Obedience In Motion...

blacknym

Experienced Member
That title might be confusing... :? LOL

What Id like to know is...How does one go about teaching your dog to Sit/down/stand on cue as you continue to walk or run?
 

648117

Honored Member
I think this is one of the trickier "tricks"

I think some use a mat (I think there might be a kikopup vid of it if I remember correctly), so you first teach the dog to down on the mat then walk past the mat with the dog and get it to "down" as you pass the mat. Then fade the mat. Personally, I don't really like that method and didn't use it as I find it difficult to fade mats etc.

So what I did was first make sure Holly really understood down/sit from all positions around me (ie, behind me, on both sides of me, in heel position, etc so she could really generalize it). Then I got her heeling a few steps in a straight line then slowed to an almost stop and said "sit" and took another slow half step forward. If she sat then I "clicked" and threw a treat back to her to emphasis that she was not to walk forwards and that she can be rewarded in a backwards direction (if you know what I mean).
Once she was able to stop and sit with me walking in slow motion then I increased the speed (slowly) until I could walk at normal pace and have her sit and increased the number of steps I took before throwing the treat back to her.

I hope that helps and I explained that well enough (I'm not very good at explaining things in writting :) )
 

Linda A

Experienced Member
You have been given some good advise. You need to 'proof' your behaviors to make sure the dog understands the commands/cues. There is a little game we play that's lots of fun and the dogs love it. I run around and get the dogs chasing me and intermittently give the sit or down command. If they do it they get a click and a treat, if not, we just start running around again. It doesn't take them long to catch onto this game and it really helps in training a 'moving down or sit.'
 

Gordykins

Experienced Member
We used a long line when we taught Gordy sit and down in motion. Gordy is always on my left side when I walk, and when I expect him to stay I always take my next step with my right foot... when I want him to come with me, I always take my next step with my left foot. So, we would walk, I'd ask him to "Sit, stay" and timed it that my next step was with my right foot, and continued to walk. Same thing with down, but Gordy isn't good at always going from a stand to down, so I usually ask for "Sit, down, stay." If Gordy starts to walk with me, then I just back him up and have him sit or down and stay at the spot I originally had him sit or down. :)
 

MaryK

Honored Member
One thing too, when you're just working with stay, reward the STAY not the release. In other words, reward for staying but don't give the release command, just keep rewarding the stay, with cues etc. then release but don't reward the release, you want them to remember 'stay' as the command not release.

This way, as you move on to a stay while you're moving, the dog will have stay set in their minds. I did this with Ra Kismet and he will do stay in sit/drop/stand position and remain there even I fiddle with dog bowls in another room. It takes time to get to this point though, so keep working on the basics, as suggested above, while working on really setting the 'stay'.
 

blacknym

Experienced Member
Thanks! I am working on the stay outside. I'm actually quite impressed with how well she did her obedience practice today. There where two other dogs running around the park as we did heel/stay and recall work. She did really well!
 
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