FE145 First Things First - Puppy Foundations for a Bright Future

Pre-Class Lectures:

• Welcome Home- Orientation Week
• Not A Blank Slate
• Pro Tips- Prepping before Training

Week 1 -Essential Skills

• Training A Lure
• Cookie Toss
• Room Service
• Luring Tricks
• Potty Training Tips
• Leash Walks
• Toy Preferences
• Hand Target and Cookie Hand Cue

Week 2- Conditioned Emotional Responses

• Name Game
• Tiny Tug & Switch
• It's Your Choice
• Crate Fun
• Hand Target 2
• Chill Mat
• Bravery Game
• Loppy Training
• Trick- Leg Weaves

Week 3- Skills, Shaping and Socialization

• Charging the Clicker and First Game
• Positions: Sit
• Vito Game
• Positions: Down
• Middle
• Position: Stand
• Good Posture
• Dish 2
• Checkins and reward position
• Expanding the Comfort Zone

Week 4- Precedents, Predictions and Patterns

• Heel Position
• Baby Stays
• Stays from Middle and Heel
• Trade
• Pivot
• Crate + Dish + IYC
• Shaping a Platform Sit
• Recalls
• Doing Dog Things

Week 5 -Discrimination and Generalization

• Place Plus Dish
• Tiny Tug & Trade
• Pivot plus Heel and Front
• Collar Grab and Collar Give
• Sit or Down Loops
• Paw Target
• Noise is Good!

Week 6 Body Handling and Awareness

• Happy Handling
• Muzzle Training
• Mouth Exam
• Gentle Restraint
• Back up
• The Box Game
• Final Tips!

No Prerequisites!

Equipment:

• Platform (a Cato Board works great for medium and larger breed puppies, Smaller breed puppies could use something like a foam puzzle mat cut to size (large enough to easily get on and sit). The ideal platform is slightly elevated off the ground, but not much higher than the puppy's wrist.
• Traffic cone, Toilet Plunger, or Jump Standard (only need one of these)
• Mat- large enough for puppy to lie on, and a different texture than your usual training surface.
• Two identical toys, that are suitable for tugging and tossing. Most puppies like fuzzy, soft toys. You can add a string to each toy if they do not already have a longer handle.
• Two dishes or bowls that are not tippy (ceramic or glass or rubber bowls work great!)
• A variety of treats that your puppy will readily eat and can swallow quickly. Large dry crumbly cookies are not ideal- smaller store bought treats, small cubes of cheese, thinly sliced/cubed cooked chicken or hot dogs work great as higher value treats. In some situations you can also use your puppy's regular meals to train with but you will want easy to feed, higher value options, available.
• A metal pan (dog dish?) that is big enough to fit a spoon lengthwise inside and low enough for puppy to eat out of.
• We will also creatively use a few random household things throughout the class. When these come up, don't worry too much if you don't have the exact item- I'll always give ideas for substitutes and you can just use what you have on hand!

We're going to combine some recently earned skills- the vito game, and our our stand with the front paws on an elevated target, in order to introduce pivots in a really fun way!

For this session, you'll need your two dishes, and a front foot target. Nothing too high- about wrist height or a little less is perfect. The dishes will be placed next to your sides, so you can easily drop in cookies to each one, while the front foot target will be centered in front of your body, about a foot or so away from you (if your puppy is quite large, you may need it a bit further back). Sitting on the floor works great, or sit in a chair!

By now your puppy is likely pretty magnetized to the front foot target so be ready for your puppy to get up there when you bring it out. Mark their front paws up on it with your room service marker a time or two and feed directly to your puppy's mouth. Then, give your Dish! marker cue, and place the cookie in dish 1. They'll go right back to that target- room service marker and feed in place again, and then cue dish cookie in dish 2. Keep this pattern- feeding your puppy in place a few times, then alternating which dish you place the next cookie in.

What you should start to see is your puppy beginning to pivot a few steps as they go from the dish to the pivot and moving their rear legs into place so that they are facing you. Those room service cookies that you feed while they have their front paws up should be delivered from the center of your body, encouraging them to face you.

Here is little Cookie learning this for the first time- she's a busy one, but she catches on quickly that going to the target after each Dish cookie is a good choice.

Here's how it looks a session or two later!