4 Behaviors I DON'T Train My Service Dog Puppy (& What I Train Instead!)

But before we start, let's talk about the general behaviors that you could teach a pet. I'm not going to teach you how to bark like an assistant dog. Stay tuned for number 3, because some of you may disagree with me. Hello, I'm Laura from dog.eu, certified mobility trainer for blind people for dogs, trainer for assistant dogs and trick trainer. For 15 years, she has been training and educating assistant dogs. Today we're going to talk about the training that I don't offer and what you should do instead. What is the first thing that everyone teaches their dog, right after he has taught him how to sit? You guessed it, give a paw or give a paw. Putting the paw in your hand is something that I don't teach dogs at all. So let's talk about why that is and what you should teach him instead. I myself started my career as a trainer for blind people for dogs. One thing that we don't teach blind people for dogs is giving a paw or giving a paw. This is because blind or visually impaired dog owners who offer the dog the food, try to give a paw or give a paw. If they think that the hand requires giving a paw or giving a paw, then they stick their paw through the food and the dog owner has a problem with the food being misplaced. So we want to prevent the dog from thinking about giving a paw. But I still don't train him to be an assistant dog, even if I don't train blind people for dogs anymore. Often people teach the dog to give a paw after they have taught him how to sit, because it is cute and relatively easy to train. However, with young wolves it is often the case that the dog owner and the wolf do not yet show this behavior under control. This means that the wolf only shows the behavior if you ask him to do so. Instead, you have a wolf with a limited behavior repertoire. So maybe sit, paw and place. Maybe I should go to the dog leader or even a friend or relative or grandma or grandpa and start petting them with the paw, because I got treats for that in the past. We don't want that to happen. There are many other things we can train instead of using this annoying behavior to teach the dog, to understand where his body is in the room, how he uses his front paws and things like that. We'll talk about that. I also don't teach them to close things with their paws, like doors or drawers or the fridge or something like that, when they are still very young. I have to teach them because the dog needs more strength in the future. Yes, but I don't teach wolves yet, because often they don't have a body consciousness yet and then start scratching at doors or drawers. Then the dog accidentally runs around and destroys everything in the house. Instead, I teach him to touch with his nose. If I have to teach him to push with his paw in the future, because I need more strength, I will do that. But I only do that when the dog understands his body better. I teach him the following instead. It will be very valuable if they continue to develop the basic skills. I teach him to step on an object with his front paw. I teach him to step on an object with his hind paw. He should step back or put his hind paws on an object. And then I also teach him to tap the floor with his paw on a button. So I can teach him to step on an object with a paw and to scratch with the balls at the same time, without associating it with scratching at a door or a person. With these three exercises they learn much more about the movements of their body in space, than if they only teach them to give the paw or shake the paw. Before you come to me in the comments, because you want your dog to give you the paw, so you can cut his claws, I condition my dog to be able to touch both the paws and the legs. I only do this normally from the lying position. The reason for this is that even if the dog offers the paw for a pet, you cannot expect to offer him the hind paws to cut claws at the age of three months. I doubt that. That's something I taught him, but I only taught him that when he was about a year old. Instead, I teach the dog to behave cooperatively when cutting claws and touching, but I usually only do that from the lying position. I'm not saying I'll never teach him the paw or the paw shake, because it's a pretty cute behavior, and I even made a video about it. You can watch it up here, together with videos in the comments, how to use the hind paw as a target, the front paw as a target, all that. So take a look at that in the comment section. But I'll wait until I get the feeling that the dog has a lot more control and experience in putting clues under control. What does it mean that he only shows the behavior when I demand it, so that I don't have a dog that just stands up and touches everyone with the paw? The next thing I don't teach servants is automatic sitting. That is, when I heal my dog and then hold him in and the dog automatically knows, that he should sit down, if I don't move. I don't teach it to the dog. Here's the reason. When I'm in public with my servant and don't move, I usually ask him to do something. I could ask him, for example, to come up to me and lie down, so that he's protected in the hallway. Or I immediately ask her to do something, such as behavior, observe, show, block behind me or even hold the balance. All these things are unnecessary when you switch a seat in between. I actually have to get the dog to stand up and do the task. It's not bad to have the seat under control. So we can ask the dog to sit down in a situation, but we don't want him to sit down automatically, so that our tasks are more efficient and run better when we're out and about. Besides, I don't do that very often, when we talk about public access and ask the dog to sit down, because most of the time we're out on a shiny or slippery floor. And for a dog it's uncomfortable to sit on a shiny floor, because it's slippery. It costs him a lot of strength to stay in this position. And often his legs spread literally, because he's so tired to sit on a smooth floor. Instead, I ask her to lie down in these situations, so that she feels more comfortable. What do I train instead? I just train her to stand when I stand, or to pause when I pause when I stand. Just as I want them to get faster when I get faster, and slower when I get slower. Your dog can also decide to sit down when you don't move anymore. But it's important that your criteria is simply that the dog pauses. And that's why I actually feed him in the standing position, because I want to encourage him to keep this standing position. And hey, if you find this information useful so far, I would be happy if you click the like button. This encourages me to make these videos, and shows me that you want more of them. Okay, guys, I know you have a lot to say about this video, and I'm looking forward to the comments. But I'm giving Whelps the command, don't leave that. To be honest, I don't need it. What is the goal of the leave signal? Normally we want the dog to turn away from what he's doing right now and re-concentrate on his dog leader. Well, I already have a signal for that, namely his name. If I call my dog's name, I want him to turn away from what he's doing right now, re-concentrate and look at me. So I don't need two signals for that. I can just say his name. Denver. Yes. Well done. Yes. Why do people leave chewing gum on the way? That's disgusting, isn't it? If I want to teach him a formal leave signal later for some reason, I can definitely do that. But I won't waste my precious time teaching him that. Instead, I teach him these two things. The first thing I teach him instead is a really strong reaction to his name. I invest a large part of my time. Time. And then I protect this reaction to his name at all costs. That means, I start by simply loading the name, simply saying your name, giving you a piece of food, saying your name, giving you a piece of food. Denver. And then I go to the name game, where I throw a piece of food out. As soon as they eat the food, I know that they will turn around and look at me. So I say their name. As soon as they turn their head to look at me, I amplify this really nice head turn as soon as they hear their name. So I throw my food away. We say, Find it. Denver. Yes. Well done. Great. Find it. Denver. Yes. Good. Find it. Denver. Yes. Good. Great. Buddy. That's fabulous. And then I play many variations of this game and play it in many places. But at the same time I also protect their names. That means, I don't call them for things they don't want to do. And I really only use these names when something good is going to happen. And the next really valuable thing I teach is the automatic leave it alone. This consists of two parts. First, the dog has to understand when he should eat food from the floor. So I give him the signal, find it, where I throw the food, and give him the signal, find it. Then he goes and eats the food. You know, find it, means that you should chase the food and eat it. At the same time, I also teach them to leave food in a pot without forcing them to do so. The signal is that the food is there. So I start by simply adding a pot of food to them. And when they leave it alone, I give them something to eat so that something good happens. Then I increase myself so that they look at me when they see the pot of food, and that is amplified. And finally I can manage to leave pots of food on the floor. And these things, these distractions, are actually a functional signal for them to look at me. So I don't have to say anything. When they see a distraction in their environment, they are automatically asked to concentrate on hammering. I find that much more valuable than having to constantly tell them to leave things alone. If you want to learn more about how I teach them the automatic, let it, noise, then take a look at my Patreon at patreon.com. There you can sign up for only $ 4 and then get access to over 200 exclusive Patreon videos, including the videos in which I start this whole development with the little baby John Denver. And the last thing I don't teach a young wolf is the formal apportion while it's gnawing. I might still play apportion with them, especially if they can apportion from nature, so if they want to play ball or something like that in the article. I can definitely incorporate that into my training and incorporate a few toy skills, but I will not teach them the formal apportion, which is about shaping and holding the handle. There are two reasons for this. First, their mouth hurts when they gnaw. Second, they are particularly gnawing-friendly during the gnawing. They want to gnaw on objects because their mouth hurts and it gives them a certain relief. Both are things that I don't want to associate with my formal apportion. I don't want to teach my dog, for example, to bring me my medication and that he associates it with pain or the possible gnawing on a more sensitive object. If I teach him this formal apportion, it actually starts with holding. So he should be able to hold something in his mouth until I want it in my hand. I just think it's pretty unfair that a four-and-a-half-month-old wolf, who has a painful mouth, still needs rest. So that's just nothing I teach a gnawing wolf. What do I teach him instead? Basically, I can teach him before he starts gnawing. But realistically, I usually wait until he's done gnawing to teach him this formal apportion. But as I said, I'm still going to play apportions with them. I'm going to play apportions with them. I just make sure that I don't include anything that I have to clean up later when I'm apportioning. For example, I had an object that Denver chewed a lot on, and that's why I'm not going to play apportions with this object anymore, because I don't want the chewing to become part of the apportioning later. Instead, I'm going to limit myself to toys that he holds tight in his mouth. Another thing I'm waiting for at this time, so that all his remaining teeth can really concentrate, is the apportion pattern. So I can teach them to go outside to get something, in this case it's a treat, and then come back and sit next to me. When they're done with the teeth, they've already internalized this pattern, to return to the hand. You can do this by touching them with your hand, or you can use a platform and teach them to go into the heel position. And then you just have to add the apportion object later. So these are the four things that John Denver can't do yet. Are you surprised? Is there anything I forgot, that you don't teach your servant? Write it to me in the comments. I'm already looking forward to the comments on this video. And hey, if you liked this video, you'll definitely like this one too. Take a look at it now. I wish you all a great day and have fun training.