The Invisible Trainer Series – The Training Strategy – Part 4 Helping                                             

In our last training session I discussed the teaching aspect of the training strategy. I will review this teaching phase before we go on to the second phase of the training strategy, the helping phase.

Begin with your dog in the standing position. You should have your dog fitted with a regular buckle collar attached to a six foot nylon or leather leash in addition to the remote training collar. Begin by holding the leash loosely in your hand while at the same time giving your dog the command to “sit.” As you say sit, hit the “nick button” at the same time using the recognition level of stimulation (this was explained in out last article). Watch what your dog does. He may look around or he may just stand there. It doesn’t matter. Continue to hit the button up to three times pausing two seconds in between commands. If after the third command and “nick” your dog fails to sit, then use the leash to gently pull up on the dogs collar and help your dog into the sitting position while continuing to give the dog the “sit command and nicking him at the same time.”. The purpose of helping your dog to “sit” after the third “nick” is to help the dog to learn when it complies with the request (SIT) the “Nicks” go away. This is called escape training.

What is meant by escape training is that your dog will learn to escape the short stimulation when it complies with the request. By way of review, let me repeat the process to help clarify the process.

Ask your dog to “SIT”. At the very same moment that you say “SIT” push the “nick” button on your hand held remote. The command “Sit” and the “nick” occur simultaneously. Watch what your dog does. If he should “Sit” upon your request, praise him for about 3 to 4 seconds or give him a small treat which can be consumed in 3 or 4 seconds. If your dog fails to “sit”, then repeat the process by asking him to “sit” again while at the same time pushing the “nick” button on the remote. If after the third request, your dog does not “sit”, then pull up on the collar with the leash lifting your dogs head up and hold his head up until he sits. As you hold your dogs head up, continue to repeat the “sit command” and continue to push the “nick” button on the remote. Pause two seconds in between each command.

Our goal in this exercise is to teach your dog that the nick or stimulation goes away when he sits. It is our job to help your dog learn this escape training strategy. It is extremely important that every time you give your dog the “sit” command, you push the nick button; even if your dog already knows the sit command. The main goal of this exercise isn’t to teach what sit means as it is to teach your dog how to escape the stimulation. We are laying a foundation of understanding which will empower us to communicate with our dog from 100 yards away later in the training.

If you deviate from this structured pattern of learning, later you will confuse your dog. Just follow the instructions as they presented in this training series and in time you will reap the rewards of having a dog which is trained to respond to a number of commands off leash with any kind of distraction.

The third aspect of this training strategy is what I refer to as the “correcting” phase. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let’s say that after a 20 minute training session with your dog, he begins to sit after the first or second command to sit. After sitting in position for say 30 seconds, your dog stands up and breaks the sitting command. At this point we resume phase one. We repeat the “sit” command while “nicking” your dog and starting all over.

Sit means sit. If I give a dog a command to “sit” and he breaks the command without any consequences, then you are inadvertently communicating to your dog that sit is only a suggestion. By correcting your dog, you will be communicating consistency. Consistency is the mother of learning when used in conjunction with consequences. Good consequences such as rewards for complying with the command and bad consequences for non-compliance. The bad consequence in this example is simple starting over. This is why I refer to it as the “correcting” phase of the training. Your dog will be learning from his mistakes. By correcting him for breaking the command the correction will reinforce the escape training strategy which will result is greater, faster obedience as the process continues.

Your exercise this week is as follows.

Your training sessions will be 20 minutes long. You should strap the training collar on your dog about one hour before you begin your lesson. This will prevent your dog from associating the collar with the training exercise. DO NOT point the remote at your dog when you push the button like you are trying to change the channel on your television. We do not want your dog to associate the collar or the remote with the training process.

Begin your exercise with your dog on a six foot leash. You will have the leash in one hand and the remote in the other hand. Begin the exercise by asking your dog to sit and push the button on the remote at the same time. If your dog sits upon request, praise him or reward him with a treat. If your dog doesn’t sit, repeat the command while pushing the nick button. After three requests to sit, if he fails to comply, pull up on the leash while continuing to give the sit command and nicking your dog until he does sit. By pulling up on the leash you will be helping him to learn how to escape the “nick” on the training collar.

Leave your dog in the sitting position for one to two minutes. You can tell your dog to stay during the part of the exercise. If he breaks the sit and stay, correct your dog by asking him to sit again. Remember to use push the nick button every time you ask the dog to sit. If your dog will sit stay for two minutes, you can use the leash to pull him out of the sitting position and walk him around for about a minute and then start over by asking him to sit using the nick button.