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[quote author=poodle link=topic=2699.msg26468#msg26468 date=1143241864]
i have been trying to teach emergency stop/sit for some time. firsly i make him sit and wait, then call him and try to make him stop at distance. he can do it in the house, but when we try it during the walk, he changes his pace from run to walk, but he continues to walk quite a bit before he stops ans sits. how can i improve his performance?
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this is classic – so let me try and explain, bearing in mind that i have been trying to catch up all day and the arthritis in my fingers having been around wet dogs for a week is being a bugger ;D
each behaviour is individual – that is why the clicker works so well because we now understand this, the traditional training methods move things on from a humans point of view but not from a canines point of view.
so;
sit – 1 behaviour, wait – another, recall another, stop another, sit another etc etc – at what point are you rewarding him and for which behaviour, from his point of view, is the reward for?. what you have to do is get each behaviour firm, fluent and reliable at each stage and at each criteria – then and only then can you chain them up – teach the stop the way i have said – that way you are only working on the one behaviour and it is that that is being rewarded – when it is fluent at that level then test it by doing a recall (assuming you have a fluent recall) and introducing the stop when the dog is on the run. you don’t say what your cue is – but all you need for a good stop is a whistle as explained above.