The Puppy Wizard

PART II

1. Obedience

We'll be approaching our obedience training program
as a piecemeal quilt puzzle; that is to say, that
any one point has got to fit within the entire context,
and as you develop skills, you may "mix and match"
commands to suit your needs or situation at that
moment.

But we do have a procedure that is very much
like the kind of steps you would follow as though
you were starting your car or computer system.

These steps are like your keys to your car or
password to your files. It's unlikely that your
dog, when trained, will listen to anyone that
does not approach the "control panel" to his
mind, without the "keys" imbedded in this
series of commands.

He'll understand that anyone asking business
of him is not approved, without "them keys."

Practice on a daily basis should not exceed four
minutes to accomplish the exercises. Practice
needs to be performed at least every second
day. With problem dogs, this is critical.

If you are using this training to suffice your dog's
emotional needs, whether it be anxiety from
separation, aggression, or stress from any source,
the benefits of this exercise will wear off in three
days, at least until some time down the road.

Also, dogs do tend to forget a lesson if it has not
been re-enforced for several days. After the initial
training period, practice may be limited to once a week.

When your dog becomes fully trained and his
behavior is not an issue or goal for improvement,
a brief exercise should be formally done once a
week, later once a month.

We are going to give your pet 100% of your
undivided positive attention, in an intense, four-
minute exercise, which will have the benefit of
exercising the dominant and submissive nature
of your dog's personality.

These "natures of your dog's personality" are
easily accessed through the positions and postures
in relationship to yourself, as you and your dog
perform your obedience routines.

Each position will elicit particular sorts of body
language from your dog (and vice versa, so act
natural).

If you pay close attention you can determine
how well or not your dog is relating to you.

Each exercise or command in the following text
will articulate what must be paid close attention,
and how to make this knowledge work for you
and your dog.

We have special routines to break stress and
tension, as well as methods to express dominance
and elicit and enforce strict, exacting discipline.
You will develop a feel for these as you progress
through this system. The Method GUARANTEES
total non physical control, but you've got to give
up forced control entirely or you'll be challenging
the dog and you'll learn the hard way..."I told you so."

Any time you are in doubt about what your next
move should be, just relax, take your time to
review in your mind the exercise you are performing,
and then execute the correct move.

Everything has a particular progression.

Admittedly, this is a complicated system. HOWEver,
there is no need to worry about mastering the
technique and psychology involved right away.

It will become very clear as you begin to workonit.
Just as we will expect your dog to learn something
new with practice, you too will develop a sense for
what we are doing, but only with practice.

You'll develop a feel for what we're doing. The
pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, and, like
a jigsaw puzzle, you start by dumping the whole
thing out in front of you and then try to put it in
some sort of order.

Think of our method like that puzzle. Keep in mind
also that things change here, according to what
has been mastered.

2. Ask Your Dog To Work

We'll start with a preliminary command to set the
tone for our lesson. Ask your dog if he would like
to go to work.

Do so in an upbeat manner, with a questioning
tone, as you lean or step backward just a little bit,
praising all the while. (For more details on this,
see the "Hot and Cold" exercise, in Part I of the
W.E.D.T.M. Manual.)

We don't care if he wants to "go to work" or not.
He's going to, but we would do much better if he
were looking forward to enjoying it. This does
not mean we're going to play, because just as
soon as you finish this phrase "Do you want to
go to work? Good boy," you're going to follow
through with his next command to come to order.

2A. Back To Work

"Back to work," is his next command, it's rather
like the command "attention" in the military. It
functions as a tool we can utilize to command his
attention under emergency conditions as well as
for daily requests to come to order...

"Back to work" is to be followed in the same breath,
without pausing or hesitating, with the forthcoming
commands, while at the same time giving the hand
signals and foot signals.

It's going to seem much like rubbing your head and
patting your stomach at the same time.

There are several events that are going to take
place one after the other, quickly in succession.

Your hand signal and foot signal will coincide with
the voice commands. It's crucial that signals and
voice commands all coincide, as your dog will be
learning all of these at once.

2B. Stay

The "stay" command is very complicated. There
are two hand signals and a foot signal as well as,
of course, your voice command. It changes
depending on whether you are at the side or "heel"
position, or at a distance in front of him, or whether
you are leaving his side with him remaining behind,
or if you are returning toward him.

Don't worry about anything other than the hand
signal from the side at this point.

Leaving your dog on the stay command is covered
later. It's simple, but get used to the basics first.

Stay from the side is a sweeping motion with your
left hand coming forward, high from above your elbow,
fingers together, as if to touch the tip of your middle
finger to the top of your dogs nose, being careful
to keep your hand from breaking into your dogs
vision directly over his head. We don't need to be
close, just in the line of peripheral vision at about
15 degrees his snout. Give it high and forward
of your body.

Follow through by bringing your hand back up and
sweeping it around toward your chest, placing your
left wrist at your dog's right shoulder, as you place
your palm on his breast bone, as you pat him once
or twice, and continue into the "sit straight" (or "stand
straight" or "down straight") command, described below.

What I'm trying to show is the stay signal comes
in high in front and is brief.The hand then recedes high
in an arch towards the handler before coming into the
dog's chest parallel to his right shoulder.

The idea being that we don't want to lean over the
dog to set his chest, neck, and head. It's a defensive
position as some dogs may snap, that's why we're
calming them in the forthcoming moves.

2C. Sit From The Side

Sit from the side involves just the hand and voice
signals. The left palm comes up, until your elbow
is bent ninety degrees. In due course, all you'll
need to do is cup your palm. But for now, let's
make it easy for your dog to notice.

Sounds pretty easy, so let's throw in some body language.

Before your dog has completed any command in
these series, the next command in that series will
be issued. We will do this slowly, so that your dog
can think out what you are asking yet moving into
the next phase before the prior has been completed.

Not too slowly, but not too fast.

You're going to be leading and directing his attention,
rather than his body. His body will follow his attention
and thoughts.

When you are ready to begin the "return to heel
command," get a visual fix on a landmark, so as to
be sure to orient yourselves correctly after your
dog has completed sitting. At the beginning, we'll
not worry too much about this orientation, or for
that matter, any orientation, but it will quickly
become extremely important to be precise.

Your hand signal for "return to heel" is with your
left index finger, pointing to the ground just behind
your left side, as you look down and back, toward
where your finger is pointing.

Leaning your weight on your right foot, so as to
facilitate the movement of your left foot signal,
just about one half step backward, not too far
so as to lose balance, but enough to get your
dog inspired to move. This is an action command,
and the motion you use will help start your dog's
movement.

At the same time your left foot moves, your hand
signal and eyes will be pointing and moving in
sync with your foot, as your upper body twists,
just kind of a quarter turn left twist of your upper
body as your foot moves, and back to forward.

"Back to work, heel, good boy, nice dog, sit, stay,
good dog." That's your voice command to get him
to the return to heel position.

When this series has finished, and while you are
still saying "good dog," you'll need to pat him, just
once or twice on his chest, as you give him his
next command to "sit straight," and adjust his front
square at your side, by lifting his weight by his
breast bone, and move his front just a little, as
you help (actually cheat), by adjusting yourself
at the same time to be square at the heel position.

Next, run your hand from his breast bone up under
his throat, to his chin, at which point you'll repeat
your stay signal, as you run your hand down one
side of his body from the left shoulder down along
his ribs. Then the right side, then, to one front foot,
then the next. You'll see later.

2D. Heel vs. Return to Heel

The heel position means your dog's shoulders
must be parallel to your knees. Return to heel
is the means by which he arrives there.

Both commands are action words and require
movement on your part to teach your dog what
it means. The voice command for both tasks is
the same.

The movement of your left foot and the direction
you point your index finger and direct your eyes
do change, depending whether you are going to
move forward on the heel, or to have your dog
return at your side to resume the heel position.

It is imperative that your dog return to the heel
position in the manner described herein. Many
guides to training for the obedience ring,
schutzhund, and police dog training will permit
your dog to return to the heel position by moving
himself around behind the handler, coming in
toward your right side and around to your left,
from behind you.

Avoid this, as it is likely to create problems.
Likewise, if you allow your dog to "come" when
called, and resume his place at your side, you're
looking for trouble, although it is allowed in other
methods.

Every detail is important for matters only your
dog understands at this time!

The return to heel is done entirely on the left side.
If he circles into the left side in a clockwise direction,
he's giving us his dominant side. If he's turning
in a counterclockwise direction, he's looking up
at you ready to work willingly.

The come is important to cause a sense of
subordination and dominance in the front, and
partnership in the return to heel.

Familiarity breeds contempt...We want to keep
it formal to instill discipline.

The heel position is one of equality. It's as if you
were to go out to the field to hunt. You would heel
your dog to an area you want to search, and then
give him his opportunity to do his dog thing.

At the moment you send him off to search, he's
taken the position of leader. Once he makes his
find, he gives that job back to you. You fire, and
he's in charge again. He gets his bird, and brings
it back to you and gives it up to his leader.

Then he gets another chance to repeat this performance.
It's a 50/50 proposition. That's where we'd like to start.
Fair, 50/50. But first, we still have to finesse the
command sequence to get there.

Try this sequence without your dog, but with your
leash in your hands, and in the privacy of the
most comfortable place you can find. If you are
fortunate enough to have a friend or family member
interested enough to help out, give them the script
to follow, and have them read to you and supervise
the details.

When you're ready to try working this on your
dog, only try the command sequence once or
twice, and then tell him he's "free."

"You're free" is a command just as important
as heel or sit. It tells him he can relax. Make it
sound like the umpire who says, "Play ball!"

Don't forget to smile and say, "Good boy."

Review in your mind, how your dog took to this,
and how you performed your commands.

Don't worry about making your dog actually
perform his commands. We have plenty of time
to teach him, and you both are just getting used
to many different stimuli.

It's impossible for you to make mistakes at this time.

In other words, if your dog doesn't know what
you want, then he won't realize when you have
made a mistake. And besides, you're in charge,
and can make or break any rules you choose!

Starting and stopping this command sequence
is good exercise, as it is brief, and comfortable
for your dog. Feel free to ask him to "go back to
work, heel, sit, stay, good boy, sit straight,"
several times a day if you like, but only do it once
at each session, ending as always, with "You're free."

You may escape from any command sequence
only upon completion of that sequence. However,
you can escape any situation or command
sequence by asking your dog to "come."

Your "come"command has been described earlier
under "conditioned reflex." At that time, we were
only interested in the "come" command. Now, you
are going to learn to have your dog come and sit
in front of you, before returning to the heel position.

This sequence will always be followed exactly at
any time you issue the "come" command.

When your dog comes to you, he is subordinating
himself to you. When you ask him to sit in front
of you, you are dominating him. When you ask
him to return to heel, he's once again equal.

Use this!

When you ask your dog to return to heel, and
maybe he "snubs" you, just repeat the command
with sound followed by instant praise, on the
word heel.

Failing that, simply give up on that request, and
ask him to "come." You'll need to switch the lead
to your left hand, use the signal for come with
the right hand, and certainly be prepared to
enforce the come command with sound, if
you find it necessary to repeat the come command.

Work as quickly as you can, but take your time
to make sure the timing is correct. You should
begin to see apatterndevelopinghere.That
when the dog fails to perform a command the
next command is come.

2E. Sit From the Front

While working commands from the front of your
dog, do not practice the recall or come command,
until he is proficient with the other aspects of these
commands, or you'll create problems with all of
the following.

We have just learned the command "sit from the
side" or heel position, and, as with most commands,
each different position or orientation will appear to
your dog to be an altogether different command.

Even commands given from a different distance
than what has been familiar, is equally as difficult
as learning the command initially.

The hand signal is only slightly different, being
given with the right hand. As it was with the original
command from the side, we'll give a full upward
sweep of the hand, bringing it up from your side
by your leg, until the forearm is parallel to the
ground with the palm up.

Once he becomes familiar with your commands,
the signal can be diminished to just cupping your
hand briefly.

When you ask your dog to come, it is required
that he sit himself so he is directly in front of you,
his toes about 6 inches away from your toes. This
is a crucial element of establishing strict discipline.

It is a good barometer of how readily your dog is
willing to work for you. If he comes and sits directly
in front of you with his back toward you, this could
indicate several possibilities.

The first likelihood is that he is not willingly working
as your subordinate. In this case, he may be trying
to establish the 50/50 equality we discussed earlier
in the heel command. Remember, when he comes
and sits in front of you, he is looking up to you as
an appropriate authority figure and thereby
subordinating himself.

We know that dogs do not do things for no reason.
Therefore, if he has chosen to perform this command
incorrectly, it may be for reasons other than simply
to challenge your authority. Perhaps, in his opinion,
he has done this for security measures, and has
changed his orientation to your command.

Were that to be the case, we might allow this
discrepancy to permit him to observe the
suspected or perceived threat.

If that were the case, asking him to return to
heel would cause him to back himself into the
heel position, without taking his eyes off of the
front view. That would be O.K. under certain
circumstances.

Right now, we'll look at this as an example of
performing the command incorrectly due to
inexperience. This is why we have not yet
covered how to get your dog to sit.

It's important to understand that accomplishing
a command is not relevant to our agenda. So
first of all, you must hurry up and relax.

When we ask our dog to sit from any position,
it is our ultimate goal to get him to sit exactly
where we indicate. Therefore, whether he sits
or not, is secondary to our ultimate goal.

This is important mainly to enforce strict discipline.
In other words, we have the option to cause our
dog to work harder and harder to satisfy our request.

I'm trying to show the difference between what
we want for today Vs what we'll want in a few days.

Today it's only important to teach the sit command,
so wherever we get it, we're thrilled. In a couple of
days we'll only settle for exactly straight to the side
or in front, etc.

We will apply the knowledge and techniques on
which we've been working in order to format a
routine for training and temperament development.

This routine is the heeling pattern exercise, which
will give you the ability to exercise your dog's mind
in a manner that cannot be accomplished through
any other means. The heeling pattern will exercise
will balance the dominant and submissive nature of
your dog's personality, and it only requires about
four minutes of work.

3. THE HEELING PATTERN EXERCISE

Start your dog, as you always will, by showing him
the lead and asking him if he wants to go to work.
Follow through by telling him he's a good boy, and
then order him "Back to work," follow through with
heel, good boy, nice dog (to keep his attention),
and ask him to sit.

Remember now, that on the return-to-heel, your left
foot and index finger will be the signal or CUE, and
the movement of the left foot and hand, must coincide
with the voice command.

All of your weight must be on the right foot. As your
dog returns to the heel position he must return
counter clockwise on your left side, and square
himself to the heel position.

As in all of these exercises you must orient
yourselves by using a landmark in relationship
to the direction you are facing, and make sure
that your dog, when finished, is properly lined
up towards it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

If he refused to turn counter clockwise, that could
indicate a problem, such as an effort to resist
working properly for you. However, to be fair,
we must be certain this is the case. It's possible
that he is "left-handed." We'll see very shortly.

First, we must accomplish getting him to sit. We
expect your dog will not want to sit when you ask
him. While he is making the counter clockwise turn,
when his nose is pointing directly opposite of yours,
you will ask him to sit.

Do not wait for him to complete turning around, or
he will continue moving out of position. Follow
through with the stay signal (and voice command)
before he comes to a sit.

NOW we can work on the sit!

As you collect your lead by inching your way down
the half-length of it with your right hand, you may
extend your right arm with the elbow straightforward
*elbow locked and arm straight ahead. to take up
the extra slack and prevent his head from spinning
around.

Your left hand can reach back, as you shift your
weight on to your left foot, and put your middle
finger and thumb just in front of his hips. In this
manner you will be able to move with him if he
tries to move around. You can pivot to maintain
the heel position while negotiating the sit but you
must not walk from that spot.

You can control the front of your dog with the lead,
by gently applying alternating tension on the lead
as you gently touch without applying pressure, to
try to get him to flex his rear into the sitting position.

When he begins to flex to assume the sit, your
hand must come away from his rear, and follow
through with the stay signal. Do not try to push
him all the way down, and do not try to force him
into the position.

Just touch the middle finger and thumb in front
of the hip a for a moment till he pushes back,
and immediately release. If he begins to flex to
assume the sit, your hand must come away from
his rear, and follow through with the stay signal
and the praise and then the sit straight command, etc.

If he didn't sit as we'd expect, you may repeat the
command a second time, with a sound cue
accompanying the signal and voice followed
immediately by prolonged, non physical praise.

Continue working in this manner until it seems that
he no longer remembers your request or resists.

That being the case, you may in a conversational
tone, repeat the command and hand signal without
a sound cue for your third request to sit during this
command sequence.

While negotiating the sit, it is appropriate if
necessary, to turn in any direction to maintain
the heel position to your dog's shoulder.

It doesn't matter where you end up facing to
the original point of orientation, so long as you
find him sitting at the heel position. Praise him
for completing the sit, and then ask him to sit
straight, as you adjust him towards the orientation
point or landmark that you were facing originally.

Now you must adjust him to the appropriate position.
Don't try to do this all at once, or you'll upset the
apple cart! At first, just square him to your side till
he feels comfortable being adjusted.

You'll extend your right arm to control his front;
the left foot must remain stationary at the heel
position. The right foot may step back a few
inches as you bend at the knees, and using
the left palm on the large muscle of the rear leg
of your dog, gently push just a little as you ask
him to sit straight.

Be sure to follow through with the stay signal,
and praise. Once again you may adjust his front.
Soon, you will be able to turn him any amount in
order to accomplish making him return to the
heel position. And after just a few days of practice,
he'll adjust himself on your command "sit straight."

Of course, all of the above presumes that your
dog performed the initial phase of the return to
heel command. If he did not, then you will have
to ask him a fourth request with sound on the
cue word to "return to heel" (the command to
your dog is simply heel, the "return to" is for
your understanding only).

So, let's say he refuses the fourth request. That's
O.K. Simply place the handle of your lead into the
left hand, and step backwards dropping the length
of the lead while giving the come command signaling
with the right hand, and collect the lead, taking the
half length in your right hand, and placing it into your
left palm along with the handle of the lead.

Your signal, of course, for the come command must
accompany the voice command.

As you move backward, you may go as little or far
as you need to accomplish getting him to come
straight in to you. The come command should have
been properly conditioned earlier, so that now all
you need to do is work on sit from the front!

While he's in motion on the recall, ask for the sit
before he gets to you. Do this while he is about
three feet away. This will give him time to process
thinking of your command.

Your lead will be in your left hand, and you may
shorten it by taking the length with your right hand,
and slide it through your left palm, as you follow
through with the hand signal to sit from the front.

Keep that signal open, and wait. Stand erect, and
try to lean towards him a little. Bring your right hand
forward, and with the middle finger and thumb, touch
just in front of his hip bone.

If he starts to flex into position, follow through with
the stay signal, even before he has finished sitting.
Of course, you will follow through with praise, and
while doing so, pat him on the chest as you ask him
to "sit straight," and adjust him square in front of you.

You may turn as much as is necessary to maintain
the position directly in front of your dog. Where
he sits is relevant only to his position to you at
this time.

If necessary, you may repeat the command to "sit
from the front," using sound on the cue word (the
command sit is for the dog, and sit from the front
is for your clarification).

As soon as you've got him seated squarely in front
of you, the lead will be placed into your right hand,
and complete the exercise by returning him to the
heel position.

Now you're ready to move forward on the heel.
Your voice command must coincide with the
movement of your left foot, your eyes must be
directed forward, you may signal with your left
index finger forward, and step forward speaking
to him as though he were working perfectly.

You'll go forward at least three full steps, speaking
a word of praise with each step. If he moves along
with you, that's fine. If not, that's O.K.; collect your
lead as you step directly backward into the heel
position.

Some dogs will simply sit there. Give a second
request using sound on the cue word and signal,
and follow through as before. If he again refuses
to move along into the heel, simply step back
again, and prefix your third request as before.

If he has broken the sit command, disregard that.
The prior command is not being broken, the new
command "heel" is the one we're now concerned with.

This point is crucial so don't rush through it!

Let's look at this from your dog's point of view.
Your dog is sitting at the heel position. You step
forward on the heel, and he lies down. He broke
the heel command, not the sit.

Once a new command is issued, the previous
command no longer exists.

So, once again you find yourself on the heel
command, three steps in front of your dog,
and he is sitting at the starting point. After
your fourth request to heel, give up on that,
and ask him to come. Of course, he must
come to a sit in front of you, and after all
of the prerequisites have been attended to,
return him to heel, and try again.

Now you should be working well, with the
default system being quite well understood
by your dog. As we move forward on the
heel, expect him to do so for only three steps.

I don't expect he'll want to cooperate, and even
if he did, it's still his obligation to try to get away
with as much as he can!

As he breaks forward on the heel, usually on
your third step forward, simply reverse your
direction by pivoting in the exact opposite
direction, being sure not to allow any contact
with the collar.

We don't want to make him follow you. Anyone
can take a dog on a six-inch length of chain,
and force him to heel. It does not matter if you
are forcing him on a six-inch chain, or a six-foot
lead.

Any force is undesirable, and will result in problems.
Doing these exercises correctly does not require
that your dog perform properly, just you!

Each time your dog charges past your side, simply
make a sound and praise as you reverse, moving
smoothly and fluidly, exactly opposite of the direction
his nose is pointing. He will break past you, maybe
every three steps. And you will alternate sounds
with praise as you reverse.

Soon, he's going to do one of three things, and
your response should be spontaneous and fluid
at each of these junctures. We will deal with each
possibility in turn.

He will go behind you on your right side. If he
does this, you will pivot to your left.

He will not turn with you. At this point, you should
simply give up on the heel command, and ask him
to come. By now you should realize that the lead
must be put into your left hand, etc., before asking
for the "recall" or "come" command.

This requires a sit from the front, before returning
once again to the heel position. Follow through
with the sit from the side, and begin again.

He will cut you off by shouldering in front of your
knee. This time, you're going to handle things
just a little bit differently. As he tries to cut you
off, he's actually trying to force you into a circle
to your right. At this time, you must circle him to the left.

Remember, everything you do is opposite of the
direction your dog chooses.

In order to turn left when he's trying to go to the
right in front of you, you'll have to get your left foot
over in front of him, as you make another sound
distraction and tell him good boy.

You'll probably need to correct him in this manner
two or three times alternating the direction of the
origin of the sound distractions always followed by
praise as you shorten your lead just enough to
apply a very slight amount of tension on the lead,
using your right hand out to your right side, and
release which will cause him to drop back to heel.

Try to move him into a complete left circle, and
come to a sit when you have come full circle.

This circle will start off being rather large, perhaps
six, eight, ten feet or more in diameter. It is
important to finish at exactly three hundred and
sixty degrees.

Come to a sit at this point, follow through with your
stay command, praise, adjust him to sit straight,
and proceed into a three hundred and sixty-degree
right circle.

*Next, we're going to try again to move forward
on the heel command, and proceed only four steps,
and make a ninety degree left turn, taking only
two steps, and making a ninety degree right turn,
and continue for only four steps.

You may need to make a slight correction with
each turn. This correction must be performed
without pulling back on the lead with your left hand.

The right hand is the only hand on the lead,
proceed slowly and deliberately speaking with
each step 1) heel good boy, step 2) nice dog!
step 3) that's a good fella, (next tuning left)
step 4) heel good boy as you make a ninety
degree left turn and continue only one more
step while praising and then turn right with
another request to heel followed by good boy,
and continue as before for three steps, and
on the fourth step turn into a full left hand
circle and come to a halt where you've taken
a fix on a landmark as you start/finish point,
and ask for a sit.

We'll follow through with the sit straight command,
and the relaxation, and then move into a three
hundred sixty degree right circle.

If everything is going quite well, you should just
about get dizzy, with all of this turning and pivoting.

At this point, do not try to go for any distance in
the heel position. You'll have many years of
walking with your dog at the heel position.
This heeling exercise will give you and your
dog all of the basic practice that you need to
accomplish anything you desire.

3A. Down From the Side

At any time you have your dog sitting correctly
in the heel position, you may ask him to lie down.
Your left hand will come up from your side, palm
open, fingers together, and pointing directly
towards the left.

Bring your hand from high above your dogs head,
and slightly forward, so as to not come into his
line of vision abruptly or close to his eyes, at
the moment you give the voice command to down.

Keep the signal open, and wait. Give him plenty
of time to think about this command. After several
seconds, and when it seems that he is no longer
thinking about this command, repeat the signal
and voice command with the appropriate sound
cue and follow through with praise.

Continue praising once again, until you are sure
he is no longer thinking about your request.

Repeat the third request and praise without the
sound cue. Keep this hand signal open as you
bring your right arm forward, placing the length
of the lead under your left palm, and place your
left thumb over the lead.

You'll have no tension on the collar; the lead
will be under your palm, coming between your
index finger and thumb. Do not apply pressure.

This will protect your face as you reach for his
left leg with your left hand with the length of the
lead in it. The right hand will have the lead at
the half-length as it was during the heel.

Now place the right hand on the dogs' right leg
and gently lift to place his paws forward. Do
not try to force him to lie down.

If you place his feet just a few inches forward,
follow through with the stay signal, stand up
straight, and praise him. Wait for him to finish
laying down on his own, even if it's ten or
twenty minutes later.

Do not praise with your hand when he is in the
down position. And as always, you may ask him
to down straight. You might touch his shoulders
with your middle finger and thumb gently between
his shoulder blades, or the flat of your palm on
the large muscle of his shoulder or rear legs to
ask him to down straight. At this time you may
pat him.

3B. Leave Your Dog on a Stay Command

You may begin to leave your dog on a stay
command from either a sitting, standing, or
lying down position. Sitting would be easiest.

The stay command is much easier than it sounds.
Proper timing will make this command simple.
The secret is to use all of the cues we have
available at the same time.

We will teach your dog to heel automatically
when you step forward with your left foot, and
to stay automatically when you step forward
with your right foot.

Your right foot will be an additional signal to teach
your dog to stay. It must coincide with the voice
command, and at the same time, you will drop the
length of your lead directly in front of your dog's
face as you move directly toward the end of your
lead.

If done correctly, we have four signals working
in our favor. Dropping the length of your lead
(but not the handle) will have a visual impact on
keeping him in the stay command.

Give your stay hand signal, voice command,
and movement of your right foot all together, as
you bring your right arm forward and release the
length of the lead from your palm.

As you step forward with your left foot, place
the handle of your lead into your left hand.

If he should break the stay command before you
have stepped forward with your left foot, use your
sound and praise and take the middle of you lead
with your left hand to collect the lead back into
the palm of your right hand, and step back into
the heel position, and if necessary, repeat your
sit command.

If this sounds contrary to the earlier discussion
about correcting the last command that your dog
broke, I agree. However, to your dog, stay is a
non-action!

That means that he did not break the stay command,
but rather, he broke the sit command. The position
he was in was the stay command; the concept of
stay does not mean much to your dog.

If you leave his side correctly, and he breaks the
command from the side, he must be corrected
from the side. Most of the time, you'll just step
back as you make a sound cue and if necessary
sit, stay, good, sit straight, and repeat the stay
signal and voice command as you step forward
again.

Once you have taken two steps forward, even
though he is behind you, if he breaks the stay
command now, he has broken it from the front.

That means you'll need to place the handle of
the lead into your left hand, turn to face him,
collecting the length of your lead with your right
hand, and placing it into the palm of your left, as
the signal to sit comes with your right hand.

Try to get him sitting with as little physical contact
as possible, drop the length of your lead, step all
of the way back to the end of your lead, repeat
your stay signal from the front, at the same time
as you step forward on your right foot and continue
directly towards him, collecting the length of your
lead into your left palm.

Now you may physically praise him, ask him to
sit straight, adjust him, repeat the stay signal
from the front as you drop the length of the lead
and step back.

Initially, we will give extra stay signals (with voice
commands) at each point of our movement. We
expect him to break the stay command when we
move, so move smoothly, and distinctly, giving
the signal with each new movement.

When correcting a broken stay command use
a sound and praise only, and return the dog to
the position without comment or physical contact,
if possible.

Return to the point where he was when he broke
the command, praise from that distance, repeat
the stay command again as you quickly move in
toward him, ask him to sit straight again, praise,
pat, repeat the stay command and go back.

Each point of movement requires handling of the
lead properly to correct any mistakes quickly and
without fussing. (By point of movement, I mean
when you leave the side, when you reach the end
of the lead and turn to face him, and when you
begin to returntohim.

3C. Returning to the Heel Position

Now you are ready to return to the heel position
by going behind your dog. As you move toward
your dog, repeat your stay signal from the front,
place the handle of your lead into your right hand,
and side your left hand down the length of the lead,
to keep it adjusted as you go to your right, along
the left side of your dog.

As you return to your dog, if he breaks the stay
command before you get directly behind him, the
lead must go back into your left hand as you step
backwards to correct him from the front.

As you return to your dog, if he breaks the stay
command when you are directly behind him, the
lead will return to your right hand, and you will
correct him from the side.

*Once he's used to that, get him used to paying
attention to your feet as you pass by, lulling him
into a false sense that he's going to remain there,
as you plant your left foot at the heel position and
pass by stepping off on your right foot with your
stay signal and command.

After several repetitions, plant your right foot
at his shoulder and pass by on your left foot,
asking for a heel and taking just one step, ask
for a sit.

Long stay commands are simply a matter of
understanding how long your dog will remain
in the desired position before moving. If your
dog is willing to remain in position for any given
period of time, it is likely that he will be consistent,
and remain in that position for whatever amount
of time as long as he feels comfortable.

Carefully time his limits, and just before that time
span has elapsed, make a move using the
appropriate signals. This should have the effect
of "re- starting" his clock. So, if you expect he'll
remain sitting for ten seconds, make your move
at about eight seconds into the command, and
return to your original point and wait. Anticipate
when he will break the command, and you'll have
no difficulty extending the amount of time that he
is able to stay on command.

The American Kennel Club (A.K.C.) requires that
a stay command last for only three minutes of
sitting, and six minutes in the down position.
That is probably due to time constraints in the
show ring. For our purposes, you determine the
quantity of time that you would prefer your dog
to remain in a stay command.

Remember, each time you must correct your
dog for breaking a stay command is an
opportunity to extend his ability to wait. Be
consistent, patient, and persistent. Don't ask
him to do something, and forget about following
through to properly enforce the desired command.

3D. Down From the Front

When both you and your dog are comfortable
with working on stay commands, you may go
on to down from the front.

Start at the six-foot distance, and use a full
sweep of the forearm, keeping the signal open,
fingers together, palm down, fingers pointing
toward your dog.

Give your signal and wait as before, and if
necessary repeat your second request with
sound on the cue word. On your third request,
as your signal is coming down, collect your
lead with your right hand at the half-length,
placing it into your left palm.

Keeping your right hand on the length of the lead,
control the lead with your right thumb, as you move
in to grasp the left front leg with your right hand,
being careful not to release the length of the lead.

Your left hand will do likewise, keeping the lead
folded as you place your left hand on his right
front leg, making sure that the collar has no
tension on it, but that the lead has no slack.

This will protect your face while working on
placing your dog down. Gently pick up on his front
feet, and move them forward. Even if they come
forward only a couple of inches, follow through
with your stay command, drop the length of your
lead as you step all the way back.

In the unlikely event that your dog remains in the
down position, you must return to the heel position
quickly, thus avoiding the likelihood that he will
now break the down -stay command.

This would require that you again place him into
the down position from the front. Once you've
returned to the heel position, if he should break
the down stay command, you may correct him
from the side.

4. PRACTICING LONG STAY COMMANDS

Try leaving your dog from the heel position on
a sit or down-stay command, stepping off with
your right foot as you issue the stay signal with
voice command, dropping the length of your lead
directly in front of his nose as your left foot is
proceeding into its first movement of your
second step.

As you plant your left foot on the ground, the
handle of the lead must go over the thumb of
your left hand, and your right foot should be
moving forward into your third step, and continue
to the six foot length of your lead.

Turning to face him with a flash of your right palm
and a repeat voice command to stay, tell him he's
a good dog, repeat your stay signal and voice
command as you once again step forward on
your right foot.

Depending on whether you want to move directly
into him to adjust his position, or to pat and
reassure him, or continue to go around him to
return to the heel position, requires different
handling techniques with the lead.

These differences are important so that any errors
may be corrected efficiently, and also so that we
will not give any unintentional cues that might cause
him to break his command. We want to throw the
dog off guard to keep him distracted while we're moving.

If your intent is to keep him sitting or down while
in front of you at a distance, you'll need to control
the lead with your left hand. If he should break
the stay command, just sound and praise and if
necessary repeat the signal and the command that
he broke (in this case either sit or down), and
without speaking, collect the lead with your right
hand, keeping the signal open, and placing the
lead half way down into your left hand.

If your intent is to return to the heel position,
you'll need to hold the handle of your lead with
the right hand, sliding your left hand down the
length of your lead as you approach him.

So, when you're at the six-foot distance in front
of him, as you're about to move toward him, repeat
your stay signal as you step forward with your right foot.

Move directly forward, collecting your lead into
your left hand, step right up to your dog, pat,
praise, adjust, repeat the stay signal, and step
directly back as you drop the length of the lead,
and return to the six foot distance in front of your dog.

Repeat your stay signal once again as you step
forward on your right foot, place the handle of
your lead into your right hand, slide your left hand
down the lead as you extend your arms enough to
keep the extra slack out of the way, and proceed
to your right around your dog.

As you step past his head, this is the moment
when he will be likely to break position. If he
does, make a sound distraction and praise,
while placing the lead into your left hand, repeat
your signal with your right hand and voice
command with praise, correct his position, drop
the length as you step all of the way back, praise
from this distance, repeat your stay commands,
and try again to return around him.

As you do so, if he breaks position as you approach
directly behind him, correct him as you would from
the side. Next time, plan your move so that you
plant your left foot at the heel position, as you move
without hesitation into the stay command, passing
by him with your right foot, moving directly to the
end of your lead.

Repeat this several times, just moving forward
and returning around from behind him and leaving
him seated as you pass by.

After several tries, plan your move so that when
you are directly behind him you will plant your right
foot at the heel position, and pass his shoulder as
you step out of the stationary heel position and
into the forward heel with your left foot, hand signal,
and voice command to heel. Take three steps,
speaking with each step and come to a halt,
asking for a sit or down.

STAND

The signal for stand may be given from the side
or the front (front is easier) with the palm open,
facing down, just a sweep in front of your chest.

You may move your right foot at the same time,
forward from the side, and backward from the front.

As with the other commands, repeat after a few
moments, or if he seems to no longer be acknowledging
recognition of the command. On your third request,
repeat your command with sound and praise, and gently
coax him into position.

From the front, as soon as he begins to move,
follow through with sound and praise and the stay
signal, and go directly toward him, asking him to
stand straight. Adjust his front, come around behind
him into the heel position, repeat the stay signals,
run your hand along the sides of his body, adjust
his feet so they are lined up properly, and move
forward to the end of your lead.

To exit a stand-stay command, return to the heel
position and take one step forward on the heel,
and ask for a sit or down. Try to avoid asking him
to come to you from a standing position.

Down In Motion (On Heel Or Recall)

Now that we have the heeling pattern exercise we
can use it to teach other more advanced work. The
down while in motion is particularly easy to teach
if we give the down command on our third step,
when the dog is going to expect to turn left.

He's ready to turn with you and that's a perfect
opportunity to ask him to do something different,
like drop as we give the down signal on our left
foot and step past him on our next step with our
right foot with a stay command as we continue
to the end of the lead.

Same idea with the down on recall. The dog is
familiar with coming nine feet. The six foot length
of your lead and three foot length of your arm.

That means the dog is used to coming nine feet
and sitting. So, when we ask for a down on recall,
we just ask for a come command, step back six feet
and ask for a down as we step one step forward,
follow through, and step back to the full length of the
lead to praise. Then you can ask again for a come
to finish. Now that we have these distances the dog
is able to work with, we can use it for all kinds of commands.

6.Conclusion

As you interrupt barking patterns, notice the time
it takes between bursts of barking. If there's a three
second pause, interrupt and praise the bark, and praise
again after two and a half seconds. That'll reset his timer
to allow five seconds of silence between barking spells.

When the dog first begins to break his barking,
you'll hear an "extinguishment" barking pattern.
The regular barking will begin to break up, and there
will be "spaces" in between the barks. Those "spaces"
require instant praise. ANY WHINING IS GOOD if you're
breaking barking.

It's NOT barking, so PRAISE THE WHINING. When
the barking is fully extinguished, THEN work on the
whining just as you did the barking. The same tact
is used with any repetetive behavior.

The praise must be timed just right, so that we're
praising the first instant of silence, then break our
attention to allow the dog to think of resuming, and
praise just before the anticipated time that he'll take
before resuming the bark. Usuall it starts out at two
or three seconds between bursts.

Strategically interrupting and praising will quickly
extingush the habitual aspects of the behavior. If
you have difficulty with anything here, call or write
me for assistance.

SOUND DISTRACTION AND PRAISE TECHNIQUE

Using this technique is the easiest and fastest way to
break any behavior. There are a number of things that
have to be considered when beginning th isapproach.A
few preliminary exercises in the Wits' End Dog Training
Method manual available at: http://www.doggydoright.com
will explain the basic handling techniques you should learn.
Using them will insure that the method will work to a high
degree of proficiency.

The problem is that not many people understand how
to use the sound distraction and praise techniques
correctly, and do not know HOWE to use the come
command as a default, if the sound does not work on
occasion. When you are told these methods have been
tried and didn't work, rest assured that whomever
"tried" it and for whom it did not work, did not
"try" doing it correctly. If the technique does not work,
the come command is to be used as a default, and a
new attempt at addressing the problem can begin.

I've heard a couple of the "experts" saying they've
tried it, and it didn't work for them or it made their dog
nervous. Those are usually the experts who choke and
shock dogs, and are trying to FORCE the dog using
sound instead of choking or shocking... Many of them
have never read the techniques presented here, and
are using inappropriate or incorrect methods.

There are some people who do not follow directions
and get lousy results, and there are people who do not
allow the technique adequate repetition to be
successful. There is no excuse that these techniques
will not work if done correctly, they are a scientific
fact.

Any sound will suffice. Ideally, the sound would be the
same each time, but that is not always possible. A
single clap of the hands or snap of the fingers would
do, if it were followed by praise, and as long as it does
not happen twice in succession from the same point of
origin. That's why several penny cans are required, or
a friend or family member can be enlisted to clap their
hands or snap their fingers, to create another source
of sound distraction. You cannot use the same penny
can for more than two occasions in succession.

Once it's been tossed, it must remain where it falls,
till the exercise if finished.

The sound must always be instantly followed by
PROLONGED (5-15 seconds), non physical praise.
The sound must never occur from the same point of
origin twice in succession. The sound must be brief.
Any UNINTENTIONAL sounding should be avoided and
PRAISED if it occurs. That will let the dogs know it was
not intended for them.

When more than one dog is present when using sound
distractions and praise techniques, all dogs present must
receive praise with direct eye contact so they will
UNDERSTAND they were not being addressed. The
praise must continue constantly for several seconds
following any sound cue to allow the thought process
to be completed.

The behavior MUST be allowed or CAUSED to be
repeated and interrupted AGAIN using sound and
praise until the behavior is broken. And most
importantly, the moment the dog thinks of resuming
the behavior, you must praise him.

That's right. When the dog thinks about resuming the
behavior, praise him at that exact moment, and the
previous DISTRACTIONS will be restimulated in the
dogs mind, and the behavior will QUICKLY be
extinguished.

That's why trying to prevent the dog from doing a
behavior is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.

You end up distracting the dog's thoughts from the
behavior we are teaching or breaking.

That seems to be the real hard part for the trainers
here to understand. They want to make it happen, and
they interfere with the dog's thought process. The dog
will learn through the process of elimination of
alternative actions or behaviors.

It ONLY takes a few minutes, and the behavior is
eliminated, rather than repressed and seething to
resume, as is the case with physical or verbal
corrections, confrontation, or punishment "techniques."

The trainer will confound his efforts when they insist
on telling the dog "NO!," instead of relying on the
conditioning that has been established.

Shouting at the dog will often trigger the opposite of
the desired effect. Phyisical opposition is triggered
through force or pressure, emotional opposition is
triggered through negative emotions.

What further complicates the process for the trainer
is that they break the conditioning when they respond
with a different corrective technique out of a reflexive
reaction of their own, such as screaming "No!," or
reaching out to grab the dog and physically correcting
the dog for a further instance of malbehavior, rather
than taking the moment to THINK about the best way
to address the problem, and if necessary, search for
a can or figure out some way to create an appropriate,
brief, distraction, and follow through with the appropriate
sound distraction and praise.

(If you're still following, you now understand why
"traditional?" trainers confound their dogs, by jerking
the lead and shouting NO. Someone ought to mention
that, don't you agree?)

The process must be carried out using an alternate
source of sound for the next interruption. An associate
could be enlisted and instructed to clap their hands on
signal to accomplish the desired sound interruption, a
can with some pennies may be used, a coincidental.
spontaneous occuring sound might serve us well.

Just imagine HOWE your dog is going to react if you
knew there's going to be a peal of thunder, and you
timed it so as to correspond to a failed come command???

We want the dog to exhaust all of the alternative
malbehaviors he can pull out of his bag of tricks,
in order for us to extinguish them EACH in turn.

Any time we interact in a behavior by telling the dog
no, or physically restrain or correct him, we are
becoming part of the behavior, either as a player or
competitor in the dog's mischief.

Using sound as a distraction must always be followed
by immediate, prolonged, non physical praise.
Interrupting a behavior with sound should never be
associated with us, as in voicing "no," or telling the
dog to "stop it." That's going to cause animostiy,
and teach the dog to control you.

The behavior should NOT be distracted with any
PHYSICAL INTERVENTION. We want the behavior to
begin again, so that we may have another opportunity
to properly address the behavior with another sound
distraction and praise.

That way, we can completely end a problem while the
dog is THINKING about it, and we are prepared to
address the issue before it becomes out of control. The
sound must never occur twice in a row from the same
direction.

In other words, if you snapped your fingers in front of
the dog to stop him from chewing on your shoelace,
you'd praise him for five to fifteen seconds immediately
upon snapping your fingers.

The behavior will hopefully resume, and the next
attempt at chewing the shoelace, the sound of the
snap of your fingers must come from behind the dog, or
even from a friend assisting from across the room, from
a soda can with a few pennies in it, or any source of
sound (except our voice!), followed by prolonged, non
physical praise, until the dog is no longer thinking
about the behavior, or resumes it.

The third interruption of the behavior usually gets the
message across, and the dog will think about the
behavior for just a moment before engaging in it once
again for the fourth and last time...

That split second of thinking about engaging in the
behavior requires praise. Do not react to it with a
challenge of shouting no, or physically removing
the temptation.

That moment of thinking about resuming the behavior
and the praise it earns him, will validate the prior
interruptions of that behavior.The dog then needs to
test it out, to be sure that the same behavior will be
dealt with in exactly the same manner. They will
usually make a fourth attempt at the behavior, and if
you follow through appropriately, he will learn not to do
that behavior anymore. But only on the one shoelace!
He must take that behavior to other instances to fully
extinguish his desire for the behavior.

The behavior will not be completely broken until he has
taken the process of elimination to the second, third,
and fourth opportunity to explore that behavior. And,
even at that, you may need to repeat the process in
four completely different places to generalize it.

That means that the worst behavior may need up to
sixty-four properly timed interruptions and praise.
Usually it happens much quicker than that.

Breaking a behavior in this manner reduces stress,
takes us out of the position of negative enforcer or
competitor or playmate, and allows the dog to
extinguish a behavior because he simply doesn't get
any satisfaction from it.

The other secret is giving the dog a payoff for every
time they look at you. Each time you notice eye
contact from your dog, you must praise him verbally,
to keep him always thinking of you and to prevent his
idle mind from doing the devil's work.

THIS CONCLUDES PART TWO OF THE W.E.D.T.M. MANUAL