In order for a service dog to be able to work in any situation, systematic training is required with it. In other words, regular exercises to develop, improve and consolidate the skills worked out during training.
Instructions
Step 1
Develop and strengthen the dog's skills that are central to the job. For example, for guard dogs, such skills will be the ability to constantly be on the alert and an immediate reaction to a “stranger” that appears near the post. For the search dogs, this is work on the trail, search of the area, selection of items.
Step 2
In the process of training and subsequent training, observe the basic rule: never give the dog tasks in difficult conditions until all the necessary skills have been brought to automatism in a familiar environment.
Step 3
Do not neglect the rules of general training, as they serve as the basis for special service activities with the dog. If the dog can follow simple commands without fail, it will just as easily learn special skills.
Step 4
Train tracking dogs without a leash. To practice the “selection of things” technique, equip a special “square” in which, during training, you should place various objects, familiar and unfamiliar to the dog, so that it constantly develops the skill of differentiating odors. Gradually increase the number of foreign objects that have a pungent smell, which will allow the dog to subsequently not react to stimuli by searching the area or premises.
Step 5
Teach your dog to follow the trail under realistic conditions. Lay tracks over short distances at first, gradually increasing the length of their chain. Pay special attention to working with chains interrupted by various kinds of obstacles (road, ditch, river), as well as pursuit in settlements.
Step 6
Conduct tracing drills along with house search exercises - first non-residential and then residential. Train your dog to search the area in difficult conditions, mainly in the dark, only after fixing all the basic skills.
Step 7
If you train a guard dog, try to do it at the same posts that you plan to use for the service, in the dark and early in the morning. A dog intended to be kept on a deaf leash should be taught not only to respond with loud barking to a "stranger", but also to be able to detain him. Therefore, assistants involved in training such dogs should always be dressed in special suits.
