# Working at a distance



## peccan (Aug 26, 2014)

Just my 2 cent...

I guess in your case what's most important is that Hemi learns that she can have a contact with you even if she's farther away than a few steps, and that good things can happen when she's there. I'd suggest playing keep-away ball toss or working her reliable commands with a fence between you (toss the treats behind her) so you can build up distance without having her rush over to secure the rewards. I used the puppy gate to begin Sulo's distance work. He isn't good yet, being the velcro pup that he is, but at least he's understood that he doesn't need to sit on my feet to work with me 

I guess if she finds ball toss rewarding enough, after she's grasped the idea of keep-away ball toss, Hemi will begin to go out on her own instead of you having to have her stay and walk away yourself. If not, you might just have to get her running around and click-and-treat whenever she happens to be going out and shape that behaviour from there. Of course, treats will have to be of sufficiently high value to be worth it in the excitement.


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

You might try whistle commands as used in field work with retrievers. ie. go left, go right, go out and come back. I have a radio collar which beeps when I press the button. It will also vibrate like a cell phone. I use that for recall and treat. You can even get a GPS version that gives you a map showing the position of the dog/dogs on a small screen at a distance. I have seen dogs working with these at 2 Km. Start with a whistle! Have the dog sit beside you. Have two treats placed on two different coloured papers. One out to the right. One out to the left. give the left command and direct the dog to the treat with your current training. Then have the dog return giving the return signal (usually two whistles/beeps) Once again have the dog sit by your side and give the right command etc etc. Later place one way in front as well and use the go out command. then one behind you. All the rest you already know. All the best.
Eric


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## Quossum (Mar 18, 2011)

Great suggestions so far!

We have to get distance in Agility, so this is something we work. One thing is to avoid luring. If your dog thinks that lasering in on your hand is what brings treats, he won't be motivated to work *away* from you. I do like targeting, the dog running out to a toy or treat, but an assistant is handy to keep the dog from self-rewarding if he doesn't do what he's supposed to do. 

A goal is to work for total independence in each skill you teach the dog. Don't let him become dependent on your inadvertent cues ("encouragement", "help") to perform; let him work it out. Shaping is a good method for this.

Work at keeping the dog's confidence high. The more confident, the more comfortable the dog will be working away from you.

Just some thoughts!

--Q


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## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

Some of the "Gadgets" you can talk to the dog through the collar too. Great for long distance work.
Eric.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

It happens so frequently and easily that we tend to teach our dogs things while we stand in basically one position. For instance, we teach sit and the dog sits in front of us, facing us. We stand that way for a long time until the dog is good at sitting. And so if we stand any other way, the dog doesn't know what we mean because standing in front and facing him has become part of the cue to sit. It's very important to mix things up early on. Ie: stand sideways one time, stand with your back to the dog and ask for a sit, stand 6 feet away from him and ask for a sit. The one cue needs to be proofed so that nothing else means sit. Sit means sit, no matter where we stand, sit, lie down, which way we're looking, how far away from the dog we are etc. Then this same thing needs to be applied to all kinds of behaviors. Also, when you're trying to get the dog to do something with new criteria, such as doing it a small distance away from you, relax the other criteria. Don't worry so much about a straighter sit or a quicker one. Reinforce as the dog is still in motion going toward the behavior you want, not after he's done it or while he's stationary. Get it while he's in motion but almost there. I would recommend some books or videos...Clean Run might be of help and some other kinds of sports that utilize distance work. Are you in an organization where there's a trainer or other people who can help you? Also read about the Premack Principle.


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## dogsavvy (Mar 6, 2015)

First let me say that if you show for competition obedience then you probably won't want to do as I do & will ignore this post. However if you're doing general training you can. 

Poodlebeguiled hit on something that causes a lot of people problems. They stand in one spot or do their commands in a very certain/specific way. The dogs may not really so much learn the commands as they are associating our body signals with what we want. A way to test that is to see what happens when you make a command mistake. For example this happens a lot when I did demonstrations. I would be talking to a crowd or clients & I might say, "sit" but what I meant was 'down'... the dog however does what I meant rather than what I actually said. A lot of times folks don't catch it but they will hear me say, "Good down" which confuses them. Wait a minute, you just said SIT... not down. But the dog is cuing off all the other things that told her what I meant.

When I first train with a puppy or young dog I do things in order. I give a verbal command, a hand signal & leash position. I'll even do in this in order, heel...sit...down... come. Then as the dog gets it I begin to add the stays, then slowly mixing up the commands. Okay so that's the basics but once I start wanting to do long stays. I stretch out the distance when I do a recall by walking/trotting backward as I call the dog to me.

The next step for us is to begin working the dog & showing the dog that those commands mean the same thing even when the handler is out of position. Clients always get a hoot out of walking in & seeing me give commands while laying down on the floor, while sitting in a chair. And yes it does look goofey when I am crawling on my belly commando style when I tell the dog to heel but my dogs learn that no matter what the handler is doing, sit means rump on floor, down means lay down... no matter what the commands mean the same. This proof's the dog's training but it does something else. The dog begins to view this as teamwork training. My human starts trotting off but tells me to stay. So she sticks to her stand/stay & waits to see what else I am up to. I become a very interesting handler. My dogs learn that they just never know what I'm going to do next so they start keeping an eye on me. That crazy human is apt to do anything.

Next I do a handler lost exercise. With young puppies I'll go out in the yard & wait until the pup gets a little distracted & then I tuck in somewhere & hide then I'll either whistle or I'll call the pup's name once. The pup will begin at some point to use her nose to locate me. When she finds me I praise her. Then I'll begin in obedience training to have the pup sit/stay, down/stay, stand/stay & I'll go out of sight. Small steps at first, short distances. Later I'll have a helper stand there to correct if the pup/dog breaks. But I've had dogs at a stay for 15 minutes or more before they're released with the search command. The dog's goal is to find the lost handler. Eventually the dog can be trusted to stay on her own. Once she's doing that reliably I will begin to mix it up again but I'll go out of sight but before calling the dog, I will come back into sight & give the dog something to do. Maybe I'll gently & quietly call the dog but half way to me I will say "wait" or 'hold up' (depends on what the dog's training for) & then I'll give the dog a command to sit or down.

I use my hands a lot when I talk. My dogs are always used to me directing with my hands. So I'll begin to direct with my hands at a distance to get the dog to go up on an obstacle at distance. I've had some dogs I can rate their speed from very far off. My old Belgian Malinois, I could stop her from top speed, have her turn & enter an obstacle from wherever I put her. She preferred always to work close but with the precision we had, you'd have thought she was right on top of me. She was trained just as I described above.

It depends on the mental maturity & the confidence of the dog. Some require time before they're able to work at distance. My Giant Schnauzer is just such a dog. My Malinois (she's passed away years ago) was doing this kind of work by 6 months of age. So it depends on the dog. Once mine learn that even though we're at distance physically we're still connected, it becomes fun & I always end the session by giving them a good hard run to me on the final recall which is party time based on how hard they run to me.


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