From Savannah with Savvy Dog Training
Teaching your deaf or hearing dog to come and sit in front of you! This cue is “come front” which means for the dog to come in front of me, look at me, and sit.
My sign for “come front”.
Unlike most of our other videos, Sydney has never learned this one before, so you really get to see the raw footage of me teaching a brand new behavior! I like to use come front for reactive dogs, dogs that bark, lunge, or growl at other dogs or people. (Note: this is just one exercise that I recommend, but you should call a force-free trainer to walk you through the reactivity reduction process.)
I start by luring Sydney into the position that I want, then asking her to sit, then marking and rewarding! I do that over and over…and over again!
Luring her from behind with a high value treat to in front of me.
Asking for a sit.
Marking the correct response from Sydney with a “yes” sign followed by giving her a high value treat as her reward for making the right choice.
Then, I lure the behavior just like I did before, but I don’t cue the sit. I wait to see if Sydney has chained those two behaviors together yet. She does at one point! I repeat that part again and again!
I want the dog to come front and look at me.
I lure her from behind with a high value treat and drag the treat in front of her nose to in front of me.
Marking her correct response with a “yes” sign followed by rewarding her with a high value treat.
Then, finally, I see if she understands the behavior by asking her to “come front”, and she comes in front of me, looks at me, and sits so I sign “yes!”
When she starts to come front and sit I make sure to give her the marker “yes” and followed by her reward a high value treat.
Once your deaf or hearing dogs understand the “come front” repeat, repeat, repeat!
Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Again, I like this behavior for reactive dogs, since it changes your dogs orientation and focus to you instead of whatever trigger was walking your way!
Good luck, like and subscribe, and be sure to reach out if you have any questions!
Happy training,
Savannah & Sydney
Follow me on Facebook and Instagram – Savvy Dog Training – @SavvyDT I also offer tele-training – contact me at savannahlefors2@gmail.com or (904) 242-6772