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Daily Maintenance Sessions

Congratulations on completing the Camp Paws Board and Train!

To help you maintain your dog’s success after our program, we’ve put together a guide on exactly how to integrate your dog’s training into your daily life!

It’s important to continue practicing their obedience and building the working relationship between you two even after their training. Your dog will appreciate the mental and physical exercise you give them through daily training sessions! 

What Does Fluffy Know?

Before we start, let’s put together a list of everything your dog knows so we know what we have to practice with!

Basic Obedience  Come Sit Down Place Loose Leash Walking Heel Tethering Other:___________

Manners Greeting Door Crate Food Car Other:___________

Tricks Paw/Shake/Hand Roll Over Bang! Sit Pretty Spin Other:___________ Other:___________

Once you have put together a list of your dog’s known behaviors, you can mix and match them during your training session, putting together ever-changing training patterns to keep things interesting!

Example Pattern:

Come – Sit – Shake – Down – Stay – Come – Heel – Sit – Down – Roll Over – Spin – Sit – Break!

The pattern can be whatever you want, and be sure to change it up frequently! Keep it fun and engaging for both you and your dog!

Your Patterns:

Come up with 3 different patterns you can use in any of your training sessions. These are just for practice! Come up with more as you become more familiar with the process of doing maintenance sessions.

1. _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ – Break!
   
   
   
2. _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ – Break!
   
   
   
3. _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ –
   
   _________________ – _________________ – _________________ – Break!

Now that you’ve written down a few different patterns, you can use any of these during your maintenance sessions! Better yet, you can use all three interchangeably! 

Treats or No Treats?

To help maintain a healthy weight in dogs, we recommend using part of their daily meals as training rewards. Treats are extra calories that most dogs do not need.

For example, put their breakfast kibble in a sandwich bag, putting that bag in your pocket. Every time they get a reward, give them a small handful of kibble.

Maintenance Menu

At Home Session

This is the most straightforward of all, to be used if life is just getting busy, or the weather outside isn’t great. 

The pattern you pick for this one should include many of their stationary commands like “Sit”, “Place”, “Sit Pretty”, etc. Behaviors like “Heel” and “Loose Leash Walking” are possible, but less efficient at home.

1. Find a low traffic area in the house. If you will be practicing “Place”, have a place object prepared (bed, cot, etc.).
2. Cycle through your pattern(s), varying the wait times between each command to keep your dog on their toes!
3. After each “Break!”, give your dog a short break with love and affection to connect and recharge for the next round.
4. After 10-15 minutes, conclude the training session on a good note. All done!

Around the Neighborhood

This is a great way to integrate training into their daily walks. You kill two birds with one stone!

The pattern you pick for this one will likely include longer stretches of “Heel” and “Loose Leash Walking” to include more physical exercise. Adding in “Come” is recommended to build a good habit in this setting! The “Sit” command can be naturally included when coming to a stop at corners or before crossing the street.

Note:

Make sure the pavement is cool enough for a walk. If it’s too hot for you to hold your palm to it, it’s too hot for your dog to walk on it. 

Dog socks are a great solution! Be sure that the bottom of the dog shoe/sock you buy is not a firm piece of rubber, like a boot. Look for flexible rubber soles that allow the dog to use their paw pads to feel the ground as naturally as possible, and also allows their toes to spread out naturally as they walk. Lavasox is recommended! In wintertime, road salt is a concern that the same company addresses with Saltsox.

Phase 1: Before the Walk

1. At home, calmly put the leash on your dog away from the front door.
2. Heel or Loose Leash Walk your dog towards the front door. If they pull, correct the behavior normally, as if you were already outside. (Ex. giving a pop on the leash, or saying “uh-uh”)
3. At the door, have your dog sit. At any point if they get up on their own, calmly put them back in the sit.
4. Still holding on to the leash, walk out the door without your dog. Make necessary corrections if they get up without being released. 
5. Once they’ve been sitting well for about 10 seconds, calmly tell them “come” and have them exit the house and sit in front of you. 
6. Close the door, and start your walk with Heel or Loose Leash Walking.

Phase 2: The Walk

1. During your walk, use “Heel” or “Loose Leash Walking” as the foundation of your pattern so that you can make progress all around your usual walk areas.
2. Cycle through your pattern(s), varying the wait times between each command to keep your dog on their toes!
3. After each “Break!”, give your dog a short break with love and affection to connect and recharge for the next round.
4. Each time you come to a crosswalk, practice their sit to build real world habits.
5. If you see other dogs or people, make sure to hold them accountable to the same standards as if there were no distractions around. (i.e. don’t let your dog get away with worse obedience because they are excited)
6. Your training session ends when you complete the walk!

Phase 3: Going Home

1. Once you are back at your front door, have your dog sit. We are essentially repeating door manners in reverse. At any point if they get up on their own, calmly put them back in the sit.
2. Still holding on to the leash, walk into the house without your dog. Make necessary corrections if they get up without being released. 
3. Once they’ve been sitting well for about 10 seconds, calmly tell them “come” and have them enter the house and sit in front of you. 
4. Close the door, and take the leash off of your dog.
5. At this point, you can crate your dog or tell them “Break!” to release them from the sit.

Field Trip!

Just like in their Board and Train pupdates, you can take your dog on field trips to the stores around your home!

Pick locations that are generally dog friendly (hardware stores, malls, and outdoor plazas are good choices), or you can even choose to simply sit and chill with your dog at your local Starbucks.

Practice any combination of commands you can, safely, during your field trip to build confidence and reliability in those environments!