Blackie got an A+!

[Ritz459]

I had my speech final yesterday. We were to do a twenty minute demonstration speech worth 300 points. I decided to do mine on dog training.

So on Wednesday, I brought Blackie inside and gave him a bath. When I went outside to get him, he came running around the corner of the house and he was COVERED in mud and burrs. I thought I had picked all of the burrs off of him, and when I started to bathe him I was STILL finding them everywhere. lol
I trimmed his nails (which he was EXCELLENT for, BTW), cleaned his ears (they were disgusting. I need to remember to do that more often), and even ran an old tooth brush over his teeth (no toothpaste though).

My mom brought him into school on Thursday for my speech class. I started talking about dog training, yadda yadda yadda. I brought in a choke chain and said that I didn't advocate using one, because you can train a dog without one and they aren't for every dog, but since they are extreamly popular, that I'd show how to use it properly.
So I showed them how to put it on the dog the right way, how big it was supposed to be, how to give a correction and then common mistakes made when using them (choking the dog, correcting at the wrong time, it being too big, etc.).

Then I gave a brief background on positive reinforcement and how you use it in training. I talked about how you vary your rewards, how you mark a good behavior, and if your are using treats, what qualities you are looking for in the treats; stuff like that.
Then I showed how you would teach a dog the basic commands (sit, down, stay, and come). Blackie was EXCELLENT for all of this. When I gave him a command he followed it without hesitation and when I was luring him into position to demonstrat how to teach your dog something, he didn't cheat and do it ahead of time even though he knew what I wanted him to do. Even when I was talking to the class and I would quietly tell him to sit, he'd do it.

I was demonstrating a sit/stay and I placed him then walked out into the class and was talking to them and explaining some things, and he never once tried to break it. I swear he didn't even blink until I gave him his release command.
He even humoured the class when I was showing how he can roll over (he did roll over once, and I was going to do it again) and he rolled over to his back, stuck his legs up into the air, and then went back to how he started. LOL So I said, "Well, how about I show you how he can crawl then." LOL

I talked straight through my twenty minutes and I had left out a big chunk about how your body lanuage and your emtions play a big role in dog training. I had touched on the subjects when explain how to teach certain commands, but nothing in depth.

After class I had some of my classmates come up to me and say, "Now, you are going to train my dog to do that, right?" lol I am going to help my friend with her 8yr old White Shepherd, though.

Today in class, Mr. Deere (my Speech teacher) told me that he thought I did an excellent job and it was the best I'd ever done. My score? A perfect 300/300 points! So yey for me and double yey for Blackie!!! And hopefully I enlightened a few things about dog training.
Normally I'm really nervous when I give a speech and I say, "Um" a lot, but not this time. It is amazing how different it is when you are talking about something that is fun for you and you are passionate about. (Not to mention I didn't need any notes. lol)

[Ritz459]

I wrote up a training guide (about fourteen pages) for a couple of people that I know, and I used some of it in my speech. Here are two parts of it, to give you a bit of a background about what I talked about:

V. Teaching Your Dog Basic Commands

Tools needed:

1. Your dog! All kidding aside, the best time to train is when your dog isn't overly active (a.k.a. when you first let your dog out of its crate when you get home). If your dog is to excited/hyper to train, get his energy out by taking a walk or playing a game of fetch first. When dogs are sleepy or hot, they would rather sleep or find a cool spot to lie down. Don't set your dog up to fail by training him when he'd rather be doing anything else.

2. A leash. A six foot leather leash (width depending on the size of your dog) is preferred. I love leather leashes because they are long lasting, they look nice, and they are easy on the hands. A three foot leash is a bit too short, and nylon and chain hurt the hands like the dickens!

3. Training treats and other rewards. Treats are best when you are first teaching your dog a command, but you don't have to continue to give them to your dog after that except for the occasional reinforcer. The best treats are ones that your dog goes crazy for and that are small enough that the dog can swallow them without having to stop your training session by chewing. My dogs love jerky treats of any kinds and I find that the jerky treats are easy to break up into according sizes. If your dog is a major chow hound, then you can even use the dog's daily kibble ration as treats.

4. A non-distracting environment. Trying to train a dog (as well as a kid) in a room that is full of distractions isn't wise. You also shouldn't be distracted by anything; you should be focusing only on your dog. Taking your puppy to the park and then expecting him to grasp the meaning of sit while four squealing girls run past followed by a frantic parent is just stupid. Don't set your dog up to fail; teach him his commands in an environment familiar to him where he is content. Save the park for later when he is ready to strut his stuff.

5. A patient and pleasurable attitude. If you are having a bad day and are grumping at everything that moves, that is not the time to train your dog. You will have a shorter fuse and be more apt to yell at your dog for a mistake. That makes training not fun for your or your dog. If in the middle of training you feel yourself becoming frustrated, stop training. End with something that your dog knows how to do (be it a sit, a down, or even a fetch) and then stop. Not only will you be having a miserable time if you continue, so will your dog.

and how to teach come:

"Come"

Ah, the dreaded "come" command. This is actually fairly easy to teach, even if you do have a dog that likes to see if he will get more sympathy from you by pretending he is deaf. Of course, I said it was easy to teach, not necessarily easy to enforce.
Your body language plays a big part in instilling a good "come". With the previous commands you wanted to sound firm, instilling action. Not so with this command. While I firm noise may be needed to get your dogs attention, your "come" command should be a happy noise. And while also with the previous commands you wanted to stand up straight and tall and have your posture instill discipline in your dog, with this command, you want to bend over, walk backwards, turn your body, and clap your hands softly. This is a submissive posture for a dog and it will encourage the dog to come to you.
Another thing you must do is ALWAYS reward the come command. I was recently put into a tight spot with Rose. She had decided that she was going to follow my younger sister on a bike ride; this is a no-no because Rose doesn't get along well with other dogs and my sister was going to be going by a house that had loose dogs out front. I stepped outside and said, "Rose!" rather sharply. This got Rose's attention and she turned to look at me. I praised, "Come here, Rose!" and turned my body, praising her all of the while. She turned around and came trotting up to me, which I was not expecting at all. I had no rewards on me and I didn’t think praise was going to reward her enough for this (the better the behavior and the more distractions, the bigger the reward), so I took her for a short car ride (down our lane and back). She was in doggy heaven and her come had been strongly reinforced.
To start off teaching this, have your dog a short distance away (six to ten feet) and not too distracted with anything. (The time to teach this command is NOT as he is chasing the rabbit out of your yard). Say your dog's name to get his attention, and then praise, "Come!" while turning your body, bending over, and backing away. It has been proven that short rapid noises speed up an animal, so clap your hands gently, snap your fingers, or click your tongue to encourage your dog to come. Continue to praise him as he comes toward you. As soon as he gets to you, "click", and then give him a highly valued reward, be it lots of yummy food, a game of fetch, of even maybe his freedom in your yard for a while.
Do this a couple of times a day, always rewarding your dog, and you should have a fairly good recall established. When your dog is coming consistently, gradually increase distractions until your dog is even coming back to you in mid chase of a ball.
ALWAYS reward your dog with a higher value treat than what he was leaving behind when he came to you. If you don't, then he may decide that the smelly dead squirrel is much more interesting than the stale biscuit you have as a reward.
Another thing you must remember is that you should never call your dog to you to do something unpleasant (crate him, give him a bath, trim his nails, scold him, put nasty smelling fly repellent on him, etc.). This will lower the value of your come command and cause your dog to avoid you rather than come to you.
Something else I have found useful in getting your dog to come to you is running the opposite direction while acting like you are having the best time in your life. You may look stupid, but what dog can refuse his owner running around like a nutcase and acting like he is having the best party in his life? I've done this a couple of times to get Rose to come to me and it has yet to fail.
You must also be sure that your command is consistent. "Come", "Come here", "Comecomecomecomecome", and "Get your butt over here" are all different commands. Pick one, and then stick to it. Don't expect your dog to listen to you if he has no idea what you are asking.

[Swiftwind]

Congratulations, that's fantastic!! What a fun topic to talk about! I always dreaded doing speeches at school... unfortunately we weren't lucky enough to choose our own subjects. Oh, and go Blackie!

[Rivsky]

Congratulations Ritz (and Blackie!!) That's great news! Like you said it's amazing the difference it makes when you are able to talk about something you are really passionate about.