Build drive and practice your stays by racing your dog to a toy. This simple exercise teaches your dog that when you are moving, they should as well. Notice how G Force is looking straight at the toy – not at me! He is focused on his job: get the toy!
Race to toy under bucket
Progress this exercise to using a target rather than a toy or food. Having a visual target for your dog to focus on will help them run a straight light (over jumps, through tunnels, etc.) rather than focusing on you.
In this video I’m using an upturned bucket with a toy under it. I eventually want to phase out the toy so it’s just the bucket. Why? As we progress to more obstacles I want my dog to run on and not wait for me to catch up. Having the target at the end helps with this. However, if the ‘reward’ (toy/food) can be achieved without completing the sequence correctly (ie. dog cheats and runs around jumps) then my dog has been reinforced for the wrong choice.
So, when my dog thinks that running to the bucket is fun I can then remove the toy. As the toy was hidden my dog thinks it’s still there, but it’s not. Racing my dog to the bucket will allow me time to get the toy/food out to reinforce my dog. As a result, running to the bucket (target) will produce the reinforcement from ME and now running to bucket/target is fun.