We started training Hannah almost immediately. My husband and I had not owned a dog in our adult lives, but we had definite ideas about how a dog should behave and so we did a ton of research early on so that we weren't giving her mixed messages. There's a ton of information out there about dog training and we wanted to make sure we were both doing the same thing consistently, so we bought the book Training the Best Dog EverLinks to an external site. by Dawn Sylvia - Stasiewicz and Larry Kay.

One of the first thing this book talks about is tethering your dog for the first week you have it. Essentially, the dog was on her leash and her leash was in my hand or my husband's hand every second of the day that the dog wasn't in her kennel.  We slowly transitioned so that she still had her leash on, but she could be in the same room as us but not in leash distance. Eventually we transitioned so that the leash wasn't on, but she was always in the same room as us and then she could be in a different room, but that took a long time.

Other early training that we did with Hannah included hand feeding her for the first two or three weeks we had her. She was already kennel trained, so we didn't have to feed her in the kennel, but we did feed her every bite of kibble she had for the first few weeks we had her.  We also played "the name game," as suggested by the book, which meant we said her name and touched her and gave her treats. 

The book focused on using positive reinforcement with Hannah, which basically meant that when Hannah did a behavior that we wanted her to repeat, we would give her a positive stimulus, which was usually a treat. The idea is that if the dog associates a behavior with a treat, she'll be more likely to repeat that behavior. If we come up to a curb on a walk and Hannah sits down, she gets a treat and a "good girl!" to reinforce the behavior. 

In order to get Hannah to do behaviors that we want her to do, we use three types of ways of teaching her new behaviors: luring, capturing, and shaping.

Luring is guiding your dog into the behavior you want by holding a treat in front of his or her nose. In one exercise, I wanted Hannah to put her front paws on top of an overturned bucket.  I simply showed her the treat in my hand and held it in front of her nose as she gradually moved her paws in the direction of the bucket. When her paws were on top, she got the treat!

Capturing is using your dog's natural behavior and rewarding it. When we're out on a walk and Hannah looks at me, I say "good look!" and give her a treat. This shows her that I notice when she looks to me for guidance or reassurance. Ideally she will always look to me when she's uncertain about what she should do or if she's nervous.  I'm trying to use capture to get her to do a head tilt, as well. You can only use capturing when it's a behavior dogs already do on their own.

Shaping is breaking dog's behavior into small steps and rewarding each step.  While Hannah was easily lured into stepping on top of an overturned bucket, she didn't want to actually step INTO a cardboard box.  I used shaping. First, I just held a treat in my hand and treated her when she sniffed the box. Then I held a treat in my hand near the box and gave her the treat when she touched the box with her paws. Then I held a treat in my hand near the box and rewarded her for putting one paw in the box. Then two paws.  This shaping took place over several training sessions.

We worked our way through the exercises in the book, including loose leash walking, sitting, and being groomed, but I wanted a bit more guidance on how to get Hannah to be the best dog she could be and how to stimulate her brain. She was very happy during training, wagging her tail and engaging with us a lot, and I wanted to keep her enthusiasm for training, so I needed to get more tricks in my arsenal.

We signed her up for a Canine Good CitizenshipLinks to an external site. (CGC) class at the Janesville-Beloit Kennel Club. She attended this class once a week from August 19 through October 7, 2019.  The class is designed to teach dogs to pass the the CGS test. The test has ten items that it tests:

1) Accepting a friendly stranger - A stranger approaches us and Hannah has to be chill. No jumping/nosing the stranger while I shake hands with the stranger.

2) Sitting politely for a petting - A stranger approaches us and pets Hannah.

3) Appearance and grooming - Hannah is checked to see if she's healthy and groomed appropriately. She also has to allow a physical examination and get groomed.

4) Walking on a loose lead - Basically Hannah has to be attentive to the owner and be able to do a left turn, right turn, and about face with the leash loose.

5) Walking through a crowd - Hannah has to walk politely through pedestrian traffic. The dog can show interest in strangers, but continue to walk in step with me, her handler.

6) Sit down on command and stay - I have to be able to walk 20 feet away from Hannah and she still has to be able to stay.

7) Coming when called - From the 20 feet away, I have to be able to call Hannah's name and she comes to me.

8) Reaction to another dog - We need to be able to meet someone walking in the other direction with another dog. Hannah needs to be chill and not try to jump/nose the other dog or the other person.

9) Reaction to distraction - Hannah shouldn't panic or get aggressive when there's a distraction.  There should be a noise distraction (something falling, a siren, etc.) and a physical distraction (someone running by, using a walker, with a big bag, etc.) on the test.

10) Supervised separation - Hannah can be left with a trusted person while her handler is away, without getting overly anxious.

She passed her CGC test on the first try! You can see her certificate from the American Kennel Club. 

After that we took her to continuing obedience classes occasionally at the Janesville-Beloit Kennel Club, but it was kind of a long drive and we frequently were cutting it very close in getting there after work.  I'd like Hannah to got to the Fort Atkinson Kennel Club because it's closer to home.