half an hour.   As you advance, you will also be increasing the distance away and working on outside distractions. 

Time in training:  5 minutes for the first week.

If your puppy tries to walk off, it is still just 5 minutes that he needs to be in the long place.

EXERCISE 8 Relax for Examination:
STEP 1:   The owner should be in a seated position somewhere comfortable.
STEP 2:  Hold the puppy on your lap on their back.
STEP 3:   Any time the puppy squirms or struggles, just hold them to your chest firmly.
STEP 4:   When the puppy is calm ONLY (do not do this while mouthing ET, because we are teaching to be calm when being examined), start examining each part of their body (paws, in between toes, ears, belly as if for ticks, legs ***this can also show you any unusual growths or changes***, teeth, ET).

Do this for about fifteen minutes while watching TV or relaxing in bed each day.

Homework Notes:  Basically, with puppies, it's a little less formal as far as reps go.   They mustn't go flat or get bored.   So if that happens, I usually take note of how much time passed before that happened.   Then I shorten the next session.   With puppies, I generally do two to three sessions spread during the day.   Often, I do these at feeding times with the puppy, and use their breakfast or lunch as the lures.