Paw

 Start this exercise by just touching his paw then click and treat.  He will get the hang of this very quickly!

Then wait for him to move his paw – any movement from the ground, click and treat.  When you are happy with this, raise the odds. Hold the treat in your hand and his natural reaction will be to “paw” it – click and treat.

Work this up without the treat and your dog will progress to naturally giving a paw.

Present

 The present is when your dog sits straight in front of you with his head up and looking at you.

 To begin with use a lure of a toy, play with him to get him motivated.  Bring the toy up to his eye level and lean over him –he should automatically go into a sit – click and treat.

 Lets now dispense with the toy and go onto a treat.  Keep your posture straight and use your hands and the treat as a lure – click and treat him for sitting in front of you.

You can now progress onto shaping the behaviour by closing the distance.  By not clicking and treating him when he doesn’t close the distance, he will soon move in for the treat.

 Once you are happy with the behaviour, introduce the command “Present”.

Retrieve

To being this exercise, throw out a treat.  Click and treat your dog for following the treat – he should come straight back to you once he has heard the click for the next treat.  Work this up until he is going straight out for the thrown treat and back for the click.

Dispense with the treat and use a toy.  Throw it out and if he makes a move out for it, click and treat.  Once he has grasped this, wait until he goes to the toy and sniffs it – click and treat.

Lets raise the odds – we now want him to mouth it.  Stop clicking and treating for sniffing and he should automatically go to mouth it or pick it up – click and treat.  Work on this until he has grasped the behaviour.

Once he has grasped the idea, you can introduce the recall command – click and treat when he returns to you.  Continue until he is going out for the toy and coming back to you.  When you are happy with this, dispense with the recall command and only click and treat when he fetches the article straight too you.

 If you want his retrieve to be spot on, you can add the “Present” command to this exercise.

 Sendaway

 The Sendaway is a great use for the target stick.  When getting a dog to move away from his owner, it makes it much easier for him is he has a focus.  However, you don’t necessarily need to use a target stick, you could use his favourite toy.

 Reinforce the target training to begin with .  Place the target stick in the ground and stand about a metre away from it with your dog.  Release him – he may well go to the target stick automatically, if not give him the “Touch” command – click and treat if he moves towards it.

 Work this exercise up until he goes and touches the target stick – click as soon as he touches the target stick.

 Increase the distance and reinforce the fastest performances.

As soon as he gets to the stage where he is advancing to the target stick of his own accord, you can then introduce the command “away”

 If you want to achieve the perfect obedience sendaway, you need to down your dog at a distance.  Contact one of our training officers who will help you.

 Sit

 Hold the treat just over his head, it should be a natural reaction for him to sit as it's easier to look at the treat from that position. 

 If he doesn't sit straight away you should find that he will lower his bottom slightly - that's good click, treat.  He will eventually pick up the sit from doing this. 

You can also wait for offered behaviour, when he sits of his own accord, click and treat.  Once he is sitting to gain the click – raise the odds – click and treat every twice etc.  Then work on the fastest sit – once you are happy, introduce the command “Sit”.

 Speak

If you have a very vocal dog, it makes this much easier!

You can use offered behaviour – when he barks, click and treat.  He will probably pick up on this very fast and start barking at you for a treat.  You can then raise the criteria -–if you want two barks for “speak” – wait for two barks before clicking and treating.

You may need to motivate him with a toy to get him excited – that’s fine.  Use whatever you like to get him to bark.

 Once you are happy he is consistently barking for  the click and treat – introduce the command “Speak”.

Stay

Put him on a lead (or you can do this off the lead) and place him in either a sit or down position on your left hand. Move your right leg away, if he stays click, treat. 

Raise the odds - once he is happy with this, you can move one step away, if he stays, step back to her, click, treat.

You can build up the distance and time as you go along but remember if you are struggling to get a 10 second stay, reduce it to 5 - only add on a couple more seconds when you are sure you can.

Most people will use the Stay command for when they return to their dog and a Wait command when the dog is called to them.  You can teach these exercises in exactly the same way.

Stand

The best way to achieve a stand is to walk him into one (bit of ringcraft here!).

Step back from him and hold a treat at his eye level – don’t hold it high or you will end up with a sit.  He should come towards you – as soon as he stands, click and treat.  Work this up until he is constantly getting up and standing.

Raise the odds.  Wait for him to stand a couple of seconds before clicking and treating.  Gradually build up the time until he stays on his feet.

When you are happy he is staying on his feet constantly for the click and treat, introduce the command “Stand”.

 Wave

The wave is similar to the paw exercise.  Hold a treat in your hand and he should raise his paw – click and treat.

Work this up and he should automatically raise his paw – when you are happy with this, wait for him to put his paw down and back up again for another attempt, click and treat – you have a wave!

You could use a target stick for this exercise to refine his wave!