Taking Turns (Patreon)

At this point in Denver's journey, he is not yet integrated into the household with my two other dogs. But that doesn't mean we can't start group foundation work that is helpful for later behaviors, like being able to stay on a platform while another dog trains, or being able to release out the door in an orderly fashion, one at a time.

Here, I use the exercise pen barrier to start work on taking turns. I simply say each dog's name and deliver reinforcement. The older dogs, Jake and Whip, already know this game and wait for their turn to be called. However, Denver doesn't, so the barrier ensures that he learns the game without creating conflict with the other dogs. This is a little bit of management that helps solidify a skill.

This exercise seems simple, but will pay big dividends down the road, for example, when I'm out hiking and want to reinforce both Denver and Whip for the recall, but don't want Denver stealing Whip's reinforcer.

This exercise also inherently increases the value of each dog's name, and allows the other dogs to learn the new puppy's name.

The next step would be to do this same exercise, but with each dog on their individual platform, again creating a less pronounced, but still physical, barrier to Denver trying to grab the reinforcement from the other dogs. Doing it on individual platforms is also the start of being able to train one dog while the other dogs stay on their platforms.