Position Change with Pre-Placed Rewards
Time to check your Position Change 2 with pre-placed rewards! Take these levels in different sessions. 2-3 sessions at each level is ideal. Remember we want quality over quantity, so a handful of reps per session is more than enough!
Warm-up Rep: Load and place a reward in front of your setup spot. Move with your dog away from the reward, get your dog into their setup/startline position, and step to the side of them. Cue your position change. Release to the reward in front of them.
starting each level with this warmup rep is a great way to test your dog's mindset before continuing with the main objective.
- your dog should be off-leash
- load the bowl or place the toy on the ground
- move away from the reward together
- cue your setup behavior/position
- step to their side
- look at them
- cue the position change
- release forward to the reward
Level 1: Changing Handler Location
Use the same pattern as the warm-up rep.
Change your position relative to your dog in every rep. Work on both sides of your dog and make the changes small. It's better to have really clean position changes with you close than to have more mistakes at a greater distance from the dog. I'd recommend staying within 4-5 feet of them for now.
Level 2: Changing Handler Motion
The next layer is to ask for position changes while moving. First, repeat the initial instructions while you march in place. If that is easy for your dog, you can change your location relative to the dog just like in the first set of instructions and ask for the position change while marching before sending forward to the pre-placed reward.
Level 3: Increasing Handler Distance:
Next, you'll want to return to being stationary, but you'll increase the distance between you and the dog. Increase the distance until the preplaced reward is between the dog and you.
A helpful split as you move farther from the dog, is to turn to face the dog (instead of forward). This can help your dog be successful while still adding distance to the skill.
Level 4: Move the Reward to Behind the Dog:
Before we combine handler movement to the handler distance, test that your dog can successfully complete the position change with the reward pre-placed behind your dog. Use the same setup as the warm-up rep.
Level 5: Position Changes While Handler is in Motion:
With the reward placed behind your dog. You will start close to your dog and walk away from them, just like you would on the startline. When you look back at them, instead of releasing them, you'll cue the position change. Reward them with the pre-placed item behind them.
Splitting your movement:
walking backwards
walking slowly
fast walking
jogging
running