Sunday Mentoring: SURFACES: L4a

SURFACES: LEVEL FOUR

Dog confidently walks up and down an open staircase with a grated tread and no risers.

Level 4a

"Be sure your dog is totally confident going up and down ordinary staircases before you start with an open one."

"Take your time with this behavior"

"Don't think about going UP the stairs or DOWN the stairs. Think about shaping your dog to be confident and comfortable ON the stairs."

NOTE: The key words here are confident and comfortable.

"Shape the behavior bit by bit until she's able to handle stairs without thinking about it first."

BMO

"Ask her to Sit, Stand and Down on the stairs."

"Do SitStays with Come up and down the stairs."

"Play the Come Game up and down the stairs."

Short staircases.

Long staircases.

Carpeted staircases.

Linoleum staircases.

Cathy, Jan and Karen will have Flips on their dogs blogs

working "ordinary" staircases of every size and variety

Before Moving On to part B of this behavior!

NOTE: This particular location was chosen specifically because the stair treads were wide, the number of stairs gave the opportunity to learn...and a high flight of stairs was not necessarily the goal.  The building is located directly on Orange Ave and on Sunday mornings, there is minimal traffic - vehicle, people and/or dogs - but the distractions DO occur.

At the last clinic, Sue introduced "Change", the Back Cross.  Until our dogs become proficient in the Front Cross (or the Swing Finish), we are learning "Change" to move our dogs from side to side.  Here Cathy and Rooster give a lovely demonstration of the Back Cross behavior.

RIGHT SIDE: LEVEL SEVEN

Dog does Service Dog Walk up a flight of stairs and switches sides on cue, then SDW down the stairs switching sides again.

MENTORING SESSION: 12/12/10

Cathy/Rooster

Jan/Nadador

Lynn/Lily