Short Set 3: Timing Corrections in Obedience Work

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Hey everybody, this is the week after Thanksgiving. We took the week off. which we didn’t stop training, but some of you guys may have, so we gave you a week off of these short sets. So it’s me, my experience, and my training. (obedience work) I’m going to give you a short set this week, and we’re going to talk about timing and the essential elements and how it transfers into everything else you’re going to do as a handler and why it’s so important. So I’m going to focus on timing this morning with a green handler and a green dog. Obedience. Just work the heel command, and I want you to focus solely on timing and the importance of timing. Again, I’ll reiterate this. Make sure the collar’s high on the neck, just under the jaw, and just behind the ear. So you wanna pull all that skin down underneath the collar. Yep, and on the bottom of his neck. There you go. I want to hear just a break in that buckle when you apply your correction. And if the dog’s not facing you and looking the opposite direction, make sure you turn. I want crisp corrections and make sure you keep a loose lead. Okay? Timing. All right. Step off with your left foot. There you go. Turn and pop. Good. Then when he gets into the proper position, make sure he’s watching you. Turn, pop. Good. (obedience work) Now level them up when he looks at you. So there’s two things that I want you to focus on. One is the timing of your correction. So if the second he’s out of place, I want you to recognize that and apply a crisp correction. The second thing is, is that when he is looking at you, I want you to stop and level them up. Okay. Timing, and this is why we do this to start with every single handler is because timing is gonna carry you through your entire career. whether you’re delivering a reward, whether you’re administering a correction, or whether you’re giving praise. We wanna recognize the behaviors that key us to him being out of position or about to commit a bad behavior per se. so that we can give a correction. I always say that if we deliver a correction as a dog is processing the bad behavior, we’re much better off. So we want our timing to be that much quicker. (obedience work) In the same sense, the moment that dog is doing or performing the correct action, we wanna reward that. We will gradually increase the duration of time. But really what I want you focusing on is recognizing that specific behavior, either good or bad. giving a well-timed correction or praise. It’s very easy to just deliver a crisp reminder. with a collar correction and that’s why we’re able to use a flat collar with 99% of our dogs is it’s based on timing. We don’t need all these other tools to deliver the correction for us because we recognize the behavior early on and deliver a correction. A lot of handlers will let the dog get way out here and then try to correct the dog and all they’re using is force. But remember the dog has already processed the bad behavior. committed the action and now you’re correcting the dog for being out here. (obedience work) So if we catch it here we take the thought out of the dog’s head before they are ever able they’re ever able to process that bad behavior. So just keep that in your mind as we run through this quick session five minutes and let’s work on that okay. Turn opposite stay monotone for now. Yep, turn opposite the way he’s looking. And just reinforce the command. For those that are just listening to this podcast, that may not be able to see what’s going on, this is a green handler. This is his third set with this dog and I’m only working on the heel. I’m keeping it very simple, not only for the dog, but also for the handler. And our session’s only five minutes. That way I don’t. add too much into the equation for the handler that’s getting used to his dog, but the same thing for the dog. That way if the handler’s making a lot of mistakes, it’s not as detrimental to the dog right now. The dog’s green, so the dog doesn’t know him, so I’m focusing on the positive and letting them build a bond together. So for those that are sitting at home, just remember a couple things. We can work a very long set, and we can pound. things into this session in order to try to fix a problem. But if we practice things 100% correctly each and every time for a short period of time, we can gradually increase the duration of time, both for the dog and for the handler. So I wanna start off very simple and build complex tasks into it as we go through training. This is day two of a handler’s course, new handler, new dog. And I know I’ve said that a couple of times throughout this. So I’m driving home that point. that this is not a dog or handler that’s been prepped for this. This is something very new for both of them. So you can do the same thing in your sessions and if you think about this in any discipline that you’re working, keep it short, very precise, work on timing of both corrections and rewards.