SHAPE SUCCESS

If you are looking for your dog to be great and successful at what he does, you need the skills to be able to help him improve his skills. Getting better at something, whether it is staying quiet when strangers visit, walking at heel or retrieving a dumbbell, is about getting better one step at a time. This step by step process is called shaping and it is about looking for those small signs of improvement. Naturally the process relies heavily on positive rewards when the dog does something even just a little better than the last time.

The dog is encouraged to ‘try’ and learns which of his attempts get the really good rewards. This strengthens the behaviours and skills that we want. If you are looking for that perfect recall, shaping will help you get the speed, the straightness of return, the straight sit followed by the fast, tight, accurate finish – and of course full marks!