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FE355: Rock-Solid Stays for Competition & Real Life

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FE355: Rock-Solid Stays for Competition & Real Life

Course Details

If you find teaching movement-oriented behaviors easy but “the absence of behavior” (stays!) hard - then this class is for you!  Whether your dog is just learning stays or you’ve been struggling and you know you need some help, this class will get you on track to your final goal - rock solid stays for both competition and as a basic life skill.

In general, you can break stays into two categories: competition and relaxed.  The competition stays include the ones that you need for the obedience, rally and agility rings.  These stays are usually fairly short and intense; the dog is ready for the next cue!

The second kind, a “relaxed” stay, is completely different, and therefore we approach training from a different angle.  In this stay the dog relaxes in the position (or on a station) and the handler is free to focus on something else.

During this class, we will discuss why training relaxed stays with our operant dogs is different than it used to be, outline how we as trainers can adapt our training plans to account for this, and take a close look at the process for training both types of stays from start to finish, including adding different types of distractions, building confidence, and removing reinforcement in the finished behaviors.  And of course, we’ll talk about handling mistakes as well!

If you’d like your dog to have fabulous competition stays and truly relaxed down stays, this is for you!

This class will have a TA (Teacher's Assistant) for the study group!  Details will be available when you sign up for class!

Trailer for this class:

Teaching Approach

This is a skill-based class.  Lectures are released once weekly on the first day of the week.  Each week there will be a variety of short skill lectures which contain step by step instructions that are written out followed by video examples.  Most videos are short but some may be up to a couple minutes.  The videos do not require the ability to hear them in order to understand what’s going on.  For each skill lecture, the suggested homework is listed on the bottom of the lecture.  This class will work best for students who enjoy reading text lectures and watching videos that demonstrate the steps detailed in the written portion of the lecture.  The steps for teaching each skill are broken down and laid out in a structured way.  Written feedback will be provided with video examples if necessary.

Nicole Wiebusch Instructor: Nicole Wiebusch

Nicole Wiebusch CPDT-KA (she/her) has been competing in dog sports for over 25 years.  Starting in 4-H, Nicole quickly became addicted to the sport of obedience and has been showing in obedience, rally, and agility ever since.  (Click here for full bio and to view Nicole's upcoming courses)

Syllabus

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Syllabus (subject to change)

Week 1

  • Marker cues
  • Reward Placement
  • Zen Hand
  • Rapid Treats
  • Releases

Week 2

  • 3 D’s
  • Slow Treats
  • Sit Game
  • Adding Duration
  • Mistakes
  • Floor Impulse Control

Week 3

  • Props for stays
  • Stand Stillness Step 1
  • Adding Distractions
  • Dish

Week 4

  • Stand Stays
  • More Distractions
  • Walking Behind
  • Introducing Distance
  • Station Part 1

Week 5

  • Reducing Reinforcement Part 1
  • Station Part 2

Week 6

  • Reducing Reinforcement Part 2
  • Generalization

Prerequisites & Supplies

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There are no pre-reqs for this class!  Any dog from puppy to senior is welcome!

Sample Lecture

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Rock-Solid Stays for Competition & Real Life

 

Sit Game

Rapid Treats - Slow Treats

 

The sit game is another impulse control foundation game that I like to teach.  This game is excellent for introducing the concept of staying in one position to the dog.  Dogs generally catch onto the game very quickly, and you can add variations to the game as you need.

 

Treats from Above

The first step for the sit game is to either cue the sit or let the dog offer the sit.  As soon as the dog sits, put your hand with a treat in it high above the dog’s head and quickly lower the treat toward the dog.  If the dog jumps up toward the treat, raise your hand up away from the dog.  I like to watch the dog’s front feet - if both feet leave the ground the treat goes away from the dog.  I want the dog to think that his jumping up caused the treat to go away.  As soon as the dog sits again, the treat lowers toward the dog.

In the beginning stages, I move fairly quickly with the treat so the dog can be successful, but it doesn’t take long for the dog to catch on.  I quickly raise criteria by slowing down the treat, and eventually moving it around and teasing the dog a little bit.  During this whole time, I’m building on success, always making it easier if the dog struggles.

 

Rapid Treats

I first teach the stay concept by feeding the dog quickly in position.  I am essentially keeping the dog in position by feeding one treat after the other.  If the dog gets out of position, I simply stop feeding the treats, re-cue the position, then resume feeding.

As the dog’s position starts to get more solid, I will start slowing down the rate of treats.

Here is the first step of this game:

 

Here you can see that we are slowing down the rate of the treats as the dog gets more solid.

 

Slow Treats

 When the dog understands the game with the treats coming from above and rapid treats, you can start playing the slow treats game.  At this point, I start moving the treats toward the dog from the front.  If the dog breaks position, I move the treat away and start moving toward the dog again when he resumes the sit.  As the dog is successful, I will increase the difficulty.

 In this video, I start with treats from above.  As Excel does well, I switch to slow treats.  You can see how I move the treats away if he tries to move toward me.

As your dog catches on, you can make your treat delivery a little more exciting.  If at any time, the dog moves toward the treat, pull the treat away and reset your dog if needed.  Be sure to make it easier on the next repetition to ensure that you’re building on success.

You can use these games to practice other positions also, like down and stand.

 

Rapid Treats in a Down:

 

Rapid Treats in a Stand: 

 

Slow Treats in a Down:

 

Slow Treats in a Stand:

Testimonials & Reviews

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A sampling of what prior students have said about this course...

   

   

I thought that you read me pretty well as a trainer and kept things simple and short for me. Also you had kind words about my dog and who doesnt like that? I felt Jace improved drastically. You offered me constructive criticism as well as noted when I did something really well - like breaking down one of those task. Thank you.


I love how the increments for each week were perfect for teams to build on the skills from the week before but not so big an increment that we felt behind.  Great class!


Rock Solid Stays is a great deep dive into how to build solid, confident stays with your dog, whether you are preparing for competition stays or around the house stays. The course is perfectly paced and Nicole provides excellent feedback.   


I thought this was a very nice course, and, even at bronze, and not following too closely, I picked up some valuable, helpful information.

 

Registration

There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.

Registration opens at 11:00am Pacific Time.

FE355 Subscriptions


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Tuition $ 260.00 $ 130.00 $ 65.00
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