3 Skills I Love for Newly Adopted Dogs

With so many possible skills to teach a new adopted dog, it can be tough to decide what to prioritize. Here are my three favorite skills for newly adopted dogs.

1. Coming When Called (aka Recall)

Talk about an important safety skill! Should your dog ever get loose, you want the best possible chance of calling them to come to you. I love the first step in the Academy for Dog Trainer’s recall plan. It’s like a word association where your dog learns the magic word (or phrase) predicts amazing, fabulous, unbelievable treats (see more below). At that first stage, the dog doesn’t even need to do anything. The magic words happens, then those amazing treats magically appear. Once your dog has made the connection (“Woohoo that word happened, I’m getting amazing stuff now!”) you’ll start to teach your dog to come to you first. Start just a few feet away from your dog, inside where there are no distractions. Build up the difficulty level gradually, setting your dog up for success along the way so that they’re getting it right and you’re maintaining the special connection between the magic word and the magical treats.

Lots at stake? Use steak!

Okay, it doesn’t have to actually be steak. (Yes, that’s a picture of cheese, not steak.) But it must be absolutely amazing and extremely special to your dog. And given in very generous quantities. (Often, the stinkier and slimier it is, the better. Think cheese, chicken or other meats.) Eye popping for your dog, as though they’re thinking, “I cannot believe this and I will drop everything to come racing to get this again next time they call!” We categorize coming when called as an “expensive” behavior for dogs. Make it well worth their while.

Here are some magic recall words used by clients and colleagues:

2. Touch (Nose Target to Hand)

A nose target (your dog touching their nose to your hand) can be a really fun game for you and your dog. It also has some great practical applications, such as being able to ask your dog to move through space without you physically moving them. Need your pup to get off the couch? Or get onto the scale at the vet’s office? Try touch! If you’ve ever taken an online class with me, you’ll have seen me using touch to help position my dogs for the camera. It can also be a useful skill when on walks, such as to prevent or help move your dog along from a challenging situation. This is also a great one to practice our timing. As the saying goes, one behavior late is way too late. Use a clicker or marker word like “Yes!” at the exact moment your dog’s nose touches your hand, then give the treat.

3. Mat Training

Have you ever heard a trainer say to teach your dog what to do (rather than what not to do)? Mat training can be a helpful what-do-to in many potentially challenging-for-dogs situations. Dogs love food. Of course they’d like to try and get some of the goodies when the humans are cooking, eating a meal or loading the dishwasher! I use this skill with my own dogs during zoom calls. I often teach a foundation down-stay on a mat first, picking the mat up when done practicing. (Sit and down are helpful pre-reqs.) Your pup notices that lots of good things happen when they’re on that mat! It’s as though the mat becomes magnetic. From there, we can incrementally build up to specific real-life situations and/or teach a go-to-mat cue. We can even teach our dogs that something in the environment (eg: the ding, dong of the doorbell) is the cue for them to go to their mat.

I’d love to work on these (and other) skills with you and your dog!

• Private Classes
• Coming when called: Magnificent Manners 1 Part 1(online group class)
• Touch: Magnificent Manners 1 Part 1 or Fun and Games Tricks 1 (online group classes)
• Mat Training: Mat Training Lunch Break (online group class)