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HOMEWORK

• Touch/Find It as described in the lecture.
• SEC On Switch. Practice as described below.
• Begin to teach a More Please Signal for some grooming or vet care behavior (or something else you just want to do to your dog that dogs don’t usually like, like kissing her on the forehead).
• Use Mark and Move on your walks this week. If you are already using a 15-foot leash, a clicker is too much to hold, so use a verbal marker, like Yes or a cue (Touch works well if it’s already trained up).

SEC On-Switch: I recommend that you combine Mark and Move with the SEC On Switch work that you did in the last Pause to Practice. Here’s what that looks like:

Casually hang out near your dog, like sitting on a bench reading a book. Occasionally have something visually change about the environment (person, other dog, etc. – see previous homework for a big list). This is the “trigger.”

Choose one of the following to mark (picking the most that your dog is capable of in that moment):

• Engagement with the trigger (ear flick, eye turn, head turn, etc.)
• Disengagement from the trigger (head turn away, movement away, etc.)
• Attention to you (working mode)

You can mark with a verbal marker or clicker, but you can also mark with a cue, like the attention cue that you trained in the first On/Off Switch lesson. If you do that, use the cue to mark when your dog first looks at the trigger, then mark again with a verbal marker or clicker when your dog does that behavior. Move away and reinforce with something like a game of Find It. Go back to being casually near your dog.

If/when your dog looks at you after the treats, release with All Done (assuming it’s safe to do so). Wait at least a few minutes before repeating so that the trigger is at least something of a surprise.

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