By now, you should be seeing this pattern:
- Your dog is a short distance from the rug and looking at you.
- After about 20 seconds of staring, your dog moves toward the rug.
- Once your dog is fully on the rug, you say "Good" in a normal tone of voice and toss a treat somewhere that forces him to move away from the rug.
- Your dog eats the treat and starts the routine again.
Voila! You have created a behavior while not giving a command – a behavior that no amount of chanting, ranting or yelling would have created. To put the finishing touch to this, let me explain how to connect a command that will allow you to get the behavior whenever you want it.
4. Reinforce the behavior by starting another session and running two or three repetitions explained in Step 3.
Add a step. As the dog goes toward the treat, say, in a normal tone of voice, "Go to your rug." If he goes to the rug, say "Good" and toss a treat. Repeat this step several times. If the behavior breaks down, stop talking and go back to Step 3.
Say "Go to your rug" only once and in a normal tone of voice. Then wait quietly. Give your dog about 30 seconds to perform the behavior, or you say "Wrong," and try again. Most importantly, be patient. If you want the dog to give a Carnegie Hall-caliber performance, he will have to practice, practice, practice.
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