Movement

Author: Denise Partlow

Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas

Now that your dog can remain focused on you as the helper-dog passes, it’s time to reverse the roles.

We will ask the helper-dog to place (or any stay position) at a distance and your dog will do the walking this time. This can be a little trickier for your dog, so you will want to hold his focus as you walk past. It’s OK for him to look but just for two seconds and then get his focus back. Reward rapid fire again until you have successfully walked passed the helper-dog. If your dog is having a hard time focusing, increase the distance. You can also hold the food to your dog’s nose so he can sniff and lick while you are walking by and once you have passed the helper-dog, mark and release the food to your dog. It’s always a good idea to have super high value rewards in the beginning. You can work your way down to lower value as you progress.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.

You can also take some sniff brakes here, just make sure that the distance between both your dog and the helper-dog is enough to not concern your dog. You can even practice switching roles again where your dog is holding place while the other one is walking and you can even practice them both holding place at the same time. Lastly, if your dog needs a break- go back in the house and reset for a minute or so.

To advance this, decrease the distance little by little. You can also wait to reward your dog until he has completely passed the helper-dog.

This may be something you can accomplish in one session or it may be something that you need to do over days or weeks. It’s also important that you are practicing this with a variety of dogs.

Your next step will be to incorporate both dogs moving which I will discuss in tomorrow’s post.