Within the PRT program, Lightning has now completed all of the Stage 2 yard progression on land and all of the Stage 2 field progression on both land and water. In fact, the only Stage 2 work he has not completed is the last two steps of the last Stage 2 yard drill, the swim-by. We’ve begun the swim-by and will continue as opportunities to train on water permit.

But in the meantime, it’s time for Lightning to begin Stage 3 of the PRT program. Just as PRT Stage 2 corresponds to Basics in  Mike Lardy’s TRT  program, PRT Stage 3 corresponds to TRT Transition. We’ll continue to base the PRT program on TRT, just eliminating the use of physical aversives, which traditional trainers use for corrections and force, from the PRT approach to developing the same skills in the same sequence. 

As the TRT video explains, however, sequence is more flexible in this new stage of training, and will vary with circumstances such as availability of training properties and the dog’s own pace of development. Here in Lightning’s journal, I’ll record the particular sequence I follow with Lightning, with the understanding that other PRT trainers will choose their own sequence to cover the same material. For example, you may have completed training the swim-by from Stage 2. Lightning and I still need to wrap that up.

Mike mentions in the video that this is an exciting stage of training because the dog is learning new things every day. The narrator also mentions another exciting point: in a few months the dog will be ready to run in qualifying. For Lightning, that means he may be able to begin competition as early as spring or fall of 2017. Wow!