Week 2 (1) Lured Down (Changed) (2) Stays (New) (3) Let's Go Work (New) (4) Leave It (Changed) (5) Look (Same) (6) Send to Place (Changed) (7) Circle Place (Changed) (8) Long Place (Changed) (9) Sit on The Dog (Same) (10) Relax for Exam (Same)

NOTE 1:  YOUR TRAINING SESSIONS FOR THE FIRST 6 EXERCISES IN TOTAL SHOULD BE 10-15 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.  LONG PLACE AND CIRCLE PLACE ARE NOW DONE WITH THE LEASH DRAGGING INSTEAD OF HELD

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.  THE 4 IN A ROW IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN RUSHING THE DURATION (AND LATER ON DISTANCE).

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.

NOTE 7:  ROTATE BEHAVIORAL EXERCISES "SIT ON THE DOG" AND "LONG PLACE" ON DIFFERENT DAYS.  IF THE "RELAX FOR EXAM" EXERCISE HAS BEEN GOING WELL, THEN YOU CAN ROTATE THAT EXERCISE TOO.

NOTE 8:  AS YOUR PUPPY GETS BETTER AT THE STAY EXERCISES, THE TRAINING TIMES FOR THOSE WILL GO DOWN, AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PRACTICE THOSE WITH THE OTHER EXERCISES FOR SHORT SESSIONS.

NOTE 9:  WHEN YOU ARE DOING MORE THAN ONE EXERCISE IN A PRACTICE SESSION, YOU NEED TO ONLY FOCUS ON ONE TO MEET THE GOAL.  SO FOR INSTANCE, IF I AM WORKING SEND TO PLACE WITH "LET'S GO" AND "LEAVE IT", I WILL PICK ONE TO FOCUS ON MEETING THE GOAL.

Exercise 1 (Changed) Lured Down:
STEP 1:  Have the food reward ready in your hand.
STEP 2:  While standing straight up (but when your puppy is close), give the "down" command AS you bend from the waist to lure the dog down with the treat.
STEP 3:  In the beginning, you will bend and stretch your hand to the ground to lure.   There will come a point when the puppy goes to the floor before you can get your hand all the way down.   This is good, then drop the treat in between the puppy's paws (so that they don't pop back up into a sit).
STEP 4:   Give the release word "break"
STEP 5:  Repeat, get 4 in a row without needing a verbal correction ("no"), and then lure a little bit higher.

Week 2 Goal: To be able to do these as you lure to below the waist or at the waist.  Week 2 change is we are now standing upright and working on raising our hand and posture as we make the lure a future standing hand signal for down.

Exercise 2 (New)  Stay:
(You can combine this with your puppy sit reps, as long as your puppy is consistently giving you a sit right away.   If not, keep them separate)
STEP 1:  Start with the "sit" command.
STEP 2:  If you like, you can start having "sit" mean stay, or you can use an additional "stay" command (totally owner's preference).
STEP 3: When you begin, you may just wish to start with 10 seconds or so.  You will be standing by the puppy, and you want the puppy to stay in the sit command during this time.   You can tell if you are doing too much time if getting a few in a row is very difficult (IE the puppy gets up, slumps into a down, gets distracted).
STEP 4:  If the puppy is successful, give them their food reward and then the release word "break".
STEP 5:   Repeat 

Goal:  To be able to eventually get 4 in a row for at least 30 seconds each.

Exercise 3 (New)  Let's Go:

NOTE:  I WAS DOING THIS INFORMALLY WITH OTHER EXERCISES LIKE SEND TO PLACE AND CIRCLE PLACE.  HOWEVER, YOU CAN PRACTICE THIS ALONE AS WELL.
STEP 1: You will want to hold the end of the leash for this one.
STEP 2:   In the opposite hand, you will want to be holding the food reward.
STEP 3:   Let your puppy get distracted.  When they go to the end of the line or are not paying attention to you, give the "let's go" command.
STEP 4A:  When your puppy starts to come towards you, say "good girl/boy" and then, when they get to you, give them the food reward.

STEP 4B:  If your puppy does not start towards you, give a light tug on the leash.  When they start saying "good boy/girl" to encourage them until they get to you, and then give them the food reward.
STEP 5:  REPEAT OR WORK BETWEEN OTHER EXERCISES AS ABOVE NOTE.

Goal:  When practicing this as a standalone, you want to get three sets of four in a row under 5 minutes.

THIS FIRST VIDEO IS ACTUALLY SEND TO PLACE WITH OLLIE, BUT I AM DOING BOTH "LET'S GO" AND "LEAVE IT" IN BETWEEN SEND REPS.

THE SECOND VIDEO IS PRACTICING A STAND-ALONE LET'S GO WITH ANOTHER DOG.

Exercise 4 (changed) 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

Week 2 Goal is to get three sets of four in a row in under 3 minutes. Week 2 Change is that the treat is now in our open hand.

Rigatoni is the puppy in the video doing "leave it" with a hand opened with a treat.

Exercise 5 Look or Attention to Name (Same no Change This Week):

STEP 1:  Your puppy should be on their 6' lead and a collar.
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:  Repeat

Week 2 Goal is to get three sets of 4 in a row in under 4 minutes.

Exercise 6 Send to Place (Changed):

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 (IE, nudge in 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.  

Week 2 Goal and Change:  To work on getting 3 sets of 4 in a row sends from 6" to 2' away from the place object.

Exercise 7 Circle Place (Changed):

STEP 1:  Send to the place object as above.

STEP 2:  Drop the leash when your puppy is on the place object.

STEP 3:  Circle the place object with a little distance (maybe 6") but not too far away.  We are working to be able to do this for one minute, but you can start with 1 circle to begin with.

STEP 4:  REPEAT

Week 2 Goal is to get 4 in a row for one minute, and then start increasing the distance of the handler from the place object gradually.  Week 2 change is that you are dropping the leash.

EXERCISES 8-10 ARE THE BEHAVIORAL EXERCISES YOU WILL BE ROTATING.

"Sit on the dog" can now be changed to be done outside in your yard or in distracting circumstances.  Make sure it is not overly distracting.  You want this to be challenging, but not so much so that you are there for over an hour (PS I usually cap this exercise at an hour for puppies and dogs, but you probably won't have that problem).

"Relax for exam exercise" can now be rotated with "sit on the dog" and "long place", especially if you don't have time for all of them.  Sometimes this week, I just practice holding the clippers near their paws while I practice "relax for exam," and sometimes pinching the end of the nails as if I am clipping them.

"Long Place" is now practiced with dropping the leash and creating more distance between the owner and the place/puppy.  This should definitely be practiced for a half hour and this is why you  should rotate this exercise on opposite days unless you have the time and/or opportunity where you wish to practice the others.