# 52 Weeks of Training



## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

Just wanted to say this is an amazing thread for you to put up and motivate you to train your dog every week. What a great new years goal! Now you have a "job" to do and update us  

By the way, how old are your dogs?


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

Thanks Mithy. I like the "feeling accountable" but that posting it online provides. It's much more of an incentive for me 

Jasper will be 7 months on Friday, and Piper is about 6.5 months. So they're pretty young yet, and while agility is on my list of things for them to learn, I know that will need to wait until they are more physically mature


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

coldbrew that is a great list and I think you can do much of it more easily than you might think right now.

I have one idea of another thing for you to do which is to have a stand command with some sort of stay duration. This is very useful for vet visits and grooming. Another general thing to do is just to keep working on focused attention. That helps make everything else easier.

Since Javelin will be 8 months old next week we are in about the same place as you. His sit is good; down a bit less so but improving; stand, not too good yet; thankfully he has always had an excellent recall; loose leash is starting to be decent, but need it to become heeling. He also has beginnings of retrieve and scent. I need him to learn to work away from me and improve his decision making. I also for the life of me cannot get him to stay for a return to heel where I walk behind him yet!


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## snmim (Sep 7, 2015)

If we are adding things, I'd add a "leave it" to the list! It is a phenomenal tool to have and protects them from ingesting dangerous things and provides impulse control. Mira has an ingrained leave it and now I see I can provide it to much more things other than food (behaviors like pawing something, people, toys/objects). I think the kikopup video on Youtube is fairly easy to follow and that's how it became rock solid for Mira.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Mithy, yes "leave it" for sure. For Lily and Peeves leave it mean stop what ever annoying thing you are doing. By the end of the year it should mean the same for Javelin.

Coldbrew sorry for giving you more homework!


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

No no, please do add to my list!!
Your suggestions are great, and I don't think a dog can know too many things  

We have always struggled with a stay of any sort (probably a fault of mine since Jasper tries so hard at everything), but mastering a standing one would be a great thing for them.

"Leave it" is something I say to them, but I've never tried to teach them it as a real command. I'll add that on for sure


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## AutumnLover (Oct 13, 2015)

I also just want to say thanks for posting this list. What a great idea to keep you accountable, but also as a reference for others. I am always looking for new items to my wish list of training behaviors for Addie. A few of these were missing on my list, and are definitely must-haves (atleast for me).


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## Wren (Jul 2, 2013)

Hi Coldbrew

Since Piper sounds like she has a temperament very much like my Jonah (see your start praying) thread, and in addition to what others here have suggested, I thought I might add the following. These are things I felt helped with training Jonah.

There are good things about dogs like ours, they aren’t overly sensitive, they aren’t fearful, they aren’t reactive and their level of independence means they are OK with being alone for a while. The more challenging part is building their attention span and motivation to work with you

Here are other some tips I learned here and other places: build focus (attention span & eye contact), duration and motivation to please you by:

-playing the collar grab game- 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaKIrNXTYqQ

-after Piper is comfortable with the collar grab game, work on recalling-if she won’t come to you, engage her prey drive by turning your back and running away from her…she will chase you and come to you-collar grab and reward/treat her and release her to go back to what she was doing...lather, rinse, repeat

-teach hand targeting as a fun game and another way to get the pup to engage with you-also comes in handy as a recall method

-after Jonah learned sit and I realized I wanted more of his attention focused on me and to build up duration for basic commands (sit, stay, etc.)…I started using Dr. Karen Overall’s relaxation protocol, which is often used with reactive dogs, but I used it to help build his eye contact, focus, impulse control and attention on me 
http://www.dogdaysnw.com/doc/Protocol_for_Relaxation-_Karen_Overall.pdf

This might be the original set of exercises, but it doesn’t matter as the second set is very similar and you are working on eye contact, focus and duration
Here is a link to audio mp3 files you can download and play through speakers…I found trying to read, time and conduct the exercises simultaneously to be difficult for me
Relaxation Protocol MP3 Files | Champion of My Heart ... a real-time memoir

The Overall exercises gradually add duration to each exercise as you go through them. You can also see videos of the exercises if you search youtube. To be honest, the exercises bore me, but they were good for the dog. 

-play hide and seek everywhere in the house and yard, if you can find a fenced area with trees, houses, etc. play there, too…wait until Piper isn’t paying attention- call her- let her find you-treat/praise-release her to explore then play again

-play the It’s Yer Choice games-search on you tube for examples

Hope these help.


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

*Beginning of Week 2*

*Progress Update*

This week was very Piper-focused mostly due to the fact that she was tethered to me at all times that she was not confined to her crate.

The first lesson learned was by me: It's so hard to have both a shadow puppy (Jasper) and a tethered puppy trailing you at the same time; the leash tangles alone were almost enough to make me stop tethering (almost).

We are on day 7 of no accidents in the house, and since our previous record was 3 days I'm highly encouraged. She's currently off-tether as I type this, but she's sitting at my feet chewing so that's fine with me.

I started using hand-signals, which has been great. Piper responds to them much more readily than Jasper, and she now has a reliable sit and paw (no leaping anymore!). We've been practicing come at gradually expanding distances, and she comes about 75% of the time from up to 30 feet away (even at the dog park, though reliability is much lower there).

I've discovered the potential culprit behind the dogs jumping on greeting; if I'm not home when my partner comes home, the puppies get to jump and bark and are rewarded with petting and attention :argh:

Tethering for bonding seems to be working with Piper too. She used to settle down as far from me as possible while still being only 6 feet away, but now she'll lie down at my feet and will press her head against me for affection. 

This wasn't on my list, but I've been trying to acclimate both dogs to the buzzing of a razor (Jasper doesn't like them near his face). I was gifted with a very tiny cordless one that doesn't do much more than buzz loudly, but I've been turning it on while the dogs are beside me and holding it near their faces while praising and treating. Can't tell if there's improvement, but I've been trying.

I also plan on signing Piper up for a puppy class once I decide where to take her. There are a surprising number of options. I liked the place that I took Jasper for is puppy class, but the classes are only 4 weeks, and I'd like something a little longer. Many of them start soon, so it's a decision I'll have made by the time Week 2 of my 52 Training Weeks has started.


_and Wren,_ thank you very much for all that information! I appreciate it and will denfitely be using it during our 52 weeks!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks for such a good update! I hear you on having a partner who doesn't share your philosophy/methods. There are times where I wonder whether BF ever notices any of what I do. He will play with the dogs and get them all charged up, not itself a problem, but then instead of productively redirecting to static behaviors he just gets annoyed with whoever is acting most berserk.


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

*Wekk 3 and 3.5*

I missed a week, but that's alright because we didn't make much progress! The semester started up again, and I'm teaching as well as taking a full load of class and working in the lab, so the dogs and I had to adjust to their new schedule.

I trusted Piper too soon, and she had a few accidents while not being watched carefully, so we did another few days of tethering and now she's trustworthy while in the same room with us. I know she can hold it up to 5 hours at a time, so why she feels the need to go every hour or so while loose is exasperating. 

Jasper has, I think, decided that 7.5 months is a good time to become a teenager. He hasn't forgotten any commands, but he has become much more slow at following them. Piper is lightning fast when i have something high value; Jasper not so much.

Most of Piper's training has been at the dog park, because she adores chasing balls. I give her the command, she does it, and her reward is chasing the ball. We have sit, lay down, paw, and turn around almost rock-solid. Her recall is coming along too, as is Jasper's.

I've enrolled Piper in a class that starts at the end of February, which gives her about 3 weeks post-op from getting spayed. Jasper (and maybe Piper) will also be taking an 8 week class that ends in early June, and hopefully will take and pass their CGCs when finished with it.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

That is a nice update and you shouldn't think that you didn't accomplish anything. You trained them to understand that there is a new schedule! I think it is really nice that Piper loves to work for life rewards. You can never give too many of those, but you can give too many bits of cheese and hot dogs.

Javelin has also been slow to respond in the last few weeks, surging hormones I think. Jasper is still intact too, right? 

Keep up the good work.


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

I'm clearly just as good at keeping up this thread as i am at my 52 week one 

anyway..! we have made progress, so that's what I'm here to report!

Jasper has greatly improved his loose leash walking to the point where i felt comfortable taking him out on the flexileash. The street we live on is a busy one, but the side streets are much less trafficked, so i feel comfortable letting him have more length. He has learned the 'wait' command, which means 'wait for me to catch up' and is used for both when he reaches the curb and when he is at the end of the leash. He's starting to catch on that he always needs to wait at the curb, which is an extra bonus! 

He'll be starting an obedience class in late March/early April that will end with taking the CGC in early June - fingers crossed he'll pass!

Piper started an obedience class a few weeks ago. She's a tough one to train, as I've mentioned before, but we're on day 10 with no accidents in the house (and that was my one true training concern)! Her reward (which I've not yet tried using for other tricks - and i should!) is a very small stuffed animal made for tiny dogs. it has a very high-pitched squeaker which is mildly rewarding to her. What makes it very high value is that when not used it sits behind the feeder in our foster guinea pig's cage, and is stuffed with stray guinea pig hairs. Piper LOVES the guinea pig (as in, she would love it to be all chewed up in her belly), and she goes crazy over the combination squeaker and small rodent smell. 

I also plan on starting clicker training with them. I'm not sure why I've never tried before, other than being unfamiliar with it, but we use it for the shelter dogs where I volunteer, and I think I'm ready to start using it with my own dogs.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

This is a very happy update! Thanks!

I laughed out loud at your description of how Piper LOVES the guinea pig (as in, she would love it to be all chewed up and in her belly) oh Piper! Smart of you to think of the rodent smell on the toy increasing its high value to her!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I love guinea pigs and wish I could keep one or two, but I am afraid that nearly every four legged member of my household would look at them as Piper does (maybe not Lily).


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## Coldbrew (Jun 17, 2015)

the guinea pig (Lampshade) is a darling and extremely sociable - the result of tons of handling by a fourth grade classroom! - but Piper's prey drive is too much to have her stay here permanently. 

The squeak toy has been a hit at class, and while Piper is far from being top of the class, she's also not the worst like I was afraid of! :biggrin:

Jasper seems to have forgotten almost everything he's ever learned, and given that his "memory issues" are coinciding with a new interest in marking anything and everything (thankfully not in the house!), I am blaming a surge in hormones for the lapse. Hopefully with enough focus we can work through this :fingers-crossed:

I seem to have accidentally trained both dogs to "pop up" on anything i pat while saying the phrase. I'd use it for the bed, couch, and into the car. Yesterday at the park Piper "popped up" onto a bench, then the lip of a fountain, and then onto the lap of a lady in a gazebo that noticed us working. The last one wasn't exactly what I wanted to work on, but Piper did do it perfectly, and then gave "kisses". 

I've noticed a marked increase in Piper's affection. I'm very glad, as I've said to my family before that I sometimes wondered why I even bother feeding her (in jest of course). She will come over to be petted, and lean against me if I'm sitting on the ground.

Both dogs are doing fairly good with "leave it", but more so in practice than in real life (chicken on the kitchen floor is too hard to resist).

Overall a good week despite Jasper's surging adolescence!









and here's a picture of two dirty dogs performing a nice recall


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