In Middle School we build on behaviors learned in Elementary School by adding in more distractions, distance, and duration. We also introduce some fun, new concepts including things like how to teach your dog a trick and the beginning of more complex behaviors.
Once your dog knows how to down using a verbal cue, we want to teach them that your arm overhead is an another cue that means down. The benefit to the overhead signal for down is your dog can see it at a distance which is especially important for safety Read More
A default behavior is a behavior you and your dog choose (usually sit or down) as a way for your dog to politely communicate with you a request for something they want such as going outside, saying hello to a person, or a special toy you need to get for Read More
Chair game is a pattern game that you can do anywhere there is a raised surface to use as your starting point. You can use a chair, or any other raised surface that can be distinguished from the other targets such as the bumper of a car, a step, a Read More
When you first taught your dog a new behavior (e.g. touch, sit, or down) you clicked as soon as your dog did the behavior. Once your dog has the behavior on cue, you can add duration to it. To add duration to a behavior we change the timing of the Read More
This exercise is designed to help your dog feel comfortable with hands near and on their collar. Follow the steps below to help your dog feel comfortable having their collar handled. Take it slow and don’t move on to the next step until your dog is fully comfortable with the Read More
We teach our dogs a release word to let them know that they can get up from whatever position we left them waiting in. You can make your release word anything you want. At BlueDog, we recommend that you use the word ‘free’ but you can get creative if you Read More
The voluntary version of 1-2-3 is a next step for your dog after they have mastered the 1-2-3 pattern. In this version of the 1-2-3 game your dog communicates with you when they want to move forward. Thus, the voluntary version puts the decision for progress forward to either stop Read More