WRITTEN HOMEWORK Week 4: (AKA Hell Week)

              Week 4 is "Hell Week" for every new student.

"Why so much new material? Why is this so hard? Why even have a "Hell Week?" Why not make this week easier?"

Great questions, Kristen. Kristen is my friend from PA and long ago, they purchased Scout, Sugar's brother.  So a very long time ago, Kristen took Scout through a  similar type training including the Novice and Open classes.  However, Kristen remembered  her "Hell Week", and mind you it has been YEARS since Kristen did this training with Scout, so she asked some terrific questions.

Longe Line work in the bitterly cold Snowmeggedon of 2010

Scott on the left and background, Sugar on the right and in the foreground

Kristen has been visiting me with her daughter, Emma, who has taken an extraordinary interest in ALL the many dog training opportunities here.

Here's the answers to Kristen's questions.

1) "Why so much new material?"  By Week 4, foundationally, a dog has become accustomed to the work, has developed both physical and mental strength, and the dog is now able to learn at a faster rate of understanding.  Remember, we are building piece-by-piece, a building block at a time, layers-upon-layers of cognitive learning in the dogs mind and stored within the dogs muscles. The dog is able to learn at an accelerated rate and thrives in this pace of training.

2) "Why is this so hard?" By Week 4, a new training pattern has evolved. There is Week 1, 2 & 3 as a foundation layer and in those weeks the dog has had to learn to think and to take responsibility for its choices. Week 2, the Sit was taught. The Sit establishes the owners authority. Week 3, The Stand was taught and is being build upon this week.  The Stand is about trust between owner and its dog. 

Week 4 expands on ALL the previously taught exercises AND teaches the Down, which establishes the owners dominance over its dog. So the obedience foundation is being tested, proved, stretched and build upon during Week 4.

3) "Why even have a "Hell Week?" "Why not make this week easier?"  Love this question.  First, let's answer this question based on how it affects the dog doing the learning. Here's why so much is packed into Week 4. The dog can handle the work load learning and will learn faster and the material taught will stick better if it is taught in a compressed timeline.  When you stretch out this training, timewise, the dog will do worse in memory retention as there is to much time and not enough challenge. Dogs learn faster and quicker when taught in a quick, steady, consistent succession of exercises and owner expectations (of course, the method used has to make sense to the dogs, be fair, and applicable to the dogs ability to understand).  A dogs timeline is not the same as a humans timeline. Dogs have approximately 7-18 human years of life to our 70+ expected years of life.

Second, let's answer this question based on how it affects the owner learning this method and going through this Novice curriculum.  By Week 5, all the on-leash material is taught and the Instructor knows that Week 6, the off-leash material begins. Off-leash training is not to be taken lightly or casually as it requires an owner who has been thorough and consistent in laying the foundation through the on-leash work done in Weeks 1 - 5.  Off-leash training is for dog owners who have earned the privilege, by being faithful, consistent and responsible with their dog, to learn the off-leash training with their dog.  OFF-LEASH TRAINING IS NOT FOR ALL DOG OWNERS. 

So, Week 4, "Hell Week" is a deliberate weeding out of those dog owners who have not earned the privilege of going forward.  As a Koehler Instructor, I want the Koehler name, my name, my business and my reputation to be with those solid students who have applied themselves and learned this method. IF they have not been consistent, no worries, Week 4 "Hell Week" will be to much and they will either quit (rarely) or most likely (usually), slow down and stick with on-leash training only. That's fine with me as they will have a better trained pet than 98% of the other dog owners out there. BUT, they will not have earned the privilege to go onto off-leash training with their dog and that is the wisest and safest route for these students.

BUT let me share, off-leash training is woo-hoo, high-styling, flying FUN! Oh my word! I had no idea how much fun it was until I started working Sugar off-leash. What absolute freedom! What joy!

What exuberance it is to have a trusted dog, who will respond to your commands, and be able to have them off-leash in everyday real life. 

Nothing, absolutely nothing beats the freedom of knowing your dog is reliable off-leash.  Sheer, unadulterated, outrageous fun!