Six Months Old : The Companion Program

Since four weeks of age your pup has been consistently exposed to each piece of training needed to become a Companion.  He or she has learned the foundation of obedience through play and rewards, cued for success and we are now in the final thirty days of the Companion program, which consists of reviewing here, heel, sit, sit/stay, place, look, and going on age appropraite longer field trips to " proof" these skill sets

 Your pup is working on down. They were taught intro to down around 8-9 weeks. Now they are working on going down when given the command and settling into a down position. We also add Down with eye contact here, which is just like sit with eye contact. The pup is in a down position and, when given the command “look,” will direct their full eye contact to the handler. 

 Your pup is going out on individual walks in the fields and woods.  We use these walks to review our off-leash recall and whistle cues.
What is an off-leash recall? Off-leash recall is the training process of getting a dog to immediately return to you when called, even with distractions, ensuring safety and allowing freedom. 

How do you teach and maintain this skillset? It relies on building a consistent, positive, and high-value reward association with a specific cue (e.g, “here” or a whistle), starting in distraction-free areas with a leash or long line to ensure success, allowing them to learn the command without the option to ignore it. Use high-value treats the dog only receives during recall to make returning more rewarding than staying away. Consistency is crucial, use the same command or whistle every time to avoid confusion. Gradually increasing distance and complexity over time. Add release instead of ending the fun every time you call your dog, occasionally recall, treat, and then release them back to play. 

Your pup is working on home etiquette lessons. 

What is home etiquette and why is it important?

Home etiquette focuses on building polite daily habits through consistency, positive reinforcement, and structure to ensure a calm, well-behaved pet indoors. Pups are taught door manners they sit before entering and exciting through a door. Pups are also taught to settle either on a dog bed or in a crate. This is crucial for working from home or managing high-energy behavior. We work on calm greetings, the dog sits when visitors arrive. We also expose them to vacuums, brooms, cupboards shutting, TV sounds, Etc. Home etiquette is very important as you want your companion to respect your home and their new home. Home etiquette ensures calm, respectful behaviors in the home. 

Seven to Eight Months old:

The Advanced Companion Program

Your pup is working on an introduction to off-leash heel. 

What is off-leash heel?  Off-leash heeling is when your dog is heeling on the left side, watching your leg without a leash. 

Why is off-leash Important?  Ensures their safety during unexpected scenarios, such as a dropped leash or open door, while providing essential mental stimulation and physical exercise. 

How do we teach it and maintain it? We begin teaching the concept of off-leash heel during our intro to obedience, when the pups are around 3 to 4 months old.

With our treat bags on our left hip, we reward pups for walking on the left side at heel and watching our leg. This builds the foundation for off-leash work.
The most important part of off-leash heel is that the dog watches your leg. As they mature and understand “here,” “heel,” and “sit,” we start draping the leash over our shoulder, keeping our hands free, to begin off-leash heel training. After a few lessons, we drop the leash and let the dog drag it while remaining in heel position. After practicing this for several lessons, we remove the leash entirely, and the dog walks at heel off-leash.

Where can you successfully cue for this skillset? Once the skill set is learned and understood by the dog, you can begin to cue in low-distracted areas, such as hiking trails, open fields, woods, and private land.  After repeated and prolonged success in a low-distraction environment, you can start adding distractions and challenges to the training. 

 Your pup is working on extended Down and Down/stays. This is when your dog completely understands the skill set, and it can now perform the skill in public places and for longer durations. Your dog is doing down /stays in home depot, parks, beaches, and in the office.