What is the First Thing to Teach?
Overview
It’s important to teach the markers, engagement and that training is fun!
The more they enjoy training the easier it will be to teach them new behaviors. It should not be stressful. If you make training fun then the dog will always want to focus and work with you.
For the first week of training you should really only focus on conditioning the markers, building engagement and luring the dog into positions you like.
You really want the dog to be conditioned to the markers for any other training to be successful. You also want them to want to engage with you often and you want them to understand that following your hand around into various positions is rewarding.
Once you have these basic foundational pieces you can advance onto the next steps.
Training Timeline
Steps
Here’s a simple look at the steps you take for training a dog. Try not to advance past step 1 or 2 for the first week.
Getting the dog conditioned to the markers, learning to engage with you and enjoying the training.
Showing the dog the behaviors you want them to perform first with luring then turning that into a hand signal.
Name those behaviors by saying the verbal command before doing the hand signal/physical cue.
Generalize the command by teaching them in many different locations and scenarios.
It’s ok and preferred to go back steps in training if needed.
Example
You’re on step 3 and your dog doesn’t seem to pay attention and is hyper and distracted, then it’s a good idea to go back to step 1 and work on your engagement training. You want to show the dog that they need to pay attention to you. You may need to go to a lower distraction area as well.
You’ll want to work this a little longer to get the dog to understand the concept of looking up at you to get that reward. A lot of dogs won’t naturally want to look at your face so you have to show them that it is a good thing. And not only is it a good thing but you are going to reward them for doing so.