As I may have mentioned I'm not a 'dog trainer' in that I don't teach dog owners to train their dogs and don't have hundreds of dogs or training hours under my belt [At the time of writing I was not dog training - just over a year later, I'm proud to say that I am now a dog trainer!]. But I have trained more than the average dog owner, and as a dog walker these are the little things that make it so much easier to manage the dogs I walk every day.
My good friend Joe, who is a dog trainer, does remind me that many of these things work for me because I am persistent and consistent and rarely let the dogs off 'just this once'. Also I haven't had many working breeds to work with, so obviously my experience isn't as broad as it could be. I am working on this! But in the meantime, here we go...
Wait at the Gate - Pause at Doors
The wait command has many uses, but waiting for permission to cross doorways and gateways I think is a biggy. It has so many uses, and could possibly save your dog from running off and getting lost, or worse, rushing an open door straight onto a main road. I use this so the dogs wait quietly while I get them in and out of crates in the car, open unfamiliar doors with unfamiliar keys, check for anything unusual (or livestock) on the other sides of gates in the parks or countryside, open the door to the postie, and open the door to strangers.
The basics are that to a dog, an open door should not be an invitation to rush through it. I teach them to wait quietly while I open the door or gate, and while some people prefer the dog to wait for them to go first, I prefer the dog to go first. Once they've gone through, they turn to check with me before continuing - this way they wait before and after going through the door, so they have two chances to get things right.
Nutmeg is my star pupil, because she's really good at this - you can see the door opening a little more each photo and she's just sitting there. I even took her lead off (it's not just photoshopped out, she really is just quietly sitting, waiting) and once released to go through she turns round (sorry for the blurred face, she's very quick!) for permission to go off. She's such a star she did this once when I opened the door to a delivery man! She knew something was going on that was exciting, but still waited!
This has to be practiced constantly, if you forget to reinforce the training, and the rewards! the dog will soon learn to forget. Here's some shots of some other dogs doing the same exercise.
Benson, the large GD X Mastiff, has been used to using his weight to get what he wants, but he learned this really quickly too!
Fred and Beauty waiting at the gate of their crates to be allowed to get out and go for their walks..
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