Sometimes the smallest changes in your dog training can make the biggest
difference.
This is especially important when we talk about how to reward your dog,
but there's a few common mistakes that people make that prevent them from
getting that benefit. By the end of this video, instructor,
Carol is going to teach you how to avoid making these mistakes and how you can
use toys in your training correctly. I'm Ken Steepe. This is instructor Carol,
and this is Texas two ten four. Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
Hi, I'm instructor Carol. This is Texas two 10-four my young border Collie.
Today. We're going to talk about three skills that people often struggle with.
And we're going to talk about ways that a toy can make those skills so
successful in your training, but only if they're used correctly.
One thing we hear all the time is, oh, it's a trained dog.
And I'd like to think Texas is reasonably well trained for an 18 month old
dog. However, this video is about the toy.
I want you watching what I'm doing with the toy,
not so much with the dog is doing,
and I'm going to show you the steps and how I use this toy to get the behaviors
I want here at McCann Dogs.
We've trained over a hundred thousand dog owners to overcome the same challenges
that you have. Now.
We use mostly food in classes and there's good reasons for that.
But today I want to talk about toys and the untapped potential to increase,
focus and motivation, which makes training so much easier. At McCann dogs,
we believe a great response to come.
Or the dog's name is so important to our dog safety.
I want a dog that turns on a dime,
comes flying to me and a toy is absolutely perfect for this,
but there's one mistake people make so so often,
and it really prevents us from getting that great response.
Here's the biggest mistake people make. They get the toy out,
they call their dog. And if their dog loves toys, Texas,
of course the dog comes well. And that's not a bad thing.
I want my dog rehearsing the behavior I want, but they get their toys out.
They call Spot or Fido, and they've got that toy.
And Fido comes running in. Now that in itself, isn't bad.
We're building relationship. We're patterning the right response. Fido saying,
Hey, I want to come to my owner. So that's great.
But what happens when we don't have that toy?
Does Fido now say I'm no longer interested?
So we need to have that toy hidden. And I'll talk about some exceptions to that.
But for the most part, I want that toy hidden.
My dog could be busy off doing something, Texas. Yes, good girl.
Now it comes out what a good girl. So not as a bribe,
but I surprise her with it as a reward,
but there are a couple of times we're going to break that rule.
So now she really wants to be with me. So this is a real motivational,
little exercize is the same time I worked some control Texas. Yeah.
And I take off and run and I got that toy all showing. Yes.
So that's time. I'd break that rule. The other time I might break that rule.
If I had a little tiny puppy or a dog, I haven't done any recall with, again,
showing that toy, building the desire to come chase me.
And I might have it just like I did.
It dragging along the ground for a young puppy so that they're able to build
value for chasing to me getting to me.
So that's two of the times I would break those rules.
The toys I'm using today are all from the McCann store.
You can see Texas loves these. If you're interested in any of these,
you can check out the link in the description below. Texas. Yes. Good girl.
Good girl. When she makes a quick response,
I might want to reward that by immediately pulling out that toy,
or if she's driving back hard, pull it out when she's partway.
And that random when is it going to show up if ever is going to
have our dogs coming with peak peak performance. Huge speed to me,
another great tactic for those dogs that love to chase and retrieve is to throw
the toy as a reward. But it's important how I throw that toy.
I like to throw it just behind me or even through my legs so that my dog is
totally thinking about coming to me on that response to name.
And I'm not going to throw it too far. I'm going to throw it a short distance,
encourage them back. So the game always ends interacting with me.
Do you want your dog to sit at the end of your recall or your response to name?
With food It's pretty obvious why she's getting rewarded.
She understands that sit is rewarding. The problem is so many people,
um, pull out that toy. The dog jumps out of the. So what the dogs learn is, oh,
hold the sit. Unless something exciting comes along like a squirrel,
a rabbit, another dog, the toy.
So we can teach our dogs to hold that sit like Texas does until we tell them to
get it or a little trick on doing this. I can, yes.
Good girl to pinpoint. So my yes, pinpoint sitting is right. Yes.
Break. And then I can get it up,
get that thing so I can tell her her release word before
I pull out that toy so that I'm releasing it for the sit.
She's not self releasing. Yup. Yes,
yes. Turn yes.
Sit now walking on lead is absolutely a little
harder with a toy and there's a couple of mistakes that people commonly make.
And that's why they struggle with this behavior,
but we can absolutely use a toy to help teach our dogs to walk on leash.
One mistake people have, again, is that toy in sight.
And this can cause two problems. One,
your dog may do a great job when you're carrying this toy. But again,
the minute the toy is gone. So is your dog.
The next thing is maybe this is just too much of a distraction.
So now you're teaching your dog to walk,
but they are jumping all over you and can't walk at all. If I'm using food,
it's pretty easy for me to sneak it out of my pocket,
either pocket and reward her without her moving out of position.
I could even have it hidden in that right hand with the toy though.
It's a little harder to hide. And when we reach for that toy,
most dogs are immediately going to move. So then what are they rewarded for?
Because now they're out in front. So now it's really,
really important that I mark that great position and I'll do that.
Even if I had food. Yes, yes. Good girl.
Yes. Get it. And I can say my,
get it quickly before that toy comes out.
As long as I've said,
my yes I can pinpoint where you are now is what earns
that toy.
Very common mistake is people leave these toys out for their dog all the
time. Now, if she got access to this all the time,
it might no longer be a super exciting reward for walking on lead.
So I want to keep toys like this, what we call interactive toys hidden.
And they only come out when we're working together.
Using toys in your training is a great way to get way more focused,
especially if you're training outside.
If you want to get more tips on how to get more focused when you're training
outside, click this card right here.
If you'd like to get daily support on training your dog with help from McCann
instructors,
click the link in the description below to get more information on our Life
Skills program,
where we can give you specific advice that fits you and your dog on that note.
I'm Carol. This is Texas. Happy Training!