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Want to get your dog involved in obedience but not sure where to begin? Many people think you need easy access to the outdoors to begin this kind of training with your dog. But one of the great things about many dog sports is you don’t actually need a lot of space or equipment to get started.
There are many fundamental skills you can teach and practice with your dog at home, even if you live in a small space.
Turns
Even if you don’t have a lot of space, you can work with your dog on clean turns. This skill will help you when you’re able to practice full courses. Left turn, right turn, about right/left turns, about U-turns, 270-degree right/left, and 360-degree left/right can all be worked on in a small space like your living room.
If you need a refresher on how to perform any of these signs, check out the AKC Rally & Obedience YouTube page. Make turning practice a game for your dog by doing turns at different paces. If your dog is toy-motivated, you can include toys into the game by doing a turn, then tossing a toy for them to play with.
Heeling
If you live in a small home, you might not be able to practice big heeling patterns. But, if you live in an apartment building, you can use building hallways to your advantage.
To start teaching heel, lure your dog into position at your left side with a treat, then praise and reward. To start heeling in motion, begin by luring your dog with a treat. This will allow you to show them the position you want and keep their attention to you. Then, reward after a couple of steps.
As you practice, you can begin to phase out the lure for heeling. Then, increase the number of steps you ask your dog to heel before rewarding.
Positions
While they’re sometimes overlooked in favor of flashier skills like turns and pivots, it’s always beneficial to practice positions like sit, down, and stand and teaching your dog to make smooth transitions between them. It’s a good idea to teach standing at the same time that you teach sit and down. You’ll save yourself time later by making it another position your dog knows from the beginning.
Work on these skills while you’re preparing your dog’s meals, as well as when you’re playing games like fetch and tug. This will improve your dog’s fluency with the behavior. Plus, it will build value and drive to perform these stationary positions that some dogs find less exciting.
Stay
A skill that you can always practice without having a lot of space to maneuver is a stay. Stay has lots of real-world applications. Plus, it’s a skill your dog will need to be confident in for obedience.
Practice your stays everywhere in your home. Start with very short stays, even just a second to start. Then, build up to longer stays. The goal isn’t to see how long your dog can stay for, but rather to build the skill. By the time you ask your dog for a long stay, they’ll have an understanding of the exercise.
If your dog breaks their stay by getting up or changing position, don’t get upset. Just calmly return your dog to the position, ask them to stay again, then praise/reward and release. If your dog is continually breaking their stay, you’re likely asking for it to be too long or the environment is too distracting. Lower the criteria for your next training session to keep your dog successful and then build back up to the higher distractions or longer durations.
When practicing, it’s helpful to return to the stay to praise before releasing dogs. This helps to reinforce that your dog is being rewarded for staying and not the release, which most dogs already find naturally rewarding. Be sure to practice stays with your dog in the sit, down, and stand positions and while you walk around them.