Three dog training mistakes almost everyone makes: feeding from the wrong hand during loose-lead walking, skipping a marker word like
Chapters
Easy level. Here we're doing loose lead walking. Can you spot the mistake? How about now? You see, the mistake here is that I'm feeding the dog from the wrong hand. This can cause the dog to walk in front or reach around, so always make sure you feed from the same side the dog is on. Yes, good boy. Medium level. Here we're teaching eye contact. Can you spot the mistake? The mistake is that I'm not using a marker word or a clicker. Without anything marking the eye contact, it's not clear to the dog what they're actually being rewarded for. So let's make sure that the dog knows with a simple "yes" when they do the right thing. Now, the barking mad level. Here I'm practicing stay. Can you spot the mistake? Stay. So this training is good, and some would say it's good enough, but there is a slight change I think would make a big difference. Here, I'm overusing the word, but I'm also leaning forward and overusing the hand signals to try and really let the dog know what I want. Instead, just start easy by saying it once with one hand signal. Wait. Then mark and reward. Stay. If you ever find the dog isn't getting what you mean, it just means you've progressed too quickly. Now, how many of these did you get right?
