HERE…is a good thing!
Written by Pam on March 23, 2015
At HGT we believe in training our dogs to do remarkable things – and our dogs training continues for the first 2 – 3 years. We have already successfully completed training classes in socialization, foundation I & II for Ty and will be starting agility/rally and show handling classes. Yesterday we just stopped in for a makeup session and Ty impressed us again and again. Ty, like Koko, will learn a command and once that command is practiced a few times it is then ingrained and they never seem to forget it. Our instructor was teaching a formal recall command or HERE. This is unlike the informal recall of Come. Come is a command that is used over and over but the Here command is taught to not only come to you but to also help satisfy the dog’s innate prey drive.
To imprint this command you need to set up the situation so that there are limited distractions and so the dog never fails. By doing this you will need to have a sack of tasty treats, the dog on a 6 foot lead and a partner to help out. To start this training you need to entice the dog with the treats but do NOT give the treat just yet. Have your partner hold the lead while you entice the dog then turn your back to the dog and walk away holding the treat behind you so that the dog will focus on you leaving and the treat in your hand behind your back. Then when you are about 10 – 15 feet away, have your partner release the lead and turn to the dog and yell HERE (dog’s name) in a strong loud voice. Once the dog reaches you give lots of praise and of course the treat. The dog gets the enticement, the chase, the reward and the praise – this training will also help you round up your dog at the dog park or while going on a hike or simply going for a walk – this command will help stimulate the prey drive in the dog while he is with you and while you are using the HERE command and will (hopefully) control the prey drive in our dog’s temptations, such as squirrels, small cars and other misbehaving dogs.
Below are some candid sepia pics of our Ty doing what seems effortless for Ty today. Ty needed to perform a different command – as the other dogs did the same command – a way to avoid distractions and to only listen and watch the trainer. She sat as told while everyone else was in a down position. She also needed to work hard on NOT to sit, while everyone else was in a sit command – this is our attempt at get her ready for handling classes. When the dogs are on the handler’s lead, they need to stack, stand, walk, without sitting – no matter what! Think about Westminster – how many dogs did you see …sitting! We also worked on her silent commands – we were in complete bliss! Cheers, Pam
