Socialization

Continue to expose your puppy to the big world, but safely. Remember the two V's of socialization: Volume and Variety.  Has your puppy met a toddler? More than one? And enjoyed the experience?  How about teenagers?  People with beards?  Remember to use the “Jolly Routine”  and yummy treats or favorite toys when your puppy meets a new person.

• No lure, just command and signal for “sit”
• Continue to practice the “sit/ collar touch” exercise.
• Remember, No food lure on “Down” - be brave. 
  • Signal with an empty right hand.
  • Reward from your left hand.
  • Gradually use less and less hand motion to signal the down, until you can stand upright and signal.
• If you "captured" the down, you will have the behavior on verbal cue by now, so try harder version, such as:

Downs with you seated, and/or Downs with you at a distance (leash the puppy, walk 10 feet away cue "down", wait quietly for success, click then treat.)

• Puppy should occasionally perform three or four behaviors per reward. (Try to do the Sit-Down-Sit-Stand sequence, (see below) varying the order of the commands (so as to avoid accidentally pattern-training the puppy) then reward at the end of the series.)
• Practice Come, holding the lure about 2' from the puppy, give the command, and back up. Reward the puppy as he catches you.  
• Remember to use “real life” rewards sometimes, (see last week's notes).
• Practice in new locations this week.

Practice “sit-stay”: strive for 60 second stay by the end of the week.  Remember, the “stay” ends only with the release word or a new cue. 

 If the puppy breaks the stay just say "oops", then put the treat away and turn your back on the puppy for a moment.  Then drop back and practice the last time level he was successful at.  If he breaks twice in a row, rehearse several very short stays, so that he is failure free, then gradually, gradually increase the duration.

For some puppies it is helpful to use the leash to gently hold the puppy (fairly) still, just long enough for him to get the picture that stillness earns rewards.  Do not use the leash to punish, just to stabilize.

Hand targeting -- Stand

Tuck a food treat between your fingers, and present the palm of your hand towards the puppy.  Click as he touches you hand (to get the treat) and release the treat as his reward. Repeat three times.  Now the puppy is very optimistic about your hand-- so present your empty hand, palm towards him.  He will reach in to investigate. Click as he touches your hand, then treat from your other hand.

The first few time only have your puppy reach an inch or two to touch your palm, but once he does that confidently, kick it up a  notch -- have him reach 3 or 4 inches, then take a step to touch your hand, then 2 steps.  As you increase the distance, you will note that you could use your hand targeting as a Come cue! Cool!

You can also use hand targeting to steer the puppy in other ways -- it can cue him to get off the couch, or to shift over so there is room for your feet.  You can also us targeting to get him to follow you on a walk.  (Of course-- good behavior requires you to work at it, step-by-step.)

For now, we are going to use the hand target, presented about 6 inches in front of your puppy, and at his nose level, to pull him out of his Sit into a Stand.

The verbal cue can be Touch, or, whatever cue makes sense to you and your puppy!

Rollover

Shake Hands

In General

When practicing the new commands you should: Use a lure for only the first few repetitions. Be strict with yourself about this -- if you lure though hundreds of repetitions, it is very challenging to get rid of the lure. Let the lure help you jump start the behavior, using it for no more than 10 repetitions at maximum, then put it away, and use the hand gesture. Do continue to use a generous ratio of reinforcement. Initially practice in a non-distracting area.