Okay since I gave you all a bit of a shakeup last week with my cyber behaviour experiment, all good trainers know in order to prevent complete shutdown, it is time for a heavy dose of reinforcement. Here you go. It is my new  Puppy One Hundred list. But now, due to the input of some of you readers, it has turned into the puppy One Hundred and Thirty-Five (okay, I may have manipulated it to get to the thirty-five bit:)).

This is a list of things you can do with a puppy before you start training on actual agility equipment. There are two more lists I use, one of agility skills you can teach without putting the puppy on equipment and another of tricks to teach.

Since we already have a “trick” resource on this blog I felt it redundant to post those.

Although there are some skills in this list that are agility related, I actually do have another list of “agility” skills. I thought all of you can contribute to today’s post any agility skills (that I haven’t already mentioned) that you can teach a puppy without having them do any equipment. I will give you a hint. I do use a table and a single jump (with a jump bump) and many of the non-jumping jump skills can be found in my One Jump DVD.

But there are many, many more agility-type skills you can add. So look at this list and then add your suggestions of “agility” related skills you teach before you put your dog on equipment.  I feel a new monster list developing!

The Puppy One Hundred

  1. Tug
  2. Cookie-tug-cookie-tug
  3. Hand targets (puppy touches nose to your hand)
  4. Smack da baby (while tugging) or puppy pankins as my friend Helen King calls it
  5. Potty on lead
  6. Potty on cue
  7. Potty on different surfaces
  8. Upside down puppy
  9. Kisses to get down (from #8)
  10. Reward puppy for stretching
  11. Crate Games
  12. ItsYerChoice with food (learn the foundation game)
  13. Restrained Recalls
  14. Recall from play with other puppies
  15. Recall in ANY distraction
  16. Walk on a Loose Lead
  17. Value for RZ (reinforcement zone) on either side
  18. Shaping the love of a head halter
  19. Sit
  20. Duration sit (from Crate Games)
  21. Moving ItsYerChoice
  22. Greeting Rituals: “Go See”
  23. The FIFTY: 50 men, 50 women, 50 children, 50 new experiences every week/month
  24. “Go Play”—Play with other puppies with permission out of a control position
  25. Hide N Seek Level One: Cover your eyes
  26. “Out” on cue
  27. Smoke Ya Game (chase games)
  28. Wiffle ball/target stick touches
  29. Collar Grab
  30. Cookie stretches (foundation for left and right) (paws still body twists)
  31. Here’s Yer Pill (open the puppies mouth and put a treat inside)
  32. Bath tub games
  33. Nail tapping with a spoon (preparing for nail cutting)
  34. Tug then sit then pause then “get it”
  35. Duration staying on the dog bed
  36. Back up
  37. ItsYerChoice with toys
  38. Sit to greet people
  39. Sit-Tug-Chase
  40. Sit at the door to go out (or come in)
  41. Perch work (pivots in front)
  42. Shaping: In/On/Around/Under
  43. Ladder work
  44. Shadow Handling (circle work or LLW in a circle)
  45. Hide N Seek Level Two: Hide in other room
  46. Nose touches with open palm of full of cookies in the other hand (itsyerchoice & nose touch combo)
  47. Nose touches with cookies over head
  48. 1-2-3 Game (complete description written up in Ruff Love)
  49. Wild distractions in Crate Games
  50. Play with whatever toy the mama has
  51. Tugging games while wearing a Head Halter
  52. Down
  53. Down for duration
  54. Stand (using back cue, or a hand touch over head cue)
  55. Duration stand with distractions (should be easy if you progressed from Crate Games, to sit, to down, to stand)
  56. Sit Stay: throw toy behind puppy
  57. ABCD no Jumps (from One Jump DVD)
  58. “In” and “out” of an empty Pool
  59. Perch work w/bumps
  60. ItsYerChoice: cookies on paws/or walking over
  61. Verbal push-ups (without a lure) Sit/Down/Stand
  62. Balance Disks play
  63. Physio ball play
  64. Tugging on a wobble board
  65. Get in the box (bowl, my shoes etc)
  66. “Go” drive ahead of me (taught from Crate Games and progressed to bed, then to nothing)
  67. Decel work without a toy
  68. Decel work with distractions in front
  69. Hold (start with a dowel)
  70. Back up stairs
  71. Random sits at distance
  72. Head down
  73. Add water to the pool
  74. Surfing on da mama’s chest in a big pool
  75. Distractions to sit stay: dogs walk by, people walk by, cookies dropped on your head
  76. “With Me” off leash
  77. Shadow handling adding Front Cross
  78. Back up over bumps/through a ladder
  79. Push on wall for go outs, flyball & up contacts
  80. Calm at ringside (lying while other dogs work)
  81. Calm while skate boards, vehicles/bikes
  82. Back chaining up the stairs
  83. Hold household items
  84. Shaping driving around a plyon
  85. Drop on recall/ teach the puppy to touch his front paws to length of a target stick first
  86. Scent tubes/Find it Games
  87. Bring Me” return items to hand
  88. Introducing hold/retrieve of metal items (spoon, dinner dish)
  89. Side and Close
  90. Focus forward (toy/jump)
  91. Left and right  (directionals)
  92. Tomato can games (standing on them with 4, 3,2 or 1 paw)
  93. Discriminations (use household objects)
  94. Distance retrieve
  95. Retrieve/stack dinner dishes
  96. Lying on your side (grooming)
  97. On back for grooming
  98. Puppy yoga (tuck your head under my arm)
  99. Bull fighting (ole)-adding a front cross to your restrained recall
  100. Post turn in restrained recall
  101. Simultaneous hand targets (two dogs hand target the same hand, one in front, one in back)
  102. Get on a chair
  103. Rear crosses out of crate with bumps
  104. Duration staying on your mat
  105. Two Crate Games
  106. Balance walking parking curb or railroad tie
  107. Climb a ladder
  108. Ride a skate board
  109. Slide down a child’s slide (the ultimate weight shift game)
  110. Stop before the toy retrieve (verbal control at a distance)
  111. Toy discrimination (pick up the one I name)
  112. Look back (spin around to see what is behind you)
  113. Dragging puppy with tug toy
  114. Weaving between legs
  115. Figure 8 heeling
  116. Lateral heeling
  117. Pivots (on the spot)
  118. Front feet handstand
  119. Water retrieves
  120. Distance downs
  121. Ride in elevator or up an escalator
  122. Relax in the crate: while in the car, while I train another dog etc (from Crate Games)
  123. Teeth inspection
  124. Standing on different surfaces
  125. Heel down the stairs (great for body control)
  126. Heel up the stairs
  127. Clip / unclip lead without bolting
  128. Take cookies nice (ItsYerChoice)
  129. Have crate lifted and moved about (preparing for flying)
  130. Accept hands over head
  131. Accept being held/touched anywhere
  132. Up / load up onto something
  133. Find – “____”  (toy discrimination)
  134. Stop/Wait while in full run
  135. Back paws on a wall

Today I am grateful for all of the awesome puppies I have owned over the years that have contributed to this ongoing list.