Canine Good Citizen- Week 4

Watch Me
Make sure that your dog can Watch while he is in leash-walking position by your left leg, as well as when he is facing you.
Leash-walking 
Increase the number of steps per reinforcer.
Ensure that your posture, as you hold the leash and lure is natural, not awkward.
Is your left elbow up in the air, instead of by your side?
Is your lure hand dangling in mid-air, encouraging piranha-like lunging?
 Out-of Sight Stays
Continue to gradually add time, working up to 45 seconds to one minute out of sight.
Remember to include the rehearsal of some short, easy, strain-relieving stays in your session.
 Sit-Stay
Rehearse Dog to Dog approaches, starting with the dogs and owners walking towards one another but stopping 5 feet apart
Coach and encourage your dog.
Use the Watch Me cue to refocus your dog as necessary. Don’t nag, though.
Click and treat the stay.
Repeat, decreasing the distance between the dog after 2 or 3 repetitions.
 Noises, and other Distractions
In the Reaction to Distraction test, your dog will have to tolerate a running person, or perhaps something with wheels, moving rapidly by him, and he may have to tolerate noise, as for example, the sound of something being dropped.
This week, work on your dog staying as your training partner jogs slowly, then rapidly by, at a distance, then closer.
Can he “Stay” as a bike or skateboard goes by, at a distance?
If your dog is worried by noises, expose him gradually, with the noise muffled, or in another room. Cheer and clap and offer him treats. Repeat ‘til he is tail-waggy, then increase the volume of the noise just slightly.
Keep on gradually increasing the volume until it is at a real-life level.
Repeat for each new sound that spooks your dog.