| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side | |||||
| -Stops perpendicular | Refreshed stepping on perch and pocket hand. | Used perch and pocket hand to move in closer to parallel. | Same as Tuesday, moving in much closer more often. | Tried without perch, only pocket hand. Too soon, needs the foot target. | Tried lower foot target—worked! Trying to fade pocket hand a bit. |
| Equipment | |||||
| -Hides from cape | Left cape on coffee table today to allow to get used to it. Wary at first but then seemed OK. | Sat near the coffee table and recalled for treats. Touched the cape while feeding. | Has good chin, practiced recall and chin while putting the collar on. | Put cape next to me and repeated Wed. steps. Did OK! | Tried to hold the cape strap and ask for a chin. Was hard! Call Puppy Program Mon. |
| Kennel | |||||
| -does not wait for release when the door opens. VERY excited | Practiced waiting for calm before opening the door. Took three min. | Was calm for about 1 min today. Tried a few reps. Ate cookies through crate in “down.” | Same as Tuesday. Seems calmer today! | Tried cracking the door once calm. Had to shut/open a few times but did wait for release once. |
No matter how old the dog is, start with the Level One Assessment. Keep the assessment at hand to check off items or make notes regarding the key behaviors around the home. Otherwise spend a little time each day working through the Common Cues. Be sure to note your appraisals of the cues too; notes will help guide your training plan.
When working through the assessments, ask yourself these questions to help determine real proficiency. It's a good idea to try each cue or behavior several times in different scenarios to build an aggregate idea of the performance.
Write down (or note within your phone, a Google Sheet, etc) all the cues and behaviors you did not find proficient. These will be your priority, although you can of course practice some routine upkeep on everything as you're able.
Under each cue or behavior that needs further training, add your notes as subpoints on what specifically needs work and in what situations.
Now that you have a list of points and subpoints (AKA a place to start), pick a few subpoints to work on each day, and of course, be sure to note what you did and what to work on next time. When you feel the dog is proficient, based on the definition and questions above, check it off on the assessment.
Do you have a subpoint you don't see improving? You're not sure what to do to train a skill? Schedule a one-on-one with Puppy Program or sign up for a class.
Once the first assessment is completed AND everything is checked, move on to the second!