Foundation Behaviors

What I'm seeing in this pup's responses now helps affirm what I
suspected---that I was in such a rush to teach all I could at the youngest
possible age, and that it was working against me. That even if we wait
until the dog is more mature, the behaviors still shape up well when we
begin training them. And that those foundation behaviors are absolutely the
most important of all to work with at an early age.

The foundation behaviors we have worked with are:

• eye contact, automatic check in
• name recognition: stop and make eye contact
• recall with increasing distractions
• sit
• down
• stand
• wait at all open doorways until a cue is given
• walk on a loose leash
• walk off-leash with focus
• stop at all sidewalk/road crosswalks
• wait when cued in any position, ahead of handler, behind handler, beside handler, coming towards and moving away from handler
• leave it, generalized to all objects, behaviors when cue is given, and to make eye contact with human
• offer focus to handler when approaching another dog, cat, squirrel,lizard, etc.
• sit and greet people of all ages appropriately
• run and explore on a Flexi-leash without pulling
• settle on mat
• move under table
• "chill out" or instantly relax
• relax when being handled, body parts all being manipulated
• stand, sit or lie motionlessly while ears, paws, eyes, anus are checked
• accept insertion of rectal thermometer
• accept being handled and positioned manually by other humans
• relax in vet's office, on cold, hard stainless table
• have legs stretched out while in supine position
• accepting hands of unknown people coming toward him from all directions
• doing a "paws up" on my wheelchair to have leash, collar, attached
• moving off chair when "off" cue is given
• gaiting with chair on both sides, not just one
• "find" hidden objects
• fetching games based on play only
• tug and release games
• some object discrimination by names (toy, ball, leash, people's names, etc.)

We are beginning to approach a level of maturity where I will be asking for
higher criteria, more focus, and in teaching some tasks. This pup still
does not have a real working retrieve, but has a fine play retrieve. In
varying objects during play, I'm getting him used to putting all types of
objects in his mouth and carrying them. I will soon start backchaining the
retrieve to bypass some of the pitfalls of building a retrieve only on a
play retrieve, such as the pounce, shake and kill of soft objects.

Debi Davis