Slurpie Passes Obedience Class

Phew! Never had I thought that I would have felt so nervous when my dog takes an exam! We have thought that Slurpie would fail for sure as he was not very consistent in all the trial exams. He gets distracted really easily and likes to sniff the floor.

But Slurpie did PASS his exam! yeahhhhhhh i am so proud of my botak poochie (will do the botak post another time). Barely passed with 163/200 (150 is the passing mark) but still am so so proud! Perfect scores for sit and down stays. He got major deductions for moving for the stand for examination whereby he thought the lady had food in her fist as she was clenching her hand so he quickly sat down and gave her his cutest face. Haiz....he did well for this all the while. And major deductions for Come command when he sat there simply refusing to move despite how the man tried to call him. He only came after like 5 attempts to wave, clap and signal to him. Tsk tsk.....

Find Command

During one of the weeks that the man was away for biz trip, I got bored and tried to play Find with Slurpie. It worked and he really likes it, try with your poochie they really like to be lil sher-dog holmes *wink*

I started off with him doing a sit stay in about 3m away from the room where I intended to hide one of his favourite toy - pluto stuffed toy. I stood at the entrance of the room and showed him I had Pluto in my hand, then I walk out of sight into the room and placed Pluto about 1 m away from the door. For the 1st couple of times do not really hide the toy so they get the idea what the command Find means.

After that I released Slurpie with a OK and said Find Pluto while standing near Pluto. He came running and when he picked up Pluto I immediately praised him. Good Find. Repeated it a few times each time placing Pluto further into the room, on top of the low stool and eventually behind objects so he has to sniff and hunt around for it.

Now I can totally keep any toy out of sight or reach and when I say Find he will start sniffing everywhere. Hehe very vey fun really, try it!

Sit Stay Meal Times

Since day 1 we make Slurpie do sit stay before he gets his meal. The duration gets pregressively longer. This is the time when he is the most focused (on the food!) and you can do whatever you like to him! The man now actually do stripping/grooming for 15-30mins now while Slurpie stares longingly at his meal. Occassionally he lets us knows he has waited to long by whimpering or trying to crawl to the food slowly.....

This is very important as we let him know he only gets to eat when we allow him to (we use release command OK). I have also extended this to play time. When I play fetch with Slurpie I will give the stay command before I throw sometimes and he knows he can only run after the toy after I release him. He thus knows his hierarchy in this pack =) hehe.

Slurpie Hand Hand ^ 5

Clever me took this with the camera held vertically and I have no idea how to rotate so the clip is right side up =P so tilt your head instead la

anyway we are so amused by Slurpie's version of hand hand which is more like a high 5 as he raises his hand so high hahahaha.....

Down Stay Command

After Slurpie was consistent with his Sit and Down commands we started on the stay command in his 2nd week with us. Stay command is very very useful when you need to clear his pee/poo, pick up food that has dropped etc basically when u need poochie to stay away to allow you some time to clear up or mop the floor.

I am so proud of my PP he learns so quickly although he was only about 3 mths old. This is what we did:

1. Give down command first but no reward

2. with one hand placed gently on his back, we put the treat about 1m away (stretch as far as I could with my hand still on his back)

3. when he attempted to get up to get to the treat, I placed light pressure on his back while my other hand made the "stop" sign (fingers all opened like signaling 5) in his face and say Stay.

4. Released after about 1-2 seconds as I say OK and let him run to the treat and relish it.

5. Repeat
Tip: gradually we did not have to hold him in place, so we adjusted the pressure on his back as he progressed.

We increased the waiting time to 30sec, 45sec and 1 min gradually. We also started to walk away with the treat in our hands while he stayed, increasing the distance as we increased the time. He will come running the moment he hears OK at reallt high speed haha.

Now we can do the stay while we walk into other rooms/out of sight! Try it! Stay is really good cos only with Stay can you take nice pics like this:


after our home trainings we did attend some formal classes and found the methods they used were different. I guess there are many ways to train poochie so as long as it works I think any method is fine =) The above method was from a book we bought. Will do books review soon.

Down Command

After Slurpie was doing Sit command consistently, we introduced the Down command. This is relatively easy really as the pup will eagerly do anything to get the treat now that he knows training means treat! Don't worry later as we phrase out the treats he will still do the command automatically with consistent training and practice.

We start with Sit > Treat

Then in sit position, we used another treat. Place it near his nose and direct downwards to the floor. At this point his head would be near the floor but his butt in the air hehe. Held on to the treat until he settled down his butt and is in down position. Immediately gave him the treat and praised him. After a few times, we added the down command the moment his entire body is on the floor.

oops wrong pic...this is the "Carpet" version haha his favorite at rest position.......Down!

Down is good for safety! A dog in down position will be calmer and this is very useful outside when you want him to stay put in a more submissive position than Sit.

After he knows the command, he will perform a down quickly without the butt in the air part first. We also deviated from the treat at nose to ground and substituted a hand action of vertically moving our hand downwards (downward sweeping motion) while standing up (human not dog). Again after we give the treat we say OK to release Slurpie from the action.

The OK release command will be useful later for the Stay training.

Sit Training

As soon as the 2nd week when Slurpie was effectively toilet trained, we started on teaching him basic commands. We read that while puppies looks oooh so teeny their brains are very developed and they are very eager to learn. We bought a couple of books (will do a review later on the books) and read extensively online too. Sigh this puppy is time-consuming!

Items prepared: Treats! we used kibbles and beef jerky. Try to use small size treats so the pup will not take too long to chew it and also not get obese feeding on treats! Ideally the treat should be able to be swallow with minimal chewing so he can get back to attention for the next treat.

No distractions

I started with Slurpie indoor with no other distraction like TV or sounds; holding 5 to 10 of his favourite treat. While puppies have brains that are thirsty to absorb new trainings, they also have short attention spans. Thus in the first week we only did the training 5 to 10 times each round so as to keep his interest and leave him wanting more.

Praise and reward

The ideal situation is to have your puppy looking at you but Slurpie is a very hyper dog and I found that pretty hard. Thus we made sure he knows I have something good in it for him by letting him get a whiff of the treat. Once I got his attention, I moved one of my hands holding a treat over his nose and slowly move it above his head. By now I have his full attention as he really wants to slurp up the treat =)

When I move the treat above his head he will naturally tip his nose and head up to follow the scent and the treat and will also naturally end up in the sit position. As soon as his bump hit the ground I made a big hoohaa praising him and giving him the treat. Once he finish the treat I repeated the process. By the 3rd time or so he does it very quickly sometimes even without waiting for my treat to totally reach above his head. Tip: try not to push down his backside or even touching him at all.

“Sit”

On the second session I starting associating the action of his bump on the floor with the command word "Sit". I repeated all the steps above with the addition of saying a firm “Sit” while moving my hand and just as his bump was about to hit the floor. Again repetition is the key to his understanding and I did this another 5-10 times. As Slurpie is pretty interested and fast, I did one session in the morning and one at night. hehe like having medicine, twice a day before meals. Tip: do trainings before meals so they are slightly hungrier (yes they are always hungry believe me so i use slightly hungrier) so they will be more attentive.

“Ok” release command

Release commands are important so let the pup knows he is finish with the action required. This is especially important later when I want to teach Slurpie the stay command so he knows he is to maintain the command until he is "released". I used "ok" cos i started using it before i read it is not recommended since it is a word we tend to use frequently and now i have to stick with it as Slurpie has already associated that as a release command. Other words that can be used will be "Done", "Off" etc, any single syllabus word should do I think. I would say “ok” before giving the treat to Slurpie when he successfully do the Sit command. This act as a “clicker” training where I can imagine the thought bubble of Slurpie would read: command+ action + ok = yummy reward.

Phase out the treat

After lots of repetition and patience, Slurpie could sit upon hearing the command without the hand signal. So I started to stop giving the treat but use lots of praise and head rubs/pets in place. I mean it would be impossible for me to forever give him a treat for every command in future ma so I used prasie inetead. Tip: Do not use the treat to lure your dog after you are convinced he understands the command.

Daily routine

I worked this command into his daily routine. maybe that is also why started with a Sit command as it does help me to gain some control over him when I need him to stay still. It also reinforces my status as the "pack leader" or owner so he knows who is the boss. Slurpie has to “sit” before he receives his dinner or before I give him his ball or any other toy.

Distraction

When the Slurpie became really a master at the Sit command at home, i started training again with the command and release BUT also with a treat outside during his walks. Distracted he sometimes may ignore me when that happens I do not repeat "Sit Slurpie Sit Sit Sit" instead I walk a little wait till I think he is less distracted and try again. He has to learn to do the act at one "Sit" and not after "Sit Sit Sit" everytime!

Key notes (from website la not me):

• Be consistent. Always use the same word to mean the same thing. Remember, human language is not natural to your dog—he has to learn that words have specific meanings. He'll learn “Sit,” but he'll have a lot of trouble with “Aww, baby, pweeze sit here by me” or “You better sit right now, dammit!” or “Sit … sit down! … sitsitsit …” So play fair and use one word consistently.
  
  
• Be concise. Give your command once and once only. If you repeat a command three, four, or five times, your dog learns that he doesn't have to do it until you say “down … down … down … down” or until you yell really loud or until you say the word and wave your arm at him or some other silly thing.
  
  
• Be generous. Reward your dog for doing what you tell him to do. When you begin teaching a new command, reward him every single time he gets it right. A reward is something your dog likes—that might be a treat, a toy, or a butt scratch, as long as it obviously makes your dog happy. Use a word of praise—“good dog” or “pretty!” or whatever you like—along with the reward, and eventually the word itself will become a reward.
  
  
• Be smart. If you're not in a position to enforce a command, don't give the command unless you know for certain your dog will obey. If you're in the bathtub, don't tell your dog “Down” unless you're willing to get out of the tub, drip through the house, put your dog where you want him, and have him lie down. If you give a command that you can't enforce, your dog learns that he has to do it if you're standing there holding the leash, but he doesn't have to do it if you're all wet or otherwise unable to make sure he does it. The point of training is to teach the dog that he must do what you say when you say it—and if you're consistent and smart when you're training him, you'll end up with a reliable dog.
  
  
• Be prepared. If you're going to need a leash to manage your dog while teaching him to sit, then have the leash on him or close at hand. If your dog doesn't yet come reliably when called, then keep a long line near the backdoor and put it on him when he goes out at night to potty. Then if you say “Come” and he doesn't, you can reel him in.
  
  
• Be happy. Your dog is your friend, and he really does want to please you. Use a happy voice when you give commands, and a very happy voice when you praise him. Put yourself in his place—if two people called you, one in a tone that said, “Oh, I'm so happy to see you; come and be here where I am!” and the other in a growling tone that said, “You get over here right now,” which one would you go see? Use your voice to tell your dog how delighted you'd be to have him do what you tell him.