Welcome to Pawprint Academy, your blueprint to
raising better dogs. My name is Ryan, and I'll
be your host for this journey. I've got my trusty
co -host here, Brianna. Hello. And together,
we're bringing you real -world training insights
built on leadership, structure, and proven methods.
We record this podcast with live clients on the
line in one take with live, unscripted questions
and answers. At the end of the day, this podcast
is a lot more than just teaching your dog to
sit or stay. creating calmness, and becoming
the kind of leader your dog truly needs. We do
that with our three pillar method of trust, obey,
and perform. Together, we'll show you how these
three pillars shape every step of training. Thanks
for being here. Let's get started. Good evening.
Episode 12. The first commands every puppy should
learn. Building foundation. We're going to get
right to it at the beginning here. We're going
to say that puppies for this episode are going
to be the first two years. And I know that that's
not a puppy by the time they're two years old.
But the goal, so this is the last. puppy specific
episode um the last i think the last two episodes
we kind of said that this doesn't just go for
puppies it also goes for you know no matter what
their age is but this is let's just talk at the
beginning of training it is puppy centric because
it's the last episode of our like puppy series
but um i would say that everything that we talk
about today should 100 % be like pushed for those
first two years of a dog's life. Right. And even
if your dog has training, these are the basics
that you can always practice. Yep. So good evening,
everybody. And we are coming to you kind of recorded
live from a huge mess in here. We have a new
podcast room slash studio that is under construction.
A work in progress is a loose term for this right
now. We're like sitting on top of stuff. So I
don't know that we could cram any more into this
room right now. All right. So the first first
commands that we'll say every dog should know
in the first two years. Core idea. As we jump
into it tonight is the early commands. Give puppies
structure, focus, and a shared language with
the owners. Because obviously puppies and dogs
don't speak English. So right when I say that,
I realize that we now have a bunch of listeners
across the pond in the UK. And Lord only knows
what language you speak right now. I'm just kidding.
I have a lot of friends. I just realized that
that joke isn't going to land very well because
it's not to the people that I would be normally
saying to. All right, just ignore it. We'll backtrack.
We'll backtrack. The joke is that the Brits,
they speak English. Right. But you could only
understand. Yeah. Selective parts of it. Right.
It's still English, but it's not American. Right.
We speak American. Yeah, it's the accent. Sorry,
I had to explain it. It's not just the accent,
though. The words are different. I gotcha. All
right. So early commands. I'm going to start
over. Early commands give puppies structure,
focus, and a shared language with their owners.
Start simple, keep it consistent, and build from
success. So that's our core idea that we're laying
out tonight. When we talk about early dog life
structure, we talk a lot about focus and engagement,
this big buzzword called engagement. But without
engagement, you don't have a dog that's trained.
You don't have anything because if a dog's not
engaged to you, they're engaged to something
else because the dog's always looking for something.
They're never just like sitting down and just
like. I was going to say a different analogy,
but then I'll have to explain that one. I'm really
trying to dial this in. Dogs are always looking
for things to do. They're always looking for
something. They're always watching your expressions
and your body language and trying to figure out
how to work. how to live in the situation that's
going on around them. So with that in mind, if
you aren't engaging your dog and then you're
giving them a command, it's highly unlikely they're
not going to listen. Right. Because they're like,
wait, what? What you were talking? What's up?
Yeah. They're not going to be just listening
to you every second. Yeah. Without you. Right.
Because it's not a language that they can even
communicate with. Right. All right. So. The first
one that we recommend, and the first thing that
we recommend, we're going to talk, I'm going
to talk about two things. Cues, language, drills
are separate. Those things. They're separate
from what I've kind of outlined here. The three
basic commands that I think that every dog should
know in the first two years. Starts with sit.
And sit, the reason I chose sit, because I went
back and forth with this because there's like,
okay, as a dog trainer, really, are you going
with sit? Right. But I really think that sit
is very valuable. And I think it's very valuable
because one, across every dog that I, and not
every dog, but every dog owner that I've ever
talked to, prides themselves. On the fact that
their dog can sit. Right. And it gets mentioned
immediately as soon as we start to do like an
evaluation. Oh, they can sit. Right. Watch. Watch
this. Sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. Can you sit?
Good. Oh, good job. Sit. And this repeats itself.
Yeah. Right. But I love it. And it's OK because.
because it's that excitement right you taught
your dog to do something and they're listening
to you that's an incredibly exciting task and
it's an and an exciting event so there's nothing
wrong with that i don't want to discourage that
i think and that's why it ranks as my number
one thing that we can teach our dogs yeah because
it also is incredibly valuable invaluable in
the terms that It gives the dog a job that immediately
defines. It's relatively easy to teach. It's
easy to lure the dog into. And once the dog figures
it out, now the dog has a job. Yeah. You want
to talk about what you can do with a job? Yeah,
you can use it to build impulse control in puppies.
Right. Most importantly. And that, exactly. And
that shapes. The entire experience that you might
have with your puppy or your dog in those first
couple of years. By giving the dog a job, we
give the dog something to do rather than just
don't do this, don't do that, don't do this.
We've got to give the dog something to do. So
when they're doing something we don't want, even
something as simple as sit. is a job that we
can do, enforce, and hold the dog accountable
to do once they understand it and exhibit their
understanding. Right, and I think the thing that
people miss with puppies is putting them on a
leash. They're like, well, how do I make them
sit? Well, you put them on a leash. Right, right,
yeah, because the leash skills are so important,
and so we teach all of our initial obedience
skills on a leash. A lot of people are just averse
to that because they're like, no, I only use
leash when I go out to walk. Right. But but it's
like, hold on. But you want your dog to listen
when you're out on a walk. You should pattern
the same environment in wherever you want the
dog to listen. So if you want the dog to listen
on a leash on a walk, you need to teach the dog
to listen on a leash without those same distractions.
Right. And also when you're first starting out,
you could just walk inside. Right. Yeah, the
dog doesn't. Really, honestly, the dog does not.
And as a puppy, the dog does not need as much
physical exercise as they need mental exercise.
So a puppy is growing. They're not going to get
overweight. I mean, they can. I've seen it. But
they're usually not going to end up overweight
as a brand new puppy. They're just growing and
growing and growing. And everything that goes
in just turns into energy. and muscle yeah so
where we're going with that is they they don't
exercise is important yes but not at the expense
of the mental stimulation mental stimulation
ranks high and above physical exercise when you're
trying to teach your puppy to like listen to
you and calm down yep yeah um Because, yeah,
you can just run your puppy. Run and run and
run and run until they're so tired they can't
move. And then they're just going to sleep. They're
not going to calm down. They're just going to
zonk out. Instead, we can teach them to calm
down by repetition and patterning. And that's
what we're going to talk about. All right. So
sit teaches puppies patience and also focus.
Because, hey, I told you to sit. That is a specific
task with specific points of performance. You
teach them how to do it. You pattern it. You
hold them accountable. And then they perform
it. That is the building blocks of this obedience
concept. And the obedience concept is what builds
so much engagement and fun and trust and relationship
in this dog -human relationship. So the other
things that it's going to do is it's going to,
it's going to make greetings a lot calmer because
a dog who's on all four paws is a spring waiting
to go off. They feel significantly more comfortable
jumping and, you know, and you know, moving quickly
because they are in a much higher state of arousal
or alertness. When they're on all four paws and
they're like standing. So teaching a dog to sit
or hold a position helps to increase that calm
and respectful greeting environment that we want
to see when we bring guests over, which is incredibly
important. in the thanksgiving and christmas
holidays right and in order for your dog to do
that you're gonna have to rep it out beforehand
your dog's not gonna just do it successfully
on thanksgiving day when you have 27 guests over
you cannot just teach your dog to sit 20 000
times and then when guests come over you tell
them to sit and then they're like um i'm sorry
hold on there's guests over here they're Because
this is a concept called generalization. And
when you change specific variables to the dog
or in front of the dog, the picture looks different
to the dog. It's like a puzzle. If you take a
puzzle with a puzzle picture on it, but you just
change it, all the puzzle pieces are exactly
the same. But if you put a different picture,
on there how much more difficult is it going
to be for you to to put that puzzle together
if let's say that you put this puzzle together
a hundred times you know where all the pieces
go but all the puzzle pieces remain the same
you just change the picture and now you spin
around three times and go now you're looking
down at it And this puzzle that you put together
a thousand times looks completely different.
That's how a dog feels when you just change a
couple of variables. It's a totally different
picture to them, which is why when we take a
dog in, we do so many, we do a hundred different
pictures. Right? It's like, cool, I want you
to sit here. I want you to sit outside. I want
you to sit on the sidewalk. I want you to sit
on the porch. I want you to sit on the grass.
I want you to sit on the gravel. I want you to
sit on, like, I want you to sit in the coffee
shop, in the brewery, in the mall, in the, I
don't know, whatever. Whatever it is, we have
to get them experience to all these different
things so that they're like, oh, sit just means
to sit no matter where I am. At that point, That's
where obedience starts to make a human proud
because they're like, oh yeah, my dog understands.
But generalization is much easier for humans
than it is for dogs. And so we can be like, cool,
sit is specific to the performance of this task
regardless, and the positioning, regardless of
the environment. But dogs don't think that way.
They don't get it. So, We've got to show them.
So that's why Brianna's saying you've got to
rep those things out. You have to practice those
things. You've got to practice people coming
over. You've got to practice doorbells going
off. You've got to practice doors opening and
closing and slamming and shutting and creaking
and everything. That's how dog training goes.
All right. Next thing that it does, creates a
default behavior rather than jumping, right?
And so usually another reason why sit is like
this primary thing that we want because a dog
or a puppy jumps up on you in order to get close
to you. And when they come down, they almost
always land in a sit. If a dog jumps up on you
and you step into them, you kind of push them
back. A lot of times they kind of fold down.
into a sit and at that moment you can read you
can name that command and then reward for it
yeah so it is a great default behavior right
or replacement or replacement behavior right
give your dog a job that you want them to do
rather than what you don't want them to do no
don't jump sit oh good sit that's so good Right.
Because if you tell a puppy to not jump, they're
not going to know what to do instead unless you
tell them. Yeah. Yeah. We got a reward for what
we want. Yep. All right. And the final point,
it's super easy to teach and it's easy to reinforce.
All right. So let's talk through it. So when
I first teach a puppy to sit, I'm going to use,
we've talked about this a couple of times, how
it is. All right. Sorry about that. We had a
little internet outage, and so we just had to
reconnect. We are back up and running. So we
were talking about how SIT was easy to teach
and easy to reinforce. Yep. So when we talk about...
Sorry, I'm trying to get back on track here.
When we talk about SIT... We've got the three
languages that we teach and that we can teach
a dog. The most basic language is food luring.
Then we got leash pressure. Then we have verbal
language. And with puppies, we use food luring.
And so luring that dog with food and we lure
the dog forward and then up. and their head kind
of comes up towards the food and their butt just
kind of naturally sinks down. And that's how
we can start to shape the sit. You have more
to add on that one? No, I was going to jump right
into the question because we had already addressed
the first question of why it's the best command
to start with. So how do you avoid food luring
forever? So we start patterning and we move to
our second language. Um, I would say we just,
we layer in the, um, the leash pressure because
I think that leash pressure is one of those languages
that we don't ever really want to fade out. Nope.
Even for a dog that you want to go or the, you
want a dog to be off leash capable and you want
them to run around a park or run around your
yard or your property or whatever. We still want
to always continue to bolster their understanding
of leash pressure. Because at some point I want
to take my dog out in public and I can't walk
through a dog friendly store like Lowe's, Home
Depot, Academy, Michaels, HomeGoods, anything.
I can't walk through those. Right. Not on a leash.
Yep. For sure. Even the stores that are like,
yeah, we're dog friendly as long as they're well
behaved. Yeah. They're not going to put up with
you having your dog off of a leash. Nope. The
leash is here to stay. Yeah. You might as well
work with it. Right. When we do that, like that's
when and as we integrate that dog with more leash
pressure and more leash skills, we can fade out
the luring with the food because they understand
the next language. Right. And we also use the
alternate marker words for treatable and non
-treatable. which means that you don't really
have to avoid food luring or treating necessarily,
not really luring, but treating. You don't have
to avoid treating. You just change your marker
words up. And then as far as building reliability,
I'd say like corrections, right? And nobody wants
to hear that you have to correct your dog, but
you have to teach your dog what no means, just
like you have to teach your dog what yes means.
Because if your dog doesn't know what no means
and there's no consequence for no, that no doesn't
matter. And when your dog does something wrong
and you say no, your dog ignores you because
you haven't told them that there was a consequence
for their actions or a consequence that follows
that no. Yeah, 100%. And that goes also. The
next question that I had here was share a case
where teaching sit fixed another problem, right?
So jumping. Jumping is 100 % where I go. Yeah.
Because when I walk into a client's house and
we're doing an evaluation, they're like, I just
want you to fix the jumping. They just jump and
jump and jump like on everyone. Jump on me, jump
on everyone else. All that dog needed to know
was what to do. rather than jump. Because right
now they show up and they're like, I'm jumping
and this is great. This is fun. I get lots of
attention. They get all crazy. They're yelling
a bunch of words and we're all having fun. But
to the owner, the owner's like, I can't get through
to this dog. But they never taught them what
to do instead. Right. And so a lot of times you
teach them sit. And then you enforce it with
the leash and with the leash pressure. You get
a dog to sit. You have enough leash for them
to sit, but not enough to jump. You step on that
leash. And when they jump, they jump up. That
leash gets tight all by itself. They get an immediate
correction. And then they're like, oh, what was
that? And now you have an opportunity to teach
them. they sink back down into that sit and you
immediately throw a party oh my gosh you're the
best dog ever great job here's a bunch of treats
and they're like oh this sit thing is pretty
cool right yeah that's all it takes but i say
that all it takes that's all it takes to start
shaping that in the dog's mind right then it
takes consistency yep it takes like intestinal
fortitude. You have to be like, I will not reward
this dog for anything other than a sit when guests
come over. Also, the one thing I think people
miss is like coming up with a reward or a word
to break your dog from that position. Because
if you don't ever teach your dog to break the
position, then they're never going to hold the
position. And you're just going to have to end
up saying, sit, sit, sit, sit, because you're
going to. reward them. Also a good point. And
they're just going to get right back up. And
then we have the dogs that just sit. When is
the dog done? Pop up, sit, pop up, sit, pop up.
Yeah. They got to know when they're done. Right.
They got to know when to do it and they got to
know when they're done. Yep. For sure. All right.
So the next command that we're going to highly
recommend is place. So place ranks in at number
two because it is the epitome of calm energy
before the storm, right? We don't have to allow
the storm though. So that potential energy of
a dog laying on a bed is an incredibly powerful
teaching tool. So place helps puppies settle
and it builds duration skills. When you use a
place bed, place mat, place anything, something
that was kind of like has definitive borders
and ideally is raised off the ground just a little
bit so that the dog not only has to step outside
of a boundary, but also has to change elevation.
That's really, really important. And it really
helps you to define this clear border of the
place bed to your dog. So now when they step
off the place bed, they're like, I'm also stepping
down and off of this thing. Now you can enforce
and hold your dog accountable to not leave that
area and then reward when they're on it and correct
when they're not. And it makes it very, very,
very clear in the dog's mind where their place
is. And then you can start building duration.
We start moving back and then coming forward
and rewarding them. We start moving back further.
We start increasing the time between those reward
events. All of those things build duration, right?
Duration, distraction, and distance. Perfect.
What's next? So place gives them a job in the
home. So people inevitably all the time are like,
my dog is eating the couch. My dog is begging
at the table. My dog is jumping on the counter.
I don't remember the last time I told a dog not
to go to place, right? Just naturally, like when
in the home. Because you can have a place bed
anywhere. The dog doesn't have to be in one singular
place in the house. But place beds are transferable.
It could be different in each room, but you can
tell the dog place anywhere and have the dog
go to it. It doesn't mean sit. It doesn't mean
lay down. It means put all four paws on this
and stay within the boundary of this item. And
so we don't even train place on a specific bed.
We train it on all sorts of different beds. on
couch cushions, on towels, on blankets, on wherever.
Because I want to be able to point to a spot,
a place, and be like, hey, you, pause here. And
then just have them go there and be like, okay,
I'll wait for you. That's the concept. And then
second point is it prevents chaos during meals,
which I already mentioned, visitors, and downtime.
When you're sitting on the couch, your dog should
be sitting on place, right? If you want them
on the couch with you, fine. But it's a great
opportunity to use place to practice. And then
visitors, inevitably everyone comes to us, right?
Our dog. jumps on people at the door. And I always
look at people and I'm like, well, why is your
dog even at the door? Right. Why aren't they?
Give them a job. Yeah. Why aren't they over there?
Why aren't they in their crate? Why aren't they
on place? Why aren't they laying down on something?
And most of the times what we hear is, oh, well,
they, they just, I tell them that, but they don't
stay there. Right. Right. I got it. But like,
right. If you tell your kid to go to your room
and then they, they don't go to your room, what
do you do? Right. You just throw your hands up
and you go, ah, they just don't listen. But with
kids, people take it a lot more personally. They're
like, no, no, you're going to your room. Yep.
Well, the dogs are no different. And then last
one is impulse control, obviously, which we already
talked about with sit. They have to stay on the
place bed. They get off. You put them back. Right.
Impulse control. Yes. And then neutrality around
distractions, which we have dealt with with dogs
that are aggressive or don't like guests coming
into the home. Yeah. It's their safe space, just
like a kennel, but it doesn't make them feel
so entirely like trapped. Right. So they just.
It's a little more freedom than the crate, but
it's not complete freedom. Right. They get to
hang out. They get to hang out. They get to be
part of the family. They get to relax. They get
to see these visitors from a distance. And we
do not encourage people to go up and then pet
those dogs on place. Leave them alone. They're
just on place. They're working. It's a job. If
you really want the whole like, yeah, go and
see this dog, then give them a break. All right.
What? I'll take this one. So go -to methods for
teaching place to a young puppy. So right off
the bat, I use food. We lure the dog over. And
I like to teach a dog to walk over place first.
So I'll take a bed or a little placemat or something,
even if it's like a little elevated platform,
put it on the floor, and I will walk. around
it and lure the dog with my hand up and over
the place bed at the point where the dog gets
all four paws on the place bed so first off before
we even do place i'm just walking over it right
to make sure that the dog will go over it right
we're not using place we're not using anything
go over it go over it go over it give them food
go over it over it over it give them food now
Go over it and stop just for a second. Give them
food. And then free them, right? Let them run
around. Lure them. Go over it. Stop just for
a second. Give them food. Then start naming it.
Once you have established that pattern, then
you start naming it. After you name it, now you
can put the place bed into a corner or one or
two sides that are kind of limited. And now you
can kind of lure them into that corner. And as
soon as their paws hit the, the placemat, we
name the command place and then we mark and reward.
And then the final step is to, right. There's
probably a couple of steps in between that you
can kind of, you know, figure out to just kind
of shape. But the final step is to get them to
go to their place. And that one's the hardest
one. And so the way we do that is I'm going to
drop some food on the place bed. They're going
to be on a leash. I'm going to drop some food
on the place bed. I'm going to walk away. They're
going to try to get to the food. They're going
to know that the food is there. But I just walk
away. Don't tell them no. I don't tell them leave
it. I don't tell them anything. I just walk away.
And then I get them hyped up and I show them
the place bed. I point over there and I'm like,
yeah, you want to go over there? You want to
go over there? You want to get that food? They
don't understand all of that, right? I'm just
getting real excited. I get real excited and
then I say, all right, ready, go. Go to your
place. Go to your place. And they run over there
to get the food. And I start shaping that command.
Go to your place. Yep. Nice. All right. How do
you explain the value of place to new owners?
Owners, so inevitably we run into owners that
are like, right, but. They just sleep on the
couch. Why do I need a place bed? What do you
say? I always say I go with like the unsupervised
puppy method, right? It's at no point do you
want to keep one eye on your puppy at all times.
And place bed is kind of your saving grace for
that, right? It's sort of like the jumper that
you put your kid in when you need to wash the
dishes. And so you just put the dog on place.
You do the dishes. They can be right next to
you. I don't care. Be right next to you, but
on a place bed. And they can't step off of the
place bed because they're right next to you.
Or you could start practicing distance and duration
and have them across the room where you can still
see them and hold them accountable. But the key
to that is you can see them and hold them accountable.
to being on the place bed while you do things
because that's where the puppy learns i think
a lot of people get stuck on the fact that you
need to stand right next to the puppy be like
no place no place no place let them make mistakes
right correct them that's how they learn what
no means absolutely put them back puppies get
tired of going back to the same place they're
like oh this is exhausting so annoying right
it is and eventually they'll be like you know
what i'm just gonna stay right here Right. This
is easier. Same thing when you're just treating
them for going on their place. Eventually by
like the fifth, sixth, seventh time, the dog
goes, I'm not even going to get off the place.
We're just going to stay right here. And then
we have to use the leash to get them off the
place because they've learned. You're just going
to make me go back on it. Right. If I just stay
on the place, they just keep giving me food.
So I'm just going to, I'm just going to stay
here. And so I don't even know what that was
that fell behind me. This podcast room is almost
uninhabitable. I'm like, I've already been hit
in the head once this week. I don't need a second
one. Something, a big air mattress just fell
off of this like high shelf. All right. Anyways.
Behind Brianna. I know. She's scared. Yeah. Anyway.
But you build that, right? I don't even know
what I was talking about. I'm going to be honest
with you. I totally lost it. Puppies staying
on place. Right, staying on place. They get tired.
Oh, right. They get tired of going back and forth
and back and forth. But you're the person that
has to outlast them. Just like, you're still
laughing at me. Just like when your dog is barking
in the crate and you can't let them out, you
have to outlast that. Yeah. And it takes. more
patience than the dog has in order to train things
like that and if you don't have it then maybe
a puppy is not for you maybe a senior senior
dog from the shelter you know not a puppy is
not for everybody i'm gonna i'm gonna only say
one comment and then we're gonna move on but
i i can't explain how many people um that are
that have They are like retired. They are relaxing.
They are the they are the coasting phase of their
lives. Right. Empty nesters. Empty nesters. And
then they're like, I'm going to get this puppy
Belgian Malinois. Yeah, I wouldn't even do that.
Why? Why did you do that? I definitely adopt
an older dog over a little puppy. Right. You've
got to find a dog that's in the phase of life.
Right. It has to match your phase of life. I
think that's what we see a lot of the time too.
It's like, oh, well, I got this dog to change
my lifestyle. Yep. And a lot of times that doesn't
work. I'm not even going to say a lot of times
I've never seen that work. Right. I've never
seen the, I got this dog to change my lifestyle.
I am sedentary. And I am not active. And I got
this dog so that then I will have to go and get
active. Right. That is not what ends up happening.
Right. I'm sorry, but if you're 82 and you get
a GSP, it's going to be a crazy ride. But you
just commit to it, right? It's just a crazy ride.
And we're laughing about this because we see
the pattern over and over. Yeah. There's no part
of this that I don't, I will, I will rally behind.
Oh yeah. Proactive owners. You can do it for
sure. For sure. But it's going to be a while.
It's going to be wild. It's a roller coaster.
Right. We're totally here for it. And I really,
really, really do invest in, in folks that just
are like, look, I, I, I understand what I got
into. I, I'm here for it. just tell me what to
do right i'm on it i was thinking about this
earlier like by myself in the car and i was like
you know like when like you're young and you
get pregnant and you're gonna have a baby and
it's like so exciting right you have to upgrade
your house usually right usually a lot of the
time you have to upgrade your house immediately
you need a third bedroom you need a fourth bedroom
you need whatever oh my gosh you commit To a
life change. And I think a lot of the time what
people miss out on, I know you're still laughing,
but I'm so serious right now. When you get a
dog, you're committing to a life change. Especially
if it's a dog that has like issues, you know,
like rescues, things like that. Like you are
committing to a life change. That dog is probably
not going to be normal. Yeah. Right. Because
it's, it's been through a lot. Right. And you
can ask all the questions and we'll answer every
single one of them or do our best to. Absolutely.
But it's just like a kid with special needs.
Right. Like they have special needs and you have
the dog that you have. Yeah. You don't have the
dog that you see on YouTube. Right. You adapt
and you overcome. Yeah. And as long as owners
are respond, they take responsibility for that.
I. love those owners those are the owners that
i will go so many more extra miles for right
because it's like i get it right you you have
the dog you have you're you're owning that you're
like look just just help me just help me and
that's where we come in yeah all right so the
last point uh or the not the last point the last
command that we recommend um our top three is
recall And recall comes in hard because recall
is a safety issue. And I don't pull any punches
on this. If your dog does not come back when
you call it, let me rephrase. If you have no
accountability over whether your dog comes back
or not, then I would ask the question if you're
being responsible. And what I mean by that is
I have repped out Nala's recall command a thousand
or ten thousand times. But when we go out somewhere,
I put an e -collar on her. When we go out and
we go hiking or we go wherever, we're going off
leash, she wears an e -collar because that is
responsible. Because if she doesn't come back
when I call her, for whatever reason, I need
to ensure that I can communicate with her. Yep.
That's it, right? So when I say if your dog doesn't
recall just because you call them, right? Or
you're on a leash, you're on an e -call, or you're
on something, right? But if your dog can't understand
that when you do this, whatever this is, that
they're supposed to come back. well how are you
supposed to get them back yeah how are they gonna
just not run away and this is where sometimes
we get the call right i'd say the two things
we get top are leash walking and recall for sure
when we show up people are like my dog doesn't
recall or my dog sucks on a leash yeah reliable
reliable recall saves lives there's no question
about it But also the thing I want to like reiterate,
I don't even know if it's in your bullet points
because I haven't even looked. But if you don't
practice recall with your dog, your dog won't
have it when you need it or want it to happen.
Right. If you're not constantly or periodically
telling that dog what come means or here or whatever
your recall is, it could be their name. I don't
care. Yeah. But if you're not periodically trying
that and testing your dog in different environments
at different levels of distraction, then your
dog's not going to have it when you really, really,
really want it. Yep. So right off of that, we
start on a leash. All right. We start on a short
leash. Then we go to a long leash. Then we go
to a long line. Those are steps in the process.
And the whole point is we want to completely
control that idea of accountability. If you cannot
affect a change with your dog when they blow
you off, you don't have accountability. And it's
important because otherwise they pattern their
own lesson. And we always want to shape their
lessons. So we start on a leash or a long line
so that we can prevent failure. If you say come
or here, which are the, I guess, probably the
two most popular ones that I hear. And your dog
is like, eh, nah. They've just patterned a different
end state than you want. You've got to prevent
that. You have to prevent the dog from failing.
You have to help them along. From day one. From
day one. From the very first time. So it's come
and then pressure. It's come and then taps on
the e -collar. You're reeling your dog in. It's
come and then it's something that the dog understands
that enforces accountability. It's not negotiable.
owners like the first mistake owners make is
letting their puppy out in the yard because it's
fenced in and not having a leash on them and
having no accountability and then they call them
because they don't come in because they did it
like five times or ten times on a leash right
and their dog comes just fine right now they
take the dog off the leash and we assume that
the dog is dumb and doesn't realize that they're
not on a leash now dogs are very intuitive they're
very quick to be like cool i was on this this
this piece of rope before but now i am not yeah
now i can do what i want and we give the dog
too much too fast and then they fail and then
we're like oh and we're let down and then we
Project that onto the dog and now it hurts our
relationship. So we hate that. We got to prevent
that failure and we can do that with, with the
tools that we have. All right. Pairing come with
rewards is super, super important, right? Clear
marker words, super important. If you are. inevitably
you're yelling and you're trying to get your
dog to come and they're not coming. And you're
like, you have to go out there. And then suddenly
they, they finally turn around and they run towards
you. You cannot lose your mind on them. They
don't understand. You got to throw a party. You
got to be able to turn off that all those negative
emotions, all that frustration. You got to be
able to turn it off, tune it out and immediately
throw the party because the, when they do come
to you, It has to be paired with a reward. Yep.
All right. A strong recall, and the last point
I had here, right? A strong recall can prevent
danger. The road is the number one issue, right?
I don't think a week goes by without me seeing
a post on Facebook somewhere of some dog that
got hit by a car. Yep. And now I get that a lot
of these tragedies happen without owners like
actually calling the dogs. But some of them wouldn't
have happened if the dog would have come back
when the owner initially called them when they
got outside the fence. Before, long before, hours
before, they actually ran away and then got across
a road. recall is super important there's really
no reason that we cannot prioritize it and there's
a ton of tools that we can use in order to get
there but there's there are you can progressively
use just like we use distance duration and distraction
you can use long lines of progressively longer
length to practice the same things yep And then
you can go to lighter and lighter lines until
it's just a string, right? Yeah. So that the
dog feels less, you know, proprioception that
they're on a leash. But you still can put some
pressure on that collar if you need to. Yep.
All right. How, what's the process to introduce
recall to puppies? Inside on short leash. with
like pretty much no distraction going on yeah
so my favorite drill to teach puppies to recall
is actually with no recall and that is my um
the get it free i just we we call it get it free
get it free game goes like this i take a piece
of food toss it down the hallway puppy runs to
go get it i yell free as as soon as the puppy
gets the food i yell free which tells the puppy
they're released come get your treat and they
run to me and get a treat so basically what i'm
doing is i'm creating ping pong ping pong is
another variation of recall of a recall game
that we do later it's a little more advanced
where you're just ping -ponging them between
two trainers or two people where one person's
like come and then the other person's come and
the dog just runs back and forth and gets treats
so um initially though we pattern that by ourselves,
which is get it, toss a piece of food, scamper,
scamper, scamper, go get the food. It's super
fun for puppies. They love it because there's
food over there. There's food over here. There's
food everywhere. It also lowers resource guarding
because it shows the dog that there's just unlimited
resources. So really important when you're shaping
a puppy. That's how I like to introduce it because
then all you have to do is add come. So now it's
get it. They go, they get the food. As soon as
they eat it, you say come. And then as soon as
they start coming, you go free. It's real easy
to layer. Yeah. All right. Biggest mistake when
owners make when teaching recall. Punishment.
Yeah. I was going to. We already touched on all
of these. I think we like, I think you like read
the questions. I don't ever read the questions.
I come up with the questions beforehand and we
just. End up answering them. Well, we definitely
did. But yeah. Punishment. Yeah. When recalling
your dog like doesn't listen, doesn't listen,
doesn't listen, listens. Right. And then we're
like, you're mad. Get inside. Get inside there.
Yeah. Yeah. Never works. No. In your favor. Immediately
teaches the dog. I'm not coming back next time.
Yep. Yeah. And then. OK. Yeah. And then we read
that word for word. You definitely did. But OK.
Okay. Yeah. You read the question. He's like,
I don't know. All right. So. But we answered
it already. So that's great. I love that. I love
that. Yeah. All right. So at this point, I'm
going to open it up for questions. If you have
a question, now is the time to ask. It is about
to be the. Thanksgiving holiday. And so, right.
So we are recording this on the 26th. So tomorrow
is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody
that might be listening. Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving. I mean, it's going to be
a belated Thanksgiving by the time they listen
to it. But we don't have very many people listening
live tonight because I think everybody's traveling
and being with family. All right. Right. We've
had the most questions this week about how does
my dog act when there's 12 people over? We're
like, Oh yeah. Yeah. Great. Right. Yeah. That's
actually true. The today answer this last couple
of weeks has all been very focused on dogs that,
um, I just realized that I may have made a mistake
here. um heidi and michael did you have a question
i think i may have accidentally had you guys
on mute can you hear me yep i can hear you hey
so we still are struggling with maverick when
he um like is finding a level to recall him when
he's For example, chasing the squirrel or, you
know, has got something else that he finds more
interesting. So we're just struggling on finding.
I mean, I get that we're supposed to up the volume
depending on the distraction. Yeah. And I know
that, you know, it's a fair correction if he's
not listening. Yeah, if you're getting to a level
that you are worried about, then where we go
next is that we try to pattern that as many times
as you possibly can prior to those distractions.
So there are going to be a couple of distractions
that are probably going to be the highest level
for him. And so what we want to do is... We want
to be proactive about finding lower level distractions
and repping those out so that he is very, very
quick to know the process that he's supposed
to do. And basically show him the picture. You're
showing him the answer before the question. The
question is squirrel takes off tearing off into
the woods. That's the question. But before that
even happens, you're showing him the answer of,
hey, this chicken who you're kind of interested
in but not really that interested, when I say
come, you come back to me. And by really repping
those out, that would be my next go -to. Brianna,
do you have more on that? No, I think, yeah,
just repping it out. Give him higher value when
you are repping it. So that he gets more amped
to come back. Yeah. Are you, um, have you found
something for Maverick specifically that he like
really, really enjoys? Cause he's, I know he's
kind of food picky. His vegetables. Right. What
about the vegetables? Yeah. He does like his
vegetables. Yeah. Pick up some broccoli and like
some fresh veggies and cut those up and put them
in your treat pouch and use those for his recall.
When he's just really reluctant to do so. And
only, and only for his recall. Yeah. Right. Don't
give it to him for anything else. Only for his
recall. So that basically we just want to really
try to make it super clear in his mind that like
there's great things. I know that that squirrel
looks really fun, but there's this highest value
thing waiting for you. That makes sense. Okay.
Yeah, because you just need to... It's not an
always thing, right? You're not always going
to have to offer him the highest value to call
him back. But right now, you have found something
of highest value to him, which, I mean, we didn't
really have an issue with squirrels when he was
here, but I don't think we have an extravagant
amount of squirrels either. But... Nala chases
most of them away. Yeah, Nala loves squirrels.
She does chase them away. She goes out there
and huff if there are squirrels near her yard.
So Maverick didn't have any to chase. But you
have found something that's higher value, which
means you need to up your value, which, right,
we don't always want it to be the e -collar,
right? So let's try something different. Let's
give him a reward that he values. Of the highest,
which according to, to you guys, I guess is still
fresh vegetables, which is so crazy. He's got
such clean teeth. I know he is. He's going to
have good eyesight. He's going to have great
teeth. Okay. So, but joking aside, joking aside,
we're, why don't we try that? Yeah. Still, still
pair the e -collar with it. Oh yeah. Right. We're
not just trading this out. We're just layering
it. Then also really condition those vegetables,
that high value treat. And it could be for anyone
else that's listening, who's having the same
issue. You can pattern the same thing with whatever
it is that your dog finds value. Right. Cause
we always tell people like your dog chooses what's
valuable. Like you, you don't, your dog does.
Yeah. But I want you to start patterning that
recall process. in the moments of a little bit
lower like stress level right where it's not
a squirrel if that's if that's the like the one
thing that's just like oh i cannot seem to break
this well then let's pattern the recall during
something else like a sniff yeah yeah definitely
or whatever right but but pattern it All the
time. So when he goes out, even like before he
goes to the bathroom, right, you let him go out
there, let him almost get ready to go to the
bathroom and then call him right back and then
get him. Right. I know it sounds silly. It sounds
silly, but call him back and then give him that
that reward, give him that really high value
treat and then let him go back out and then let
him use the bathroom and call him back in. Give
him that high -value treat. Because what we need
to start showing him is the picture that, hey,
the faster I come back, one, I get a really awesome
treat, and two, I just get to go back out. So
it's not the end of my freedom. Right. It's the
repping that's going to create the behavior.
Yes, ma 'am. All right. So we will wrap up our
questions here. Yeah. Sorry about that. I definitely
had you on mute. I did not mean to do that. No
worries. All right. The last part of tonight
is our listener projects. So project number one.
And so every week. quick reminder recap every
week i try to give you guys two project uh two
listener projects so that anybody that's listening
um that's just taking advantage of the free resource
of the podcast can you know practice these these
tasks so number one daily sit routine ask for
a sit before meals or doorways or play or before
the dog gets something right ask before access
um mark with yes And release with free. Those
are our marker words. That's the way that we
do it. Yes is our continuation marker. Free is
our release or terminal marker. Build automatic.
What it's going to do is it's going to build
some automatic impulse control. So just before
you actually allow access to whatever it is,
just ask for a sit. Sit. Yes. Good job. And then
free. and then let them do what it was that you
were about to do. All right, project number two,
place bed practice. So introduce a place bed
in a quiet room. Have the dog walk over it a
few times, and then introduce that sequence that
I talked about earlier. Guide the puppy onto
it, mark with yes, then reward, then free, and
toss a reward away just far enough for the dog
to have to break their position in order to go
get it. That reinforces the meaning of free and
the meaning of yes. Yes. Meaning that I've got,
I'm bringing you the treat free, meaning you
are breaking the command in order to go get the
treat. Gradually increase the time on the bed
and move around. So start increasing those three
D's, those distance, duration and distractions.
All right. That is. All I've got here. So thank
you for tuning in tonight. The day before Thanksgiving
is when we're recording this. And I appreciate
everybody for listening. Reach out, reach out
on whatever, however you're listening to this
or you're listening to it later. Reach out, send
us a message, send us. Why does it do that every
time I use the wrong dial? Let's try this again.
Here we go. Reach out and send me a message,
send me an email, or leave us a review. Happy
to respond. Always trying to improve, always
trying to make this better. A couple of things
that always seem to get us on this live recording
process. Things falling down, rooms in construction.
uh we're doing the best we can here but thanks
for tuning in everybody have a great night good
night