The First Steps For Training Your Rescue/Rehomed/Adult Dog!
Look at this adorable face now. This
is Mac, our 12 year old border Collie. When he was about nine years
old, he came into our family. Now even though Mac had some
training previous to coming to us, we knew that we needed to give
him motivation to listen to us. We needed to teach him that
we were worth listening to. Now if you've got maybe a
shelter dog or rehomed dog, maybe a rescue dog or maybe you have an
adult dog that you really want to start some training with, there are a few exercises that you
can do with them to give them a good foundation for learning. In today's video, I'm going to show you three separate
exercises that you can do to build motivation, to get more control and to really show
your dog that you are worth listening to.
I'm Ken Steepe. This is Mac.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs. Here at our training facility, we've helped more than 90,000 dog
owners to overcome the same dog training challenges that you have. So if this
is your first time on the channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button
and click the bell for notifications so that you don't miss out on the
training that you really need. We get all kinds of questions on our
YouTube channel asking about when someone should teach their dog a specific skill
or how old their dog needs to be before they can move on to their
dogs next level of training.
The reality is after about 16 weeks old, you can start to focus on all of your
adult dog training skills. At that point, you really need to shift your focus to
your dog's level of understanding rather than how old they are. But there are a few really important
things that you want to begin with because when your dog has learned these skills, you'll start to see that their obedience
training goes a lot more smoothly. Having a solid foundation of understanding
about how to learn will really speed up your training process and the whole
thing will make a lot more sense to your dog.
So let's get started. You really want your adult dog to
understand that it's rewarding just being around you, checking in with you, paying attention to you and recently
Kayl and I a dog sat for a friend and because we had absolutely no
relationship with this new dog, there were a few quick exercises that we
did with him and these are exactly the same exercises that you're going to
begin with with your adult dog training. Yeah, we're currently babysitting your dog
sitting this little border Collie puppy Final. He's four months old and I want to make
absolutely sure that I can get control of him at any time, especially
since he's not my dog. So we're going to talk about three things
that are going to make things a little easier.
One of the most important ways to get
control of your dog is being able to reach down and take a hold of their collar if
you need to pick them up or hook their leash on, and it's really common when you go to
reach your hand down that the dogs will play. Keep away on,
they'll jump away from you. Just sitting out of that arms reach. So I'm going to work on teaching Final
to actually choose coming close to me in order for me to take his collar and I
want to make this a really enjoyable experience.
So I have some
really tasty treats in my hand, which he is pretty keen about. I'm going to put them on his nose and
then I'm going to first draw him towards me. So you'd ever want to
reach out and grab your puppy? That can be a little bit intimidating. We're going to work
the opposite direction. I'm going to put the food on his nose, I'm going to draw him in close
and while he's snacking away, I'm going to slip my hand underneath. Take a hold of this collar once my
hands there. Yes. Good boy. Yes, I'm going to yes and reward multiple
times. And as soon as I'm done feeding, I'm in a let go because I want the
most special part to be when my hand is actually in that collar. Now it's really easy to forget
not to bring the dog close in. So one of the little helpful hints we
can give you is think about drawing your hands so closely your body that your
hand actually touches, touches your knee.
That way I can be sure that he is as
close as he possibly can get before I go ahead and take control. Good boy. Yes. Now there's going to be a lot of times
where I need Final to pay attention to me. So what I need to do is build a lot of
value for his name's that when he hears his name, he knows really
good things happen. So this is a super easy game that
Tarley takes any time to do that really teaches the dog to have a great
association with their name. So I have several pieces of food ready
here and I'm literally going to call out his name right while he's
sitting here in front of me. And then I'm going to feed him one second
later. So it looks like this Final, Final, Final good boy Final. So it's really important that you say
the name first and then you feed one second later. So what I'm doing is I'm associating his
name with something really delicious.
I think he really wants to
play this game again. Final, Final man. Final good boy. So the next thing that we're going to
do is we're going to work through this with distraction. So Final is convinced that there is
something good that there is something delicious on the grass. So I'm going to practice calling his name
and I expect him to stop sniffing and pay attention to me. And if he does, I'm
going to yes in a word very generously.
If he doesn't, I'm going to help him out
with some of these treats. Final. Yes, I was just so, so I'm going to see what
happens again. Final. Yes. Good boy. Good. Okay. I'm going to make
it a little bit harder here. I'm going to throw some of these treats
in the grass and purposely distract him Final. So that was a pretty lousy
response. So I'm going to help him out. Final. Yeah, it's good boy. So once I was sure that he was
going to be engaged with me, it took me a second to get
his attention on the food. I then said his name and then drew his
attention directly towards me and again, I'm not testing his name and crossing
my fingers and hoping that he responds. I'm saying his name and then
showing him what to expect of him.
That was a good boy. You want to try it
again? I'll check that out. Final. Yes. Good boy. You figuring this game out. Yes, and you'll notice I'm feeding
several times. He's very close to me. He's paying attention and I can even take
a little of his collar to incorporate that first game into the mix. Yes,
that was so good, buddy.
Good. Final! Good boy. Now this
particular dog loves treats, but he also really
loves to play with toys, so I can also practice these same
exercises using a toy as his reward. We can play a little game of tug, letting him know that I absolutely
love what he's doing. Now, you may have noticed that while we've
been practicing these exercises, I have this insanely long line on Final's
collar and this is to ensure he can have a little bit of freedom in my
yard, our yards pretty big back here, but then I still always have control so
when I let him out to go to the bathroom or I just want to come out and
play with them, maybe play Frisbee, I have this long line attached so that
he can get about 25 feet before I need to start to panic and then from there
I can practice my response to name.
I can draw him in, take his collar, but
this allows him to have some freedom. But again, it makes sure that
I'm always in control of my dog. Another common mistake that people often
make is they run towards their dog and try to tackle them or catch them when
they're not listening and we actually suggest that you do the total opposite
when you want your dog to come towards you back away from them.
That will ignite your dogs chase drive
and they'll be much more likely to run after you. It's Really important that your
dog sees you as a good leader, someone who's worth listening to
it and not because they have to, but because they want to. And to
be a great leader for your dog, you need to be three things. You need
to be clear, consistent, and fair, and doing stationary exercises,
like teaching them to wait.
It's not only skill that
you're going to use often, but it's the kind of exercise where you
have lots of control and these kinds of skills are going to teach your dog to
have a little bit of emotional control with a reliable wait. Your dog can sit in position as you go
through the doorway or you go up the stairs. Let's take a look at how
you're going to teach this skill. And this is the method that we're going
to try to level up your wait training. So this is the kind of wait that you're
gonna use to keep your dog from barging through doors or maybe in the parking lot. You're going to ask your dog to wait
before you let them out of a car or you know, at any point in your walk
you can ask your dog to wake, wait while you pick up something and
this is what you're about to learn next.
I talked a little bit about the city
and start position in one of our earlier videos and I'll link that
above. But for this exercise, you're going to start with
your dog in at your side. And we really want to build this
wait for on a foundation of success. We want to, in the early stages, we
want lots of successful repetitions. I want to make it easy for Funkee.
So here's what we're going to do. I'm going to tell her to wait and then
I'm just going to wave my hand in front of her face. I'm going to step in front of her toe to
toe so that she can't be wrong and she can't go anywhere and I'm going
to yes and reward her. Good girl. Maybe I'll even move back while I
remind her to wait. Good girl. Yes. And I can reward her again for not moving. Now what's really important about
using this wait is that your dog has a definitive ending.
So when I'm
done practicing my wait this first, after this first repetition,
before Funkee decides to move, I'm going to use her
release word, which is okay. And that way Funkee knows
when her job is over. And I want you to be using that every
single time you're working on this wait exercise with your dog. After you've
practiced that a couple of times, you can make it a little bit
more challenging for your dog.
So with Funkee Monkee, maybe I'll tell her to wait and I'll
step out a little bit farther out. I can praise her from here. Good girl.
Good wait. And then stepping, yes, good girl. And reward
her for a job. Well done. Other things you might be able
to do wait is wiggle your leash, provide a little bit of distraction. Yes. And then I can step back in and reward
Funkee for remaining in that wait position. And then when we're
done, as I mentioned earlier, I'm just going to tell her, okay,
so that she knows she can move. So now we've got a few repetitions in
where I've returned back to side and she knows how valuable it is to remain
there in that waiting position. Now with our wait using the McCann method, we'll use a stay if we want our dog to
not move ever until we get back to them. But with our wait, we want to be
able to release our dogs remotely.
So I'll ask Funkee in this case to
wait and then I'll step away from her a little bit. And now at any point,
if she's made a great choice, a tough distraction goes by, I can,
yes, step back in and reward her. But ultimately I want her to know that
if I step out here that I can release her at at any point in time.
Okay, she comes to me, she gets very excited when
she hears that release word. Now as we start to increase the
challenges in the real world for our dogs, it's really likely that
they're going to make mistakes.
So this time I'm going to
ask Funkee Monkee to wait, but then I'm going to secretly lure
her out of that waiting position. What's really important is
that if she makes that mistake, I don't pull food out right away and
lure her back to where she was sitting. Remember, we've spent so much time teaching our
dogs that them making the right choice gets them a food reward. So I'll show you what happens when
Funkee Monkee makes a mistake. Wait, good girl. Good. So
I'll just lure her out. I say Mark that moment with my voice
and I'm just going to guide her back to exactly where she was. I'll show her
how to be right. What a good sit, good girl. Wait, and in the next time
I'm going to make it a little bit easier. So I have a moment to reinforce
that. Good behavior, good wait, yes, good girl, and now I can
step in and use my food. It's really important. The two elements of that that you need
to keep in mind are marking that moment with your voice, especially as you're getting farther away
and that you show them how to be right rather than pulling out a piece of food
and guiding them back to where you think they work.
You show them exactly where to be and
then you can reward them after they've spent a couple of seconds in that
position. Now at the top of the video, you saw us have the dogs lined up a few
feet away from their food bowls and they were all sitting in a wait in. Maybe
that's a tough distraction for your dog. So we're going to set that up and while
you're training all of these exercises, whatever you think is a
tough challenge for your dog, make sure you hang onto the leash.
The last thing we want to
do is ask Funkee to wait, put a bowl of food down and then she
breaks the wait and then goes in, gobbles down most of the food before
we have a chance to interrupt that behavior. So let's try this one.
Wait and I'll go put the food down. I'll try to make it as enticing as I
can. Wait, good girl. Good. And again, I talked about the timing of our yes,
good girl.
And then I can step in. Remember with those dogs who really, really love something like food
or love to barge through the door, you want to reward them in that stationary
position more often than you let them out. I'll show you what I mean. Okay,
fine. Can you sit, wait, good girl. And at the beginning you might even
make it really easy. Yes. Good girl. Just take one foot out
the door. Good. Wait. Yes. What a good girl. Good job buddy. But it's really important that Funkee
finds it just as valuable for her to remain wait on the inside of the
doorway as it is when she comes out.
Okay, good girl. Now, one thing that all good dog trainers
know is that taking advantage of natural training opportunities throughout
your day is really important. Adding a little bit of a training exercise
into the things that you're already doing with your dog means that you
can do these exercises more often. More importantly, your dog starts to learn that training
doesn't only happen when you put on your special leash and put on your
bait pouch. On a side note, we now have our McCann dogs, Bait pouches available on our store
check out McCann Dogs dot store to get yours. But training can happen at any
time in any location. For example, I want you to portion out a
little bit of your dog's meal, maybe the breakfast or their dinner, and work on this rule out exercise with
them with a little bit of repetition, you're going to start to see your dog
making better choices when it comes to using food in your training.
If you have a dog who you know leaps
out to grab a cookie, for example, when you're going to give them a treat
this is a great exercise for them. You can put the cookie in the
flat, in the Palm of your hand, and if your dog moves toward
it, just close your hand. And then when they offer to sit or
they offer to back away a little bit, then you can open your hand. If they remain in that position or
they sit or back away or you know, take that pressure off, then
you would yes and reward them. It really is a great way to teach
your dog to make good decisions. It's actually something that we use in
our training classes to reinforce it down, for example. And I thought using beyond your bed would
be a great way to show off, you know, relatively relatively stationary way.
How this game works and
all you really need is a, a bed in this case your dog of
course, and some kibble or some food. Here's how the rule of game is gonna work. I've taken some kibble in my hand and I
take it from Slam's ball and I'm going to present it to him just like this. And if Slam decides he's going to get
up off of his bed to get those treats, I'm going to close my hand. When Slam decides to sit
back and lie down and relax, then I can open my hand again.
If he remains in position, I'm going to reward him. Now if you have a dog that's
super motivated by food
it's hard to say what that distance is going to need to
be for you to find success.
But I wouldn't open your
hand and immediately shove
it in your dog's face cause they're probably going to break. But you do want to find the point
where they need to think about it, where they need to remain
in position. You know, maybe even check in with you as you're
holding the food and then you can reward them at that point. But
I'll show you what I mean. My first time that I'm going to show Slam
this food, I'll just hold it out here. Yes, good boy. And then they can
reward them with that other hand. I'll move it a little bit closer. Oops. Good boy. Very nice buddy. Good.
So he's doing a really great job. Now keep in mind I've chosen the lowest
value food I know there is for Slam with this kibble.
So it's making it a little
bit easier. But let's try it again. Let's get a little bit closer. Now Slam's trying to paw it. Yes. Good
boy. What a good choice buddy. Very nice. Oops. Yes, he needs to remain in
position. Yes, good boy. Oops. I didn't make that much easier. Now you'll notice Slam was having lots
of success when I had my hand up nice and high. When I brought it down to his eye
level or even beneath his eye level, it made it a lot more difficult.
So keep that in mind when you're
introducing this game to your dog. It's a lot easier for them to maintain
position when my hands way up here. But it's a lot harder when my hands Wade
down beneath their eye-level cause it's easier for them to get in and it almost
looks like I'm presenting him with a treat. Now that you're off to a great
start with your adult dog training, you really need to switch
up that in mindset. Your training process isn't just about
the great choices they're making. It's also going to be about the good
choices you're making and being a great leader for your dog is a really
important part of dog ownership. I want you to check out this video where
Kayl talks about some leadership tips that you can make little changes you
can make day to day for your adult dog training or for your puppy training, but these kinds of changes are going
to make a huge difference in your dog's listening skills.
On that
note, I'm Ken Happy training..
