Course Details
Are fronts and finishes essential to your sport? Do you have a young pup who needs to learn these important skills, or an already-trained dog who could use a refresher? Maybe your dog is getting a little burned out because you’re working too much on precision and not as much as fun.
If so, you’ve come to the right place!
During this class we’ll break down both the front and finish exercises into tiny little pieces to give your dog the skills and help the dog understand exactly how to perform both behaviors. We will build up the skills through games so your dog learns that fronts and finishes are FUN!
Although our emphasis will be on enthusiasm and attitude, we will also teach the dog how to be accurate by splitting the behaviors into fine little chunks that are easily mastered. We’ll work on some body awareness exercises that will help the dog maneuver into the correct positions.
As you rise up through the levels of performance sports, fronts and finishes become more numerous and more difficult. Ensure that your dog’s foundation is solid so you can focus on having fun!
Teaching Approach
Lectures will be released weekly on the first day of each week. Each lecture contains written information with short videos to demonstrate.
Videos do not include captions or voiceovers. This class would work best with students that prefer written out instructions with video examples of each step and prefer a systematic approach to training. I will provide written feedback with additional video examples if necessary.
[INST]
Syllabus
Syllabus (subject to change)
Week 1
- Props
- Chin Rests
- Nose Touches
- Eye Contact
Week 2
- Spatial Pressure
- Front Games
- Reward Strategies
Week 3
- Find Heel Games
- Putting Together the Finish
Week 4
- Attach Cues to Behaviors
- Increasing Complexity
Week 5
- Fading Props
- Lateral Fronts
Week 6
- Generalization
- Fronts with Holds
Prerequisites & Supplies
There are no pre-reqs for this class. Although I love teaching these front games to puppies, I do keep in mind that some are often growing and at awkward stages of their physical development, so I don’t put a lot of emphasis on tight sits and precision. The pups will, however, learn all the games and mechanics for how to do fronts and finishes, so it’s still a valuable class for young dogs.
This class does utilize several different props. Although the props are optional, these tools allow you to communicate clear criteria to your dog much more quickly, and their use will be encouraged. The class will also cover how to fade the props and how you can use them in the future to maintain your fronts and finishes.
Sample Lecture
OB275 2.1 Eye Contact
I use offered eye contact as a way for my dog to let me know he’s ready to work. Eye contact starts each chain of behaviors. I often will wait for eye contact, then ask the dog to set up in heel and go from there. Or I’ll wait for eye contact before I ask for a different behavior, like sit, touch, down, etc.
Specific to this class, eye contact (and focus on your face) is really important for straight fronts. If the dog is focused on your hands, it will be very difficult to get a straight front. However, if the dog is looking up at your face, he or she will be much more likely to sit straight.
We need to show the dog that eye contact is valuable so that he will be more likely to offer it. The more the dog offers it, the more she gets rewarded, and the more likely you are to get eye contact in more distracting situations.
When I first start teaching this, I bring the dog into a quiet low-distraction environment. I usually start with my hands behind my back so it’s easier for the dog to focus on my face without the distraction of treats in my hand. When the dog makes eye contact I mark with a verbal behavior while my entire body stays very still. After I’ve marked the behavior, I move to reward the dog.
Clean marking is always important in dog training, but especially at a time like this. If you say yes and move to reward at the same time, the dog is going to pick up on your body movement before the verbal and will be glancing toward your hand when you say yes. If this happens, you just marked your dog for looking away from you! Definitely not what we want.
In the following video, I am not doing a good job marking THEN moving to reward. When I slow the video down, do you see how I’m actually marking my dog looking away from me?? Not good, but SO incredibly common!
Now take a look at this video. Here I am thinking: mark, pause, move to reward. Remember click THEN treat, not click AND treat (Thank you Terry Ryan!).
I don’t mind that Excel is looking away AFTER I’ve said yes. What I’m concerned about is where he is looking WHEN I say yes. In the first video, when I marked the behavior, he was looking away from me. In the second video, he was looking right at me every time I said yes.
Now that you can see how important it is to mark THEN reward, let’s move on to the training part!
When I first start teaching eye contact, I bring the dog into a quiet low-distraction environment. I usually start with my hands behind my back so it’s easier for the dog to focus on my face without the distraction of treats in my hand. When the dog makes eye contact I mark with a verbal behavior while my entire body stays very still. After I’ve marked the behavior, I move to reward the dog.
In the beginning steps of training I will mark any eye contact, no matter how fleeting, but very quickly I would like the dog to really look at me, not just glance. If I'm struggling with getting duration, I will ignore the first quick glance, but mark the second one. Then I move onto marking the third quick glance. At this point the dog will usually start looking at you longer. Within a session or two I am waiting for 1-2 seconds of steady eye contact before I mark.
When the dog really understands eye contact with my hands behind my back, I will start putting them at my sides. I keep my hands low so I can really tell if my dog is looking at me or my hands. I continue to mark and reward eye contact. As the dog improves, I will start to put my hands in different positions, such as straight out from my body.
Here's an example of me working with Excel, showing you how I'd progress. Excel went through these steps really fast since he knows the game, so make sure you don't progress to the next step until your dog is solid.
If you take the time to teach eye contact now, it will pay off big time throughout your dog’s career!
Testimonials
A sampling of what prior students have said about this course ...
New class for the June 2021 session
Registration
There are no scheduled sessions for this class at this time. We update our schedule frequently, so please subscribe to our mailing list for notifications.
Registration opens at 11:30am Pacific Time.
OB275 Subscriptions
 Gold |
 Silver |
 Bronze |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $ 260.00 | $ 130.00 | $ 65.00 |
| Enrollment Limits | 12 | 25 | Unlimited |
| Access all course lectures and materials | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Access to discussion and homework forums | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Read all posted questions and answers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Watch all posted videos | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Post general questions to Discussion forum | ✔ | ✔ | ✖ |
| Submit written assignments | ✔ | ✖ | ✖ |
| Post dog specific questions | ✔ | With video only | ✖ |
| Post videos | ✔ | Up to 2 | ✖ |
| Receive instructor feedback on |
|
|
✖ |
Find more details, refund policies and answers to common questions in the Help center.
