SDIT Puppy TEAM Week 4
Added 2025-03-13 15:59:39 +0000 UTCDefault Behaviors
Default behaviors are any time the dog does a specific behavior such as laying down when something in the environment cues the behavior instead of a verbal or hand signal cue. A good example of this is asking the dog to wait at the door for a cue to go through the door. Touching the door knob becomes the cue for the dog to move to the trained position and wait. Another common one is asking the dog to sit before putting a food bowl down. Prepping the food becomes the cue to do the behavior.
Service dogs learn many default behaviors that fit the needs of the team. This week we are looking at some foundation games that will help to build future default behaviors.
Chase the Toy/Treat - Straight Line
This game is simple, designed to teach the dog to chase moving food. When the pup gets older this will come into play very heavily around distractions. At this point we toss or roll the food across the floor in a straight line beginning at just a few feet away from you. Then slowly start building distance and changing directions. All you need is for the treat to go about 3 feet away from you. Then puppy chases the treat, looking back to you for the next treat toss.
Chase the Toy/Treat - Figure 8
This game is common among agility and sports teams, but our purpose for using this with puppies is to teach them that reinforcement comes in multiple positions around us. You may heavily choose to reinforce in the heel position if you want your dog to have a default heel or you may heavily reinforce your pup for being in the middle position standing between your legs.
Paw Targets - Paws Up, One Paw, 2 Targets
Most of our Canine Coaches use paw targets as a confidence building tool, but targets are also a foundation behavior that leads to many tasks a service dog can do. For puppies our goal is to build communication between puppy and handler by asking for different behaviors. To this we use a wide variety of surfaces including different sizes, textures and heights to help the pup learn to generalize the behavior. Once pup is grown up a bit and can go out on exploration hikes, we can practice paw targets there to as a way to continue building confidence and focus on the handler.
Check out this post in our SD Foundations Class for Paw Targets
Coop Care - One Foot, Two Foot, Red Foot, Blue Foot... Nail Trims
This simple game is meant to help the pup become accustomed to basic handling. There are a wide variety of ways to do this but the basic idea is that you touch your pup somewhere on one foot and give a treat, touch somewhere else and give a treat. Every touch earns a treat and the touches slowly become more realistic to what would happen during a nail trim. At first you are just using your finger, but then you can add in other items that you are touching your puppy with. Here are a few ideas: gloves, a soft brush, a toothbrush, a vibrating tooth brush, etc. Then you build to touching with the actual grooming tools until you can use the tools safely without scaring the pup.
A lickmat is a great way to deliver reinforcement rapidly allowing you to give touches at a faster rate, but hand delivered treats help to slowly lower the value or the distraction that the treats are providing.
Check out this video with Roz getting her nails trimmed.
Doorway Games - Developing Wait
For doorway games you are basically creating a routine that should happen at the door. That routine is going to look different from team to team as we all live in different environments with different needs. The basic idea is that you will not open the door unless your puppy is calm, perhaps sitting on a mat or doing a paw target. The door opens slowly and if pup moves from the desired position the door closes. You can also reinforce with food when the pup chooses to stay even if you've only opened the door a little bit.
You do have to be careful that you are not causing the pup to be frustrated! For example if the pup really needs to potty and is hyped to go outside, this is not the time to practice. Take pup out to potty and perhaps teach your door manners on the way back inside. Going inside is often less exciting then going outside. If your pup is showing signs of frustration, back up a step and using lots of reinforcement at the stage where you were successful. Also look at the step you are trying to make. If it's too big of a step, break it down to make it easier!
Check out this post on teaching Stay, Settle & Wait for more info.
