Negotiating through CRAP to shaping
People love rules. And dog trainers love routines.
Can you remember those old obedience class homework handouts: practice 15 automatic sits, heel forward with three left turns and three right turns, practice two fasts and two slows, practice sit/stay for three minutes and down/stay for five minutes on lead with distractions. I can. Taped each week’s assignments up on my ‘fridge. Practiced them religiously, 15 minutes in the morning and another 15 minutes at night.
There’s nothing wrong with rules. Or routines. Those homework handouts were how I trained Taryn all the way through utility, and how I earned her SOTC CD (a club title awarded to mixed breeds by qualifying three times under three different fun match judges.) Those homework handouts were still around and part of my training plan when I started Jazz, who eventually earned an AKC CD, a CKC CD, an AKC CDX and who I trained and showed in utility. [Read the rest of this entry...]


