With everyday exercises in small steps
to great serenity by Susanne Reinke
In the last post you learned the “dos” and “don’ts” of water work and are now well equipped for any water adventures with your dog.
Water adventures – they sound great, but would you rather stay on dry land? Or does swimming just not sound particularly appealing now that it's getting colder and colder? No problem: That's exactly why I'm introducing you to the everyday exercises for every dog today! With these you have many opportunities to have fun together on your walks or at home and at the same time practice important commands and exercises. And the best thing: Once you've trained, you can use it again and again in everyday life as needed – even in stressful situations!
Everyday exercises for every dog – including mine?
Sure, of course! No matter whether your four-legged friend is a youngster or an old hand. No matter whether you are a bundle of energy or of the more calm variety, a family dog, a sports dog or a hunting dog: the exercises I am presenting to you today are suitable for every dog.
“Okay, but what about me?” you might be thinking. The everyday exercises for every dog are also for every person. Your age doesn't matter and “back” or “knees” don't stop you from trying these exercises with your dog.
Why are everyday exercises even useful?
- Everyday life is the key word
As the word suggests: you can easily and stress-free integrate these exercises into your daily routine. Whether at home or on your walks, you can train them anywhere and then use them later. You don't have to go out and buy training equipment – you probably already have what you need at home. - relaxation
Everyday exercises will help you master the challenges of daily life: no matter who you meet on your walk – cats, postmen or joggers – what your dog finds on the ground during your walk or how many visitors you receive. With everyday exercises, you have the tools you need to create relaxation for you and your dog, even in stressful situations. - Clear communication
Everyday exercises improve communication between you and your dog. Signals often arrive at your dog in a completely different way than intended: If you practice everyday exercises, you can clear up some of these misunderstandings because it is clear what the individual signals mean. - Skills from dummy training
With these exercises, which are also used in dummy training, you train much more than just everyday tasks. You also teach your dog other important things that make training and everyday life easier: orientation towards you, impulse control and the right amount of independence.
Your start to training
Would you like to try out a few everyday exercises right away, but don't know where or how to start? Just try the following exercises! The order is not fixed – you can adapt it flexibly to your needs and wishes.
1. Dead Mouse – Fun to play and shut down
Having fun and playing together with your dog is a real highlight, especially in stressful everyday life. If you can then combine the game with an exercise through which your dog learns how to actively relax, that would of course be even nicer. The Dead Mouse game is perfect for this.
Pick a toy that your dog likes to put in its mouth – may I introduce: the mouse!
Now quickly move the toy away from your dog. Make the mouse come to life and run around, hide and escape from your dog.
Tip: If your dog is excited at the sight of the toy, take it a little easier first. This way you can play and still master the next step.
In the middle of the game, the mouse suddenly dies, or to put it another way: you pause, exhale audibly and slowly let the toy sink to the ground. Your dog will notice that he no longer has the lively and playable mouse in front of his nose. This gives him the impulse to actively shut down. When he lets go of the toy, you praise him calmly and in a quiet voice. As soon as the mouse has become uninteresting for your dog, the game can continue: “Surprise! The mouse is still alive!”
Make sure you never end the game with an out, but always with an exchange. Give your dog a toy to keep or food to make the end fun.
2. The dissolution command – a clear signal instead of guesswork
With the release command – such as “free” or “run” – you signal to your dog that an exercise has ended. It is a valuable tool not only for dummy training, but also in everyday life, because the clearer the communication between you and your dog, the better he can understand you and follow your signals.
Fun fact: “Stay” is a signal for various actions. No matter whether your dog should sit, lie down or stand – the signal is always “Stay!” That's why it's so hard for the dog to understand and he always comes along instead of staying. In contrast, the release command is much easier for your dog to understand because it always asks him to do the same thing. He knows: Free means that the exercise is over and he can start running.
Particularly in combination with static commands – including “sit” and “down” – the dissolution command brings clarity. Maybe you've already found yourself in the following situation: You wanted your dog to stay put, but he decided he'd had enough sitting around and thought to himself: “The exercise is probably long over, I'll just get up and go.”
Once you have introduced the release command, your dog no longer has to puzzle; it is clear to him: “The exercise is not over yet because I haven't heard 'free' yet.”
3. Shelf – with a place to relax
The tray is a relaxed “space” where you can send your dog whenever you want to tell him: “It’s not your turn right now and you can relax now.” This is not only helpful for you because you don't have to concentrate on your dog all the time, but also for your dog itself. The tray becomes an “off switch” for him. He no longer has to be alert and excited, but can simply enjoy lying around.
This is how you train the filing: First, train with your dog without any distractions. Have him hold the command first for about ten seconds, then thirty, then a minute, and so on before you give the dispersal command. If that works well, you can increase the level of difficulty and move the training from the living room to the garden, for example. First, reduce the time your dog has to hold space again because your dog is much more distracted here. If you notice that he can hold the command for longer and longer despite temptations, you can add more distractions. You continue this alternation until you can send your dog to the tray (and he stays there), no matter how turbulent things are around you.
This is an absolute game changer for your everyday life: For example, you can send your dog to the tray and then calmly collect his business without being dragged around the next corner by him.
It is also worth practicing the placement for dummy training. If you're alone, you'll ultimately have to lay out all the dummies yourself. This is much easier if you simply send your dog to the tray and start the exercise again after laying it out from the basic position – the dog sits to the left of the person.
But be careful! Make sure that training does not follow every filing. If your dog learns that laying down means work, he will no longer be able to relax here.
4. Send on – past all distractions
How often has your dog found something exciting on the street: a bush? “I’ll disappear into that for now!” Half a bun? “Great, I’ll bite into it!” To stop your dog from sniffing everything in the future (or eat it straight away), Whatever comes under his nose, this command is perfect.
Your dog learns that it's not a bad thing to leave something exciting behind. This not only increases his frustration tolerance, but is also practical for everyday life.
Here's how to train forwarding: Put your dog down and pretend you're putting something on the floor. When you get back to him, pass on the command and play with him or reward him as you move away from the spot where you “put” something. A clear sign for your dog: “If I ignore something exciting, I get something much better!”
If this works well, you can make the training increasingly difficult. Start by placing moderately exciting things like rocks, sticks, or leaves on the floor, and then move on to the really exciting things like toys or dummies. Of course, you have to take these things back with you at the end.
Tip: If you use the same word to send it on as you did for the dispersal command, your dog can quickly misunderstand it. The dissolution command means that he no longer has to keep the previous command. He is free and can do whatever he wants, such as picking up the item that has been put down. If you teach him a new signal word like “continue,” it will be much clearer to your dog what you want to say to him.
Conclusion
Everyday exercises are really for every dog and every person, and if you feel like it, you can get started right away with your four-legged friend and try out a few exercises!
Because everyday exercises can be easily integrated into your everyday life – without having to buy extra accessories – and quickly become a natural part of your daily routine. They shouldn't be a duty that you would prefer to avoid. They are a fun activity for you and your dog that make your life more relaxed and safer at the same time. Not only do you have a great time together, you also improve your communication and train skills that shouldn't be missing in your everyday life.
When it comes to exercises in everyday life, you have already learned a lot. But what if you want to go out into nature and have some fun with your dog? To keep him so busy and exhausted that he lies contentedly snoring on the sofa?
If you immediately think of your ball slingshot and a large meadow for your dog to run around, you should definitely wait for the next post before you get started. There I will introduce you to important basic rules that will ensure that nothing goes wrong when playing with balls!
Until then: have fun training!
You can find the relevant podcast episodes on the topic here: www.hundeschule-jagdfieber.de/p164-basics-im-dummytraining.
Tip: Further contributions from Susanne Reinke