Session 1 HELPFUL HINTS TO ALL DOG OWNERS

YOU ONLY GET OUT OF YOUR DOG WHAT YOU PUT IN

There's no easy way to say that unless you put in a bit of time and effort into training your dog, you just won't achieve success or end up with a well focused, well behaved and happy dog. 10 to 20 minutes a day in two separate sessions if possible is all that's required, and who knows, you may even get to look forward to your training sessions as much as your dog will if done in the right manner. Dogs need stimulus and interaction to prevent many behaviour problems from ever developing.

AVOID CONFUSION
Remember when training to always let your dog know what you're going to do before you do it. Give your dog every assistance possible, audio and visual commands, praise and reward for the correct response, reprimands are seldom necessary if you are making yourself clear to your dog: withdrawal of praise is generally reprimand enough.

TO GET TRUST AND RESPECT FROM YOUR DOG YOU MUST EARN IT
Never train your dog aggressively or negatively. Always be positive and encouraging. If you're feeling crabby or a little impatient for whatever reason, flag it away until you're more up to it. Your dog is very sensitive to your moods and will more than likely think he's done something wrong, but won't know what, Training in a negative way will give your dog the wrong signals and your next approach to training will be met with possible reluctance from your dog, and at the very least, anxiety that he's not going to please you.
ADDRESS POTENTIAL PROBLEMS BEFORE THEY BECOME INSURMOUNTABLE

If you encounter a problem, however small it may seem, please ask for help, before it becomes a bigger problem. This applies to any problem, whether it be training, behaviour, diet etc.

ALTERNATIVES
There are always alternative methods for teaching your dog any given exercise. To show all the options would not only take forever but would also confuse you and your dog, but if the method shown you doesn't appear to be getting the correct response, please ask for help. I learn from your experiences too.

Session 1 BASIC COMMANDS AND METHODS

SIT

Ensure the dog sits on 1 st. command otherwise place dog in a sit with your 2nd. command. Praise gently to prevent them springing up. Feed. Used when you are going to be calling your dog. Use flat of hand in front of dog's nose, dogs name and command WAIT, step away, turn to face dog and call. Praise. If dog breaks before you call him/her go back and place dog in exact spot and repeat. Used when you are going to return to your dog before releasing him/ her. Use flat of hand as in Wait exercise, dog's name, command STAY step away, count to 5, step back, count to 5 release and praise, as in wait exercise, if dog breaks before being released, set him/her up in exact spot and start over. Don't increase 5 second periods, until you can do 5 steady stays. DON'T RUSH THIS EXERCISE. Never eyeball your dog, and initially don't walk back to your dog front-on, sidle back like a crab. Gentle praise. DON'T USE FOOD as the dog will anticipate the titbits and break the stay before you've released him/her. Easiest is to sit dog first and using food in your hand draw your hand down from dog's nose in a forward movement to the ground so dog follows your hand into a down position. Command DOWN as you draw your hand down: or kneel beside dog (dog on your Left). Left arm around dog's neck and take dog's left leg in your left hand, his his right leg in your right hand and lift both legs at once, placing them out in front of him/her, commanding DOWN at the same time. If dog struggles hold him down with your left arm which is still around dog's shoulders. Reinforce DOWN command so he learns what down is, when dog has ceased to struggle and is quit, release and praise. Feed at that point. Always use food. Easiest to sit dog first, give normal Wait command letting dog smell food in your left hand as you place your hand in front of dog's nose, leave dog, face dog after a few paces, pause, and using dog's name call COME in a cheerful voice. When he's with you in a controlled state, feed and praise lavishly. As for other exercises, if dog moves before you've called come, go back and place him/her where you first set him/her up and continue exercise.

WAIT

STAY

DOWN

COME

Session 2 BEGINNERS HOMEWORK SHEETS CONTROLLED WALK

CONTROLLED WALK
Work towards getting your dog's attention, with dog walking on your left, and maintaining dog's attention while walking a few steps at a time. Use food, voice and praise whenever he/she looks at you. Break dog off after 3 or 4 steps, have a play, then do a few more steps. Don't allow dog to "grub" on the ground while you're walking on lead, and insist dog pays attention to you. Don't walk for to long or dog will get bored and his attention will be diverted elsewhere. The idea Is to instill in his/her mind that walking close to you is far more rewarding and comfortable than pulling on the lead, grubbing and generally wanting to be elsewhere.

METHOD
With lead in right hand, food in left, before you set off use DOG'S NAME to get his/her attention, give a walk command (or any other command you have decided upon for this exercise) to let the dog know what you're about to do, then set off, left leg first for dog to follow left leg. REMAIN UPRIGHT so you're not leaning towards your dog, which will make him/her walk out from you - you want your dog to voluntarily walk close to you and feel comfortable in that position. As you are walking drip feed dog, use praise but only when his/her attention is on you, and once you've got the attention with dog walking close to you, break off (OKAY) and have a short play. Repeat several times, then finish off with a big play (chasing a ball, tug-o-war, etc). This will teach your dog that if he/she does what you ask of him/her correctly he/she gets a big play with you, and will soon look forward to working with you.

DOMINANCE EXERCISE
Do this exercise as shown in class, once a day. Remember not to release dog until he's stopped fighting and has accepted the position. If you feel your dog is showing dominance over you or your family members at any given time, use this exercise immediately to remind him that he/she is at the bottom of the pecking order. Once you are comfortable with this exercise AND NOT BEFORE, get your children to lean over the dog while you're holding it on it's back or side. This will teach the dog that the children are higher in the pecking order than he/she is and will learn to respect his/her position.

Session 2 PLAY - BOUNCE EXERCISE

Grab lead in both hands giving the dog a bit to grab in his mouth between your hands. Bounce him to the left and right, NOT UP AND DOWN, then release and praise. Do this often so dog gets used to playing with you and enjoying it. This exercise will teach dog that learning and responding immediately to your commands is fun and rewarding and will also go a long way to establishing a good bond with you where he/she looks to you for fun rather than going off to find his own and discounting you as a source of enjoyment. Any type of play is most important and gives the dog the stimulation it needs, thus preventing problems later.

SIT
Work towards getting your dog to sit on command IMMEDIATELY. Have food in hand, give dog a smell of it so he knows its there, then sweep hand up and over the top of dog's head and say SIT. As he lifts his head to see where it's gone he will sit. Be quick to give him the food and praise for doing this. Familiarise yourself with this until you have good smart sits. This can be done from any position - out front, side or wherever. Remember to use your hand each time not just the command SIT as this hand signal will be used for exercises further down the track and we want our dogs familiar with it.

FIRST AID KIT

ARNICA ACONITE RESCUE REM APIS MEL. ARS ALB. COCCULUS. IGNATIA. NUX VOMICA. RUTA GRAV. TEA BAGS. BRUISES, SPRAINS, BLEEDING. SHOCK. SHOCK. BEE STINGS. VOMITING, DIARRHOEA. TRAVEL SICKNESS. CALMING. VOMITING AFTER FEEDING. TENDON, LIGAMENT PROBLEMS. EYES.

Session 3 BEGINNERS HOMEWORK SHEET

CONTROLLED WALK
If you've done your homework your dog should by now be walking nicely by your side, looking for the food in your left hand. If this is the situation, now start moving your left hand up your body out of the dog's reach, in other words you want your dog to take quite a few steps voluntarily without being fed. If this is achieved for, say 5-6 paces, then slide your hand down and feed dog on the move, break off and play. Don't do anything different until you've got at least 5 paces - if your dogs attention is elsewhere then go back to the beginning, drip feeding and insisting he/she pays attention. As you progress you should be able to gradually increase the number of paces your dog will walk beside you without being fed, i.e. with your hand up your body out of dog's reach. Practise often, but short and sweet - never do long periods of walking. Once you've got what you're aiming for - for that session, break off and play with plenty of praise.

SIT ON LEFT HAND SIDE

Work towards getting your dog to sit on your left hand side, placing dog as shown in class. Don't bend over your dog while placing him/her on your left side or your dog will swing out and you won't get a straight sit. Bend your knees, keeping your body straight. Bending over your dog is a threatening pose to your dog and he/she will always avoid coming close to you when you are bending over.

METHOD
To place your dog in a sit (on your left hand side ) get dog standing as straight as possible beside you, facing the front, lead in right hand. Slide left hand halfway down lead pulling back on it slightly, swing right hand over to dog's head so you can hook your index and middle finger into dog's collar, as you pull the dog's head up give command SIT and place THE FLAT OF YOUR LEFT HAND on the dog's rump, using slight downwards pressure to sit him/her. Remember not to pinch dog or dig fingers into his/her rump. By having control of dog's head, dog is less likely to swing away from you as you take your left hand to his rump. Pause, praise and release. Remember not to bend over dog - bend your knees, which is easier on your back as well. If you have trouble bending straight spread your legs apart, one behind the other (left leg behind) and place your dog straight to your left leg. Practise this from a standstill until you are comfortable with the process and you are able to place your dog in a straight sit every time.

Session 4 BEGINNERS HOMEWORK SHEET

INCORPORATE SITS INTO CONTROLLED WALK

Remember to set off with your left leg, to place the dog every time, and to halt with your right leg drawing your left leg up to your right leg. This will take a bit of time to get the coordination of the command, but practise makes perfect and you'll soon get the hang of it. remember also not to bend over your dog which will make him swing wide and you'll have trouble getting a nice straight sit - which won't be the dogs fault. If you have full control of the dog's head, pulling up on collar at 90 deg. angle, then the need to bend over the dog is minimised as you place the flat of your hand on the rump. Don't at this stage leave the dog to sit on his own as 9 times out of 10 he will sit crocked. We need to instil in the dog that a sit during heel work must be straight and crocked is not acceptable. It's all part of the discipline. If you start letting the dog please himself where and when he does any one thing and you accept that second best, then you can't blame your dog for not obeying you when you ask something of him/her.

RECALL
If you're having problems with the dog backing away from you as you creep up, from now on the only food the dog should receive each day is by hand from you whilst practising this exercise. Remember to keep it easy and comfortable for your dog, not threatening in any way. Use your titbits and praise but don't overdo the praise as you may be praising him for moving away and he'll think that's what you're wanting. Remember also to always return to dog's left hand side before breaking him off.

SIT STAY
Aim to get your dog to sit and stay in that position while you move away, for 30 to 60 seconds, and to stay there until released. DO NOT FEED WITH THIS EXERCISE. Again this exercise is broken into parts to get a good steady unbreakable stay.

METHOD
Place dog in sit position on your left hand side. Give the command STAY in a firm voice, using flat of hand in front of dog's nose as well, and step away from dog, perhaps to the right one step. Pause, step back to your dog, pause, bend down and release dog and praise. Once you can do this 5 times without dog getting up before being released, try 2 steps out to the right. Once you can do this without any sign of dog breaking, try stepping out to the front of dog to the end of your lead ( remember not to pull on the lead), face dog and stay out there for the count of 10 to start with. Don't eyeball your dog when you face him as this will encourage him/her to break. Go back to your dog quietly, and probably best to walk around your dog, finishing up with your dog on your left. Pause, ( count to 5 ) break off and praise. Have a good play, you have both done well.

Session 4

N.B.
NEVER do a recall exercise immediately after a STAY exercise, or vice versa. Do some heelwork between the two, and of course play. At these crucial learning stages the dog must not become confused and it's up to us to give them all the help we can. You could run into trouble with each exercise if you train and/or practise the two together.

DOWN
Aim to get dog going down on 1st. command, and immediately you speak. Dog must remain in that position until you physically release him/her. NEVER USE FOOD FOR THIS EXERCISE.

METHOD
Use voice and flat of hand in a downwards motion, to distinguish between the sit and down command. There are various ways of achieving a down, some of you will have already achieved this. For reluctant dogs an effective way is to use the neck squish as shown in class. Don't use more than one DOWN command - if dog doesn't respond immediately, place him down. Praise gently once dog is down - too much praise and excitement will make him spring up. Release and play, use food only to get dog down not for stays. If you are having problems please let me know. Continue also with other exercises from previous lessons.

LIVER TITBITS*
Slice ox liver into strips, cover with garlic powder and place on baking paper in the microwave 10-15 minutes. Cut up while still hot. Can be free flow frozen to use when needed. Use only as titbits.

Session 5 BEGINNERS HOMEWORK SHEET RECALL, PHASE 2

If your dog is happy with you standing in front of him with your dog in a nice tight present position, you can now shuffle backwards a half step, tell the dog to come and use food as an encouragement for the dog to "bum shuffle" towards you. Do this for a week with you shuffling backwards two or three times, always saying COME in a cheerful voice and always giving a reward to the dog when it follows. If the dog is not presenting nicely correct this by stepping back into the dog, put your hands in the collar under chin and repeat the shuffle backwards, guiding the dog with you, before the reward is given. Increase the distance you move backwards before calling the dog. If you're still having problems with you dog backing away as you creep towards him, try placing him in a corner so he can't move back.

DOWN STAY
The aim is to get the dog to stay down for one minute without moving until physically released. NEVER USE FOOD WITH THIS EXERCISE. This is very similar to the sit stay (without pulling on the lead) and should be carried out in the same manner except that the dog will be lying down, not sitting. Go through each stage as you did for the sit stay, and you'll probably find that you can speed through each phase much more quickly as the dog has sussed out what stay means and it's irrelevant to him whether he's sitting or lying down. Once your dog is happy with this you could possibly move around a bit while your dog remains in a down stay, (keeping an eye on him/her to correct or replace if necessary). So be very sure to go through each stage carefully so your dog can cope with distractions. Don't You attempt to introduce distractions at home, as this will have a different meaning to the dog than if it's done in the class situation. SUGGESTION: To help prevent confusion, do something quite different between your stay exercises. Never do a down stay then follow it with a sit stay. At these early learning stages we don't want the dog to get confused with the two.

SIT STAY, NEXT PHASE (remember no food with this exercise)

When you can do this ten times without your dog breaking, try pulling gently on the lead (when you're facing your dog) at the same time reinforcing the STAY command and using the flat of your hand. Release pressure on dog, return in the same manner, pause, break off, and praise - if your dog has remained steady. If not, start up again. He'll soon get used to what you're up to and will start resisting your pull on the lead. At that time praise him for doing this, gently, return in the normal manner, each time you achieve success increase the pull on the lead until you have a real good counter resistance from the dog. Once you have this he'll sense there's a good play coming up as his reward, and hasn't he deserved it too. It stands to reason of course that you don't want to pull that hard that the poor dog cannot resist no matter how hard he tries. Encouragement, patience and gentleness will bring the required result. As in every exercise don't growl at the dog if he doesn't stay. Give him a chance to learn what it is you're expecting of him. If he breaks, he doesn't understand, and it's usually your fault not his.

SECTION 1 GOOD MANNERS COURSE

HOME MANNERS

ACCEPTANCE OF ISOLATION
Dog must be tied for five minutes with handler out of sight and with no other dogs around it. Dog may move around but must not pull hard on lead (ie try to escape/follow handler) or vocalize (barking or whining). Dog must let someone pat it and not react aggressively.

FOOD MANNERS
Using dog's own food bowl a small portion of its food placed in it. dog must sit/down and wait for filled bowl to be placed in front of it ( no jumping/barking) then wait thirty seconds for command to eat. Owner must be able to touch dog and bowl while dog is eating without dog growling, snapping or biting.

LYING QUIETLY / DOWN STAY

Dog must lie quietly at handler's feet for five minutes while handler sits on a chair and chats to another handler. This can be done in a group with handlers one - two meters apart. The dog must be happy for the handler to go out of sight for up to five minutes. Dog not to get up, changing sides is permissible but must no move more than a body length.

DOOR / GATE TEST

At a door dog must let handler go through first.

TOY TEST
Handler must be able to take a toy from the dog's mouth.

SECTION 1 GOOD MANNERS COURSE

STREET MANNERS

WALKING ON A LOOSE LEAD

Dog to walk beside handler (either side but left preferred) without pulling, for at least a hundred metres with left, right and about turns). Dog may be slightly ahead or slightly behind, but with no tension on the lead, commands can be used. Dog is not to change from side to side, the dog must also sit when told.

IGNORING PEOPLE AND DOGS

As part of the above test dog must be able to walk through people and dogs and ignore them, handler may talk to dog.

ACCEPTANCE OF A FRIENDLY STRANGER WHILE WITH HANDLER

Dog to be sat at heel. Someone the dog does not know well to approach within one metre of handler and dog, and chat for thirty seconds. Dog must remain seated and not bark, growl, threaten in any way or jump up in greeting.

STOP ON COMMAND
While running free at about ten metres from handler, dog must stop on first command within three body lengths. Dog may be free running, chasing a toy or being called to handler.

TEMPERAMENT TEST
Dog to be in a sit or down with owner in sight at least 10 metres away. Dog to allow a person not well known to it to handle it.

RECALL
Dog must be able to be recalled at least 20 metres. Dog to be in a wait or running free and must come to the handler to put a lead on it.

SECTION 3
TRAVEL MANNERS

WAIT TO GET INTO A VEHICLE Dog must not jump into handler's vehicle until told. Thirty seconds to elapse between opening vehicle and being given a command to get in. Dog must attempt to get into vehicle on command, although handler may have to lift dog into vehicle. WAIT TO GET OUT OF VEHICLE Dog must not jump out of vehicle immediately it is physically able ( door is opened and if applicable physical restraint such as lead is removed or cage door opened). Thirty seconds to elapse after lead is put on before a command to get out of vehicle. ACCEPTANCE OF PEOPLE AND DOGS PASSING VEHICLE Dog to be left in it's usual place in vehicle, restrained or not as it usually would be when left (restraint must be safe, with no possibility of dog strangling itself). Person not well known to the dog to walk within one metre of vehicle and pause beside it for ten seconds, facing away, before moving away. Another person to walk well behaved dog past vehicle at a two metre distance without stopping. Dog must not bark, lunge or otherwise behave aggressively.

SECTION 4

VETERINARY & GROOMING MANNERS

ACCEPTANCE OF GROOMING AND CLAW CLIPPING BY HANDLER Handler to be able to groom all parts of the dog (including tail, tummy and head) Dog must stand, down and stay still). Handler to clip dog's nails.

ACCEPTANCE OF HANDLING AND GROOMING BY STRANGER

As above but carried out by someone else who knows how to handle a dog.

TABLET TAKING
Handler to give a tablet (vitamin or something) dog must allow mouth to be opened and tablet inserted without fighting or biting.