Daily Exercise For Fitness

Below we give some words of advice for exercising a very well-behaved dog on the lead a competition dog in other words. But good competition dogs will be aged two years and upwards : this is why you should not ask too much of your puppy, still not even a ‘teenager’.

As far as young dogs are concerned and adult dogs too for that matter-they should be regarded as untrained even though they may know one or tow things. In any event, the dog must adapt to its master or mistress, and this is why the exercise must start from scratch. The first lessons should never last more than 10 minutes at the most. The dog should never work on a full stomach or on a completely empty one.

The dog has to learn the technique of being on a lead, to the point where its owner can walk with it with complete freedom. It must follow every movement of the trainer extremely closely everytime he or she stops or changes pace. And all this must happen without the lead being pulled tight. Out of the corner of its eyes the dog must follow the movements of its trainer by adjusting to his or her stride. Above all, make sure that the dog does not get used to following without using its eyes, but by basing its speed and movement solely on the pull on the lead when there is a change of direction. If this happens the dog will never feel the need to keep its attention focused on its owner; it will have learnt that any change of direction will be communicated by a pull on the lead.
A dog trained in this way will never stay properly to heel : it will be more like a hauling dog. Pulling its owner this way and that, its attitude will be the detriment of all forms of discipline hampering its progress in training and showing up its poor upbringing. Walking on the lead with the command ‘Heel !’, which makes the dog keep its head behind the trainer’s left knee, is rounded off by the command ‘Back !’, which means that the dog must stay behind the trainer’s heel. ‘Back !’ is a very important command for all hunting. Police and military dogs and, as a general rude, whenever anyone is carrying a firearm.

In order to teach a novice that its attention must be focused on its trainer, and not stray elsewhere do the following. Place yourself so that the wall of the training room is on your left- hand side. If you are working in a courtyard have a wall on your left, and if you are working in an open place, find one where there is a wall, a metal or wooden fence, or something similar. The dog must be positioned on your left, between you and the wall. Like all working dogs, your dog must stay on your left-hand side to give you complete freedom of movement and above all so as not to impede your right arm.

The command to be given when you start to move, or when you want the dog on your left, is ‘Heel!’. For the first exercise use a tight collar ( not the training collar) and a lead or a piece of cord at least 2m ( 2 yd) long. When you are in the correct position in relation to your dog and the wall, talk to it in a friendly voice. Calm it by patting and stroking it, if it looks nervous or excited, and comfort it with a titbit or two if it seems frightened. When it looks composed, give firmly the command ‘Heel!’. Then walk slowly beside the wall. It is likely that eh dog will happily follow you until, at a certain point, it will try to get out of the narrow space between you and the wall. A dog with a lively temperament will usually tend to walk a head of its owner; a more timid dog will tend to lag behind and pull on the lead; a dog that is easily distracted will try to move to your right-hand side. 

The trainer must keep moving straight ahead, changing the length of the lead to make the dog stay constantly in the same position, i.e. with its head close to your left knee. If you talk to it kindly, and pat it, the dog will not be anxious and will even get the feeling that this is just another game. The three possible mistakes must be put right in the following three ways : 

1) Whenever the dog tends to push ahead of you, stop it by nudging its muzzle with your left knee. 
2) If the dog lags behind and refuses to move, you must overcome its resistance, but still encourage it all the time with kind words. 

During training your tone of voice is all-important the dog will not pay attention to words but rather to the tone in which they are spoken. 

3) If the dog tries to move over to the right, stop it by pulling on the lead. 

After a few days, the dog will have learnt what is wanted of it and will walk as it should close to the wall. Things start to get more complicated when you leave the training room and move outdoors; here there will be no wall-like obstacle on one side, with the trainer on the other. In the case of strong-willed dogs the lead exercise will have good results if you keep your thin. Supple bamboo cane in your right hand and tap the dog’s muzzle when it tends to move ahead of you. 

The following excellent teaching system can be used on a tree-lined street on in a field with lines of plants. Let the dog go ahead of you and have a good sniff. When you reach the first plant or tree let the dog go ahead on your left; letting the lead go slack, go to the right of the plant or tree. The lead will quickly form a lop round the tree with the dog on one side and you on the other. When the lead comes to an end, the dog will find itself suddenly pulled up short. Then with a firm ‘Heel’. Pull hard on the lead, dragging the animal backwards. Forcing it to move round the tree, back to your side, when the dog is back in the proper position, praise it, regardless of the confusion, and carry on walking, repeating the exercise when you reach the next tree. 

After ten trees at the most the dog will no longer fall in to the trap and will pay closer attention to you – just as you wanted it to do. 

Get the dog frequently to walk by you side while you twist and turn instead of moving in a straight line ; quicken your face, slow down. Turn the left and right, suddenly turn right round and sometimes run ahead a few steps. On the command ‘Back!’ you want the dog to drop back behind your heels about one pace. You will have to put it in the right position, using the lead, until it understands what is wanted of it. You will soon succeed if you give the command when the dog is tired. Here, too, it is a good play to walk close to a wall or along a path between hedges. 

During exercises on the lead using the command ‘Heel ! and Back!’, as soon as the dog behaves correctly, remove the lead and give the release command ‘Go!’, and let it run off. The ‘Go!’ command was discussed in the sections on the First and Second Programmes?, and will be dealt with again on?. Never punish the dog with the lead or with your hand. A dog that behaves well on the lead will focus its attention on its owner and establish with him or her that sense of co-operation that is necessary if training is to progress. The first and Second Programmes did not deal with the sit position with very young puppies, it is in fact important to concentrate on the down or lie-down position. Even with young and adult dogs the down position is more important than the command ‘Sit!’. However, it is given here as the Second exercise after lead training, to make the training sequence smoother, when it comes to the command ‘Sit!’, it is not necessary to wait until the dog has grasped all the rules about being on a lead. For the exercises is this section it is a good idea to use the principle of repeating. In every lesson everything that the dog has already learnt. So, before starting on the second exercise, go through the first one again. To achieve a proper response to the command ‘Sit!’ use the wall technique, with the dog once again on your left in a narrow space. 

The best place to use is the wall of a training room. The set position is the first standard position of the working dog, just as the basic standard position of the military dog is a response to the command ‘On guard !’. start off as for the lead exercises but after a few steps. Stop, tapping the ground with your heels a little, and bending down to put your left hand on the dog’s croup and your right hand on its collar. A lot of dogs are reluctant to adopt the standard position of their own accord. The command alone is not enough; they will decide to obey only. If they feel pressure from your hand on their hind-quarters-quite light pressure, of course. You must get them out of this : give the command in yoru normal voice, but firmly, and only use your hands once, the order has been given. So that the dog has a chance to carry it out of its own accord. Be sure, too that the dog assumes the correct position ; tell it off, with your hand on the scruff of its neck, give the command ‘Heel!, walk towards a few steps and give the command ‘Sit!’ once again, until the dog is in the right position. When it is, praise it, stroke it and give it a reward. After a time substitute for the command ‘Sit!’ a short ‘SSS’ sound. 

When the dog carries out the order as soon as you tap the ground, or as soon as it remembers the sound of the command, move away from the wall. Without this to make it take up the standard position parallel to its trainer – the dog will have a tendency to sit in the wrong position. The only position in which the dog will not be in your way is the standard one. So you must stop it sitting in any other. To achieve this, when you stop and give the command ‘Sit!’ stretch your left hand out to the dog’s left thigh. So that it cannot move out of the parallel position. Do not feel that this patient work is an exaggeration and expect the dog to obey the ‘Sit!’ Command perfectly the very first time. 
It is only by precise training that full and satisfactory resulting will be achieved. The first exercise should not last more than ten minutes. The second one can be extended to a quarter of an hour, because it embraces both the command ‘Sit!’ and the lead exercises. The lesson should end on the lead. 

Every lesson should end with an exercise that the dog knows how to carry out so that it earns words of praise and a titbit as a reward. At the end of the daily lesson the dog should be lively happy and have a sense of achievement. This is the only way of ensuring that the next day’s lessons will be carried out with enthusiasm. With this exercise, too, do not wait until the dog is fully acquainted with the two previous ones. After two days devoted solely to working with the lead, you can happily move on to the command ‘Sit!’ and after two more days to the command ‘Come Here !’ if the dog does not appear tired, extend the lesson to twenty minutes. To get the dog to stop on the spot and above all the react perfectly to the call. 

You will need a helper. Someone to run to you as soon as you have given the first call. Remember : a dog that does not respond to its call is of no use. The same goes for a dog that is left in a certain spot and does not stay there until its owner returns. After running through all the previous exercises, when the dog is sitting down, stand in front of it, step slowly backwards, holding out your right hand close to its muzzle, thus stopping it from moving. Count up to twenty to yourself, then give the command ‘Come here !’ in a friendly tone of voice. At a the same time, walk backwards quickly to encourage the dog to come towards you at a brisk pace. 

Once it is close to you-always get it to come right up to you-praise it and give it a titbit. Next put the dog on the lead, give it the command ‘Sit’ two or three times then stand in front of it again and step very slowly backwards. So that, it hardly notices. Keep the lead in your left hand, and use it to pull the dog lightly if it does not obey the ‘come here !’ command straight away. As the daily lessons progress make the dog stay where you have left it without moving, while you take several steps backwards. Make it stay put until you have counted 10, then 30, then 40, up to 100 to yourself. Above all, make the dog come to you at speed, trotting at least, but better still at the gallop.

As soon as you notice that on the command ‘come here !’ the dog comes towards you looking tired and reluctant , step back again with short steps, but quite quickly, to encourage it to run to you. The main reason for it to do this is the certainty that, once it is close to you, it will be rewarded with something tasty to eat .

Make sure that this lesson does not involve any kind of punishment, not even scolding or a cross tone of voice. The keynote is persuasion – Firm persuasion : for the dog, being called by its owner and going to him or her, must always be pleasant a way of being patted, praised and rewarded. It is, in fact, better not to punish a dog that comes to you when called, even if it has done something wrong, if it obeys the command that I have given it precisely to punish it ? in such cases it is advisable not to call the dog, rather, from some way off, give it the command ‘Lie down!’.

The dog will obey and you can then go over it and scold it. Before doing so, ask yourself. ‘How shall I get may dog to understand me?’ If you find a way of making yourself understood, the rest is easy, but if you treat your dog roughly this will frighten it and affect its understanding and intelligence. Always remember that it is never necessary to hit a dog in order to make yourself understood. 

Some people may object that the dog has first learnt the ‘Down !’ command from a distance. The answer is that before this point it is a good idea to reduce corrective methods to a minimum. Throughout the first part of training you need above all to win your dog’s trust and confidence. It has to put up with the lessons, which may often be irksome to it. For the rest of the day it is good tactics not to scold. To round off the exercise, gradually replace the command ‘Down!’ with a whistle, first follow your ‘come here !’ straightaway with the whistle, then alternate your vocal command with the one given by the whistle. The call whistle, vital over long distances, must be a series of short blasts. 

A long unbroken note is for the command ‘Down!’ dealt with below. Points worth remembering : 

1. If, when you call, the dog fails to come, step back with a few brisk short steps. Calling it in a friendly voice. 
2. In the case of many dogs that do not react naturally to a call, a good policy is to call and get down on the ground at the same time : the curious and surprised dog will usually run straight over to you. 
3. When you give the call, you must feel well disposed towards the dog, because dogs are highly sensitive to mood, and if their trainer is, in fact, in a bad mood, they will soon realize it, whether the command is given in a gentle voice or not. 
4. Whenever the dog fails to obey and has to be called firmly, make sure, as soon as it has come to you that you encourage it with a few ‘Good dogs’, this will once more make answering the call a pleasant experience. If the dog hangs back a second time. You can allow yourself a gruff ‘Bad dog’, quickly changing that to a ‘Good dog’, as soon as it moves towards you. 
5. In the case of dogs that do not react well to their call, you can get help from some one who is good with a catapult : when you call, your helper should shower the dog’s hindquarters with a slingful of small pebbles. While you call again with a gentle ‘Come here ! Good dog, Come here !’So that you become a handy refuge ( instead of a catapult you can use a bunch of keys or a small chain; but this system is only useful if the call is already established and if the dog already knows that nothing unpleasant will happen to it if it goes to its trainer. 

6. a trainer who has no assistant but wants to use the chain or bunch-of-keys methods for the call exercise should remember that it should only be used for this particular exercise and not for the ‘Down!’ command. For example, the dog should not notice you throwing the chain or keys, or preparing to do so; do not throw anything if the dog does not come because it is scared : if you do, it will become even more frightened : on the other hand, if it is distracted or playing. You can throw something : the chain or the bunch of keys should land out of the blue making the dog jump: it will run away from what has disturbed it towards you and you should then comfort it with ‘Good dog repeated several times and a reward’.
7. When the dog is sniffing at a strange dog, it will take its time to respond to the call because it knows that if it moves away, the other dog may follow it and possible attack it; this is quite natural; it is best to call it when it is some way from the other dog, but if it is already close to the other animal walk bearer to it, to give it a sense of security.

Having reached this point, the daily lessons should be extended to a maximum of 25 minutes. If you have the time, you might even go through two lessons a day. Avoid lessons during the heat of the day in summer. Do not work at night, because the play of light and shadow will stop the dog from concentration. However, if you have at your disposal a training room with lighting . you can go through the lessons perfectly well after dark. The down position is a natural one for any dog. When there is a scrap between tow members of a pack of street-dogs if one of them reckons it is the weaker it will lie flat on the ground, with its body slightly on one side. The victor will quickly give up any idea of a fight. For the trainee dog the command ‘Down !’ provides a natural means of breaking off a fight and avoiding punishment. Keep this in mind, and never punish a dog when it has laid down of its own accord.

To get a good response ‘Down !’ you will need to work hard every day for at least three or four weeks the exercises can be combined with others. The down exercise is rightly regarded. By many as the up of all training. In fact, this command instills in the dog absolute submission : it enables you to control it from close by and far off; it is the keystone of the whole framework of discipline that you are trying to create. But always follow it with a cheerful ‘Go !’. Once the dog is in the sit position. Stand in front of it, take hold of its own front legs and repeating softly the command ‘Down ! Down !’ pull it forwards into the standard down position.

When its belly is on the ground. Put your right hand on its head. Forcing it to put its muzzle between its front leg, repeating softly he command ‘Down !’. Command words should be repeated several times only when the trainee dog is learning a new work and a new exercise. As soon as the dog has clearly understood the exercise and the corresponding command word, it should only ever be used once. It is a mistake to shout it, louder and louder. In fact, if the dog does not respond to the first order, give the second one in a quieter voice and the third one even more softly. Shift from piano to Pianissimo, not from Piano to forte to fortissimo. To many people have the bad habit of talking too loudly to their dogs and repeating their commands until they are screaming the,; they do not realize that by doing this they are making heir poor pets hard of hearing.

A dog is described in this way when it waits for its owner to run out of breath before carrying out a command. The fault never lies with the dog always with the owner or trainer. Talk very gently to your dog alternating gestures with murmured commands. So that is always keeps its eye on you, waiting alertly and happily. For your slightest word or movement. An alert and happy dog will always be ready to do what you ask of it. As soon as the dog shows that it has understood what you want of it, and stays happily in the down position with you crouched close at hand get to your knees keeping your hand on the dog’s head.

Later on just touch is head with the tip of a forefinger and finally with a bamboo cane. The command ‘Down !’ should always be followed by release command ‘Go !’. The dog should dash off, and you could well run with it for a minute or two and give it a sense of fun and well-being. Once the dog has understood what is required by the command ‘Down !’ will drop to the ground as if legs had suddenly given way.

A bamboo cane helps to get quick results. The use of the cane is very much a question of balance. Incorrect or excessive use it as a crop will ruin the dog. Careful , clever use of it will make for quick and impressive progress.

The pitfall to avoid is a sacred dog. There is nothing sadder and no more glaring sign that you have failed. Walk with the dog’s lead in your left hand. In your right hand, hidden behind your back, have the light. Supple bamboo cane, without warning give the command ‘Down!’ in a dry authoritative tone of voice. At the same moment and using only the force of your wrist, not of your whole arm, tap the dog’s back with the bamboo slightly.

Surprised and a bit alarmed, the dog will tend to ‘break ranks’. Stop it from doing so by keeping the lead very short indeed, and then pull the lead downwards to get the dog to lower itself to the ground. Keep repeating the command ‘Down!’ in the same dry. Sharp tone, and accompany the word each time with a top with the cane. As soon as the dog starts to carry out the command, stop any form of coercion and give the command ‘Go!’ along with some warm words of praise, plenty of patting, and a titbit too. Then suddenly put a stop to all this cajolery with a crisp ‘Heel!’ run with the dog for a dozen or so paces, and when it looks in obvious good spirits, repeat the command ‘Down!’ and at the same time tap it with the cane before long the dog will drop to the ground as soon as it hears the command.

Continue to follow this up with the release word ‘Go!’ the risk in using the cane is that the dog will become frightened. At the first sign of fear, move on to other exercises which the dog knows well and can carry out without any bother, when you have regained its trust, and it is in good spirits once again, return to an exercise with the command ‘Down!’ still return to an exercise with the command ‘Down!’ still using the bamboo cane. To avoid the dog taking fright at the mere sight of it, stroke it gently with the cane as soon as it does what it should. Be sure that the taps with the cane are given without any signal movement from you, the trainer : they must appear to come out of the blue. If the dog notices that the taps are regularly preceded by some movement from you, you will have the responsibility for waiting it, in the dog’s eyes and this will have very adverse consequences. 

As time passes you can make the actual pronunciation of the command ‘Down!’ slightly less precise. It is worth repeating that during this exercise you should be satisfied when the dog merely lies on the ground; do not necessarily expect it to rest its head on the ground. This should happen later. When the dog’s response to the command has become instantaneous. The taps from the cane should, of course, represent a threat, not a violent gesture. In other words, they should not be hard enough to make the dog whimper. But brisk and firm, almost as if they were an extension of your voice when it gives the nonsense command ‘Down!’ Lastly, they should be given with the word of command.

This is the only way to get positive results. Once the dog responds immediately the next step is for it to carry out the command when it is not on a lead, on its owner’s left hand side. Training is aimed at the point where the command is effective at any distance. A spoken command or a whistle should be able to stop the dog in its tracks. Wherever it is and whatever it is doing, the command ‘Go!’ is important as the other half of the exercise, and to make the dog understand what is required; it will also maintain the dog’s willingness to carry on working, and will not suppress its initiative. On future occasions it will carry on doing what it was doing before being interrupted by you ‘Down!’- a command that must be given for a good reason.

You can get over this with help of an assistant who stands behind the dog and taps it with the cane at precisely the same moment that you give the command ‘Down!’ standing in front of the dog with the lead in your left hand and your right arm raised. Before long you will not need your hopper any more and you will increase the distance between yourself and the dog, and get rid of the lead altogether. (again, after each ‘Down!’ release the dog with a ‘Go!’) From this point, things will be much simpler, get the dog to sit, leave it where it is and give the command ‘Down!’ from a distance-sometimes from in front, sometimes to the side, and sometimes from behind.

When your results are good, move on to the next step with the dog sitting 10 m (11 yd) or so away from you, call it with a “Come here!’ when it is halfway to you give it a firm command ‘Down!’ it should drop to the ground immediately in mid gallop. If this slightly more complicated exercise is not properly understood by the dog, you can call on you hopper again. Fix a 10 meter (11 yd) cord to the dog’s collar and get your assistant to hold it, standing behind the dog, which will be sitting down. Position yourself about 10m (11 yd) from the dog, and call ‘Come here!’ when it is halfway to you, give the Down command and if the dog does not lie down at once, the assistance should give a firm jerk on the lead: this will make the dog obey the command. This exercise should only be carried out when your call is good and the dog knows the basic exercise; otherwise when it is expecting the command ‘Down!’ the dog will come to you at a very sluggish pace.

Do not interpose the exercise with the others that are enjoyable and do not interrupt them with the command ‘Down!’. Never forget to give the command ‘Go!’ after words some experts recommend for this exercise a ‘braking’ device for impetuous dogs that run of their own accord as soon as they are set free. This is a roll of material round the collar and hanging down in front. It hits the dog’s legs and because it makes running difficult, the dog will soon become more obedient.

As soon as this happens, remove the cloth. By now you will be able to give the command ‘Down!’ in circumstances of varying degrees of complexity : close to the dog, from a distance, when the dog is tired. When it is running flat out, when it is coming towards you, when it is running away from you and so on it is worth repeating this crucial exercise as often as possible. Aim at reaching a point where the dog can carry out these commands in the order they are given in the exercises :

(1) ‘Sit!’ and ‘Down!’ on the lead. ‘Go!’
(2) ‘Down!’ on the lead, with only the trainer’s arm raised ‘Go!’
(3) ‘Down!’ with the lead on the ground and the trainer standing behind the dog. ‘Go!’
(4) Sudden ‘Down!’ while walking. ‘Go!’
(5) Sudden ‘Down!’ while the dog is running. ‘Go!’
(6) ‘Down!’ from a distance, with a long leash ‘Go!’
(7) ‘Down!’ close to and from a distance without a leash or long cord, the command given both verbally and by raising the arm. ‘Go!’
(8) ‘Down!’ from any distance in all circumstances the command given verbally, by raising the arm or with a whistle. ‘Go!’
(9) ‘Down!’ when firing, for, all hunting dogs.

Guard and watch dogs should not lie down at the sound of a shot: they should remain indifferent and untroubled. To accustom your dog to dropping to the ground at the sound of a whistle blow a long note immediately after your verbal order.

Within a few days the dog will obey any one of the three ways of giving the order. Verbally, if it is close by with a whistle, if it is some way off : and with raised arm. As soon as it had the command ‘Down!’ a dog will tend to move towards its trainer/owner. This can be a drawback later on in hunting, or in general working duties. In fact, the command ‘Down!’ does not mean that an action stops an attack, say in the case of a guard dog but rather that it is briefly interrupted. After obeying the rather that it is briefly interrupted. After obeying the command ‘Down!’ the dog should go on with what it was doing. If from the start, it makes for you at the command ‘Down!’ you must quickly teach it to stay where it is before the command is given, without turning its head towards you : when it is in the down position and before you tell it to ‘Go!’ throw a titbit in front of its nose that it can take as soon as it is released.

Never forget that when you give the command ‘Down!’ to a distant dog that is running free. There is a risk that it will not obey quite a large risk, since the dog can persuade itself that obedience is not compulsory and if it does all the training it has gone through will be undone. So go carefully before you give commands to a frolicking dog that is not on a lead and only give them when it has carried out the exercises perfectly on a long leash.

If it does not raise your voice, threaten the dog, or become impatient and undo everything that you have so far achieved. The golden rule is that it is better to call your dog to your dog to you gently, pet it for coming. Put it on a long lead, take it back to the place where it failed to carry out the exercise in question, leave it there while you walk away, lead in hand and at a distance repeat the command that it failed to obey. This rule applies to the ‘Down’ and other obedience exercises. You need a dog that will on any occasion stay put while you go off somewhere for ten minutes, half an hour or even longer, confident that it will not move until you get back.

If you could simply say to the dog, ‘wait until I get back’ the dog would undoubtedly do so without any problem but unfortunately, human beings do not know enough beings do not know enough about canine language to make themselves understood in it. For the dog, staying in one place, at our command, is a matter of trust. When it watches you walk away, its natural impulse will be to follow. If you manage to get it to stay where it is for a few seconds after you have disappeared, it will soon bound off in the direction in which you have gone. It will not stay put because it is afraid that you might forget it and never return for it.

So it is a question of giving the dog confidence, of making it understood that it can wait without being worried or anxious, that you will not forget it and that you will not fail to come back for it. To get your dog to understand all this, carry out the following exercise. Put the dog in the down position leaving the lead attached to its collar and arranging the other end of the lead over the dog’s back.

The slight weight of the lead will have a mild coercive effect but one that works quite well. Since the dog must stay where it is quite a while, do not expect it to keep its head on the ground. Stand in front of the dog take a step backwards, giving the command ‘Stay!’ if the dog stays still take another couple of steps back, but look at the dog all the time. Start walking in a semi-circle round the dog and then walk all round it, and last of all move about 20 m (22 yd) away and hide for a few seconds behind a tree or some other large object.

The process of gaining the dog’s trust must be worked through gradually, until the dog feels sure that it will not left alone and forgotten. Of course, every now and then the dog will make a mistake, get up and come and find you in your hiding place. Tell it off by shaking its collar and take it back to where you had left it, making sure that you put it a few metres (yards) further back that it was at first, in other words the dog must quickly absorb a basic point : that getting up after being given the command ‘Stay!’ is not to its advantage, in fact, it is to its disadvantage because after it has moved it will be put somewhere even further from its owner.

During these exercises, dogs that have clearly shown themselves to be undeniably intelligent, will get up when their owner is out of sight : they will move forward and then lie down again wherever they happen to be when the owner/trainer reappears.

They should be given a scolding just a mild one. It would be a very serious error to let the dog stay in the new position because it would take this as proof that its tactics work, and would do the same thing again on the very next occasion. If it is taken a few metres (yards) further back from the original spot it will soon realize that disobedience will not get it anywhere. When you have managed to get the dog to stay put in a given place for three minutes, it will be quite easy to extend the time gradually to , and finally to 60 minutes.

Your goal will then have been achieved. There are, however, certain particularly sensitive dogs that cannot bear to be left, and once their owner is out of sight will get up and follow. These dogs must be treated differently with the help of special traces for the compulsory down position a couple of lessons will achieve what would otherwise take a week or more. Attach the traces to the collar and the dog will stay out. To begin with keep an eye on it from close by repeating the commands in a gentle voice, but with firm-insistence, as if there were no traces. If the dog moves, jumps up and rolls over, scold it, put it back in the proper position, and carry on calmly with the exercise. The dog will soon give in and learn that, once it is down on the ground, it must not move until the trainer arrives.