In the post Onward to Stage 2 I discussed disc 1 of Mike Lardy’s TRT video, including the last section on ecollar conditioning. In the PRT program, we’ll use the same several sessions at this point in the yard work progression to work on the same performance goals that Mike describes and illustrates in that section, but using positive rather than negative reinforcement.

The first drill is to strengthen the dog’s reinforcement history for Sit, in two variations:

1. Cue Here from heel position on either side, take a few steps, verbal or whistle Sit. Reinforce with a high value treat if dog sits instantly, no treat if dog takes a few steps. Practice both sides, and both verbal and whistle cues.
2. Facing dog, cue Sit, walk some distance away from dog, cue Here. As dog comes toward you, cue verbal or whistle Sit. Vary the distance before you cue Sit, so that sometimes the dog comes all the way to front position, sometimes the dog sits some distance away. If dog sits on cue, cheer, go to dog instantly, and reinforce. If dog takes a few a few steps after you cue Sit before sitting, or if dog sits when not cued, move around and start another trial without reinforcing.

Because of all the work Lightning has previously had with these behaviors, this was an easy drill for him. No teaching was involved. All we were doing was building a high level of reinforcement history for the verbal and whistle Sit cues.

I was prepared to do this drill for several sessions, but Lightning was so fluent, I think we’ll go onto reinforcing Here in our next session (see next post). We can always come back to this drill again in the future to re-strengthen Sit if needed.

As a reminder, obedience reinforcing drills are on the yard work side of PRT Stage 2. On the field work side, we continue as described in previous post. Fit example, today Lightning ran singles off multiple guns. I had two assistants, so I set them up as for a double and then had each of them throw a single. We used birds and ran three setups in various orientations and configurations. I used Lightning’s tab to require steadiness and cued delivery to hand in sit at heel on all six retrieves. During this period, other than steadiness, we’re not focused on training new skills but practicing, practicing, practicing Lightning’s marking and returns.