Does your dog seem to forget what sit means until you reach into your pocket? Do you struggle to get your dog's focus without a cookie in your hand? This foundation level class is designed to help dogs choose to work even when they can't see a reward, or the reward is in a tempting location, and to work with joy!
Topics in this class include
Teaching impulse control
Choosing to ignore distractions
Working with rewards at a distance
Starting to increase the duration of work between rewards
Teaching the dog to engage without seeing a reward
Keeping focus and staying on task even when the work takes you near the reward location.
Dogs of any age and experience level are welcome (recommended 6 months and up).
Here is a compilation video of some students from the October 2019 class!:
Teaching Approach
Lectures are released at the start of each week with more lectures than most students will be expected to complete within the 6 weeks of class. Students new to this topic will primarily be working on lectures from the first 3 weeks of class.
The lectures are broken down by each skill. I have written objectives and then written instructions for each step followed by multiple video examples for each step. The videos are usually between 30sec to 2min long and are taken from training sessions of a variety of dogs and breeds. I do not use voiceover or subtitles in the video. At the end of each lecture is a homework summary with the steps quickly summarized in order.
The handler will need to bend down to the floor to pick up a food bowl multiple times in a session for many of the skills. A food robot can be used in the place of a food bowl if that is physically easier for the handler.
This class will have a Teacher's Assistant (TA) available in the Facebook study group to help the bronze and silver students! Directions for joining that Facebook group will be in the classroom after you register.
Laura Waudby (she/her) trains and competes in obedience, rally, and agility. She was halfway to her OTCH with her UDX corgi, Lance, before his early retirement. She also has championship titles in USDAA and UKI. By day...(Click here for full bio and to view Laura's upcoming courses)
There are no prerequisites for this class! This is a foundation class appropriate for even young (6+ months) dogs. Young dogs without many established behaviors can set a great foundation for choosing to work with rewards at a distance, but will spend more time on choosing to leave the reward vs the duration of work without a reward.
To work on all exercises, teams should have the start of a "send" to a mat or target from 5 feet away, at least 3 solid behaviors on just a verbal cue, and good focus with minor distractions. The majority of teams will NOT make it through all the lectures in just 6 weeks.
Advanced teams who are already trialing should still expect to go back to the foundation exercises presented in the class.
Most exercises can be done in a small space such as a living room. For advanced versions of exercises, teams may benefit from having enough space to set up a jump (for agility students), and/or a ring entrance (for all sports).
Equipment needed:
- rewards! Toys can be used for most exercises if the team prefers it to food!
- a target the dog knows how to send to such as a mat, crate, or platform (if the dog does not yet know a send away, a lecture will introduce how to teach this topic).
- zen bowl (a reward container the dog can eat out of such as a special food bowl or Tupperware container.
Optional: a helper. Having another person play the role as a distractor will be used in about 3 of the lectures. Working teams can skip the exercise if they don't have access to a helper.
- Optional: A jump, tunnel, or cone
- Optional: A ring entrance such as 2 baby gates, exercise pens, or fencing of some sort. This will be discussed towards the end of the class for those ready to start trial prep.
Previously on our send work, we have asked the dog if he can leave the location of his reward container to do his task. The reward might have been on the ground nearby, but it was closer to you versus the target.
Now we are going to see if the dog can choose to work even if it means moving TOWARDS the reward container. This takes a greater level of impulse control to stay in thinking mode and not revert back to mobbing the cookie container as he gets close. The goal of this exercise is to get the dog comfortable with exercises that may take them closer to where their reward is.
The Setup
Place your cookie jar located even with the chosen target, but still a few feet off to the side. Send your dog just five feet or less at first! Your initial start position should have the dog sending directly near the target with the dish off to to the side.
As your dog gets more comfortable with the exercise, work on moving your start angle so that the dog will go to their target with the reward container a few feet PAST the target so that the dog is really having to choose between listening to your cue or mobbing the reward! You can have the reward container even 10 feet past the target if the dog needs the help of distance!
Here Grace is working on going to her perch with the Zen Bowl off to my side and then out in front of the target. I'm standing near the perch so she's coming from a cookie toss. At first, Grace is a little excited but then does a great job of focusing on me.
In the next step I'm no longer standing to the side of the target but at the start position with the dog. Now the dog knows I'm further away from the dish and there is more of a true independent send as well.
Here Uma is working on sending to her mat while I am moving back to sending her towards the mat. She fails! So I go back to easier reps at the side. Note that Uma does not respond well to the "cookies" cue and that is because as a service dog in training and it's not a reward strategy we officially teach. She does however need to learn the skill of sending towards "distractions" versus a reward.)
And here Paddy has struggled with not eating the food from his dish so Mom does a nice job in raising up the dish and gradually lowering it. She noticed that he's still giving glances to the dish so she will be careful not to progress too quickly with this and may need to get more distance from the dish to the cone as it gets to the ground.
Be careful not to push too fast on this exercise! Some dogs will be good about not rushing up to the reward container, but may lack confidence in sending out. They will be conflicted! Praise your dog for trying so hard to make the right choice, and make the exercise easier for them by having the reward container located further away. We want happy, confident dogs!
Generalizing
Continue to practice sends to other targets where the dog has to move towards the reward. Examples may be going around a cone, sending to a tunnel, sending out of a room, etc.
Here Zumi is working on leaving her ball ahead in order to do a jump wrap for agility. I quickly find out that I made the exercise too hard for her, even when I tried to help with extra body language cues. I then move the location of her ball reward so that even though she is sending towards it, it is located on the side away from where I want her to turn. This easier location gives Zumi greater success. I'm not a huge fan of my mechanics in this old video, but I hope the concept gives you some ideas!
Here Zumi does a send away with her toy past it. This is a baby version for the TEAM level 6 exercise.
Here Marina works on doing a retrieve with her dish nearby! Note she's starting to anticipate on the release "thank you" cue. I would have her either say "cookie!" as soon as her hands are on the dumbbell so that it marks the hold behavior and implies the release, or cue the dumbbell release with "thank you" then pause, get focus, and release with "cookies" to the dish.
Side note, look at all that play in Marina's video between reps!! That's a great way to continue to work on Marina relaxing and not thinking too hard as well as conditioning a strong association with jumping up on mom= fun! It can be a trained skill for some dogs!
Overview
1. Send the dog to the target with the target off to the side (3-10ft!) from their target. The dish should ideally be a bit head of you, but not directly in line with the target.
2. Gradually have your start position move so that the dog is sending towards the target but their reward container is located beyond the target, on roughly the same send path as their target. The dog should arrive at the target, focus on you, and then you can release them to head towards the dish.
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
Can't say enough good things about this class!!!!!! The lectures clearly communicated the information, with the videos providing good examples of what was being discussed. Laura was extremely supportive. She was able to give good feedback in a very positive manner. Her caring and enthusiasm came through, creating an atmosphere of encouragement that led handlers and dogs to success after success. Out of all the FDSA classes I have taken, this is one of the top ones! Nicole
Laura provides so much information I find myself taking notes as I read her lectures!Also, information is clearly written and easy to follow.
This was another terrific experience for me and my dog. The class materials, the pace, and Laura’s keen eye were all excellent. I would highly recommend this class to anyone who participates in dog sports. The material applies to so many of the things we do with our dogs! The videos were extremely helpful and ranged from beginning skills to more advance. Seeing the baby in the videos was an added bonus! I would most definitely take another class with Laura. Thanks!!!
This was one of those "missing pieces" courses that helped fill in the blanks for me! My 3yo golden has been raised fenzi style... Has all the foundation skills, marker words, and bits of personal play, etc. But this is the first time I have been able to build duration, add distractions and combine personal play and work effectively. I totally loved this class!
I absolutely cannot say enough good things about Laura! She has the most positive and creative ways to deal with the issues that each individual team presents-- I wish this class had been available before I went into the ring with my dog! We could have been way more prepared and made far fewer mistakes!
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Instructor: Laura Waudby
