There are many folk here who are trying to train their own dogs, and others who need to maintain prior training and/or are just curious about it. Those with more training experience than I should tear this apart and replace it with an improved version. I've used a male pronoun for the dog, if that offends you, substitute what works for you, or an appropriate politically correct pronoun, such as the Texan "S/He/It" (Don't try to pronounce it.)

It would be very much appreciated if others could write similar instructions on how to teach other A-Dog skills.

Lets start with an easy job: Training a dog to wake you in the morning.

You will need an alarm clock that you can detect, and that the dog can hear easily and won't mistake for anything else. No clock radios. You'll need to wake before the alarm consistently for a few days, so either set the alarm for late rising, work on it mid-day (less effective), or you may need help from a friend.

Step 1: Teach your dog to stay off of the bed. For those whose dogs sleep with them, skip to step 4. "OFF" is an essential command to teach a dog anyway, to keep them off of people, chairs, tables, counters, etc. Whenever your dog hops onto the bed, tell him "OFF". It shouldn't take him long to realize that whenever he gets up onto the bed, he'll be ordered off again, and the behavior of jumping onto the bed will extinguish.

Step 2: On. Once your dog fully understands that the bed is off-limits, then start using the alarm. It will probably work best if you actually do wait until morning. Your dog will have been awake since dawn, and will be impatiently awaiting any sort of responses from you. While the alarm is ringing, call your dog. If he's really solid about the bed being off limits, he will hesitate at the side of it, but if you are persistent, he will hop up. Reward him heavily! Just being up on the bed with you is a big reward, but an enthusiastic tummy rub, or even a food treat can't hurt.

Step 3. Back off. When the alarm stops,, tell your dog "OFF" again. Make him leave the bed when the alarm is not ringing. Keep repeating consistently with "OFF" whenever the alarm isn't ringing. Call him onto the bed when it is. It shouldn't take long for him to get the idea that the bed is off-limits when the alarm is off, but he is to come and get onto the bed when it rings.

Step 4. Fine points. You need to decide exactly what do you want your dog to do to wake you. Do you want him to come flying into the room, leap from the doorway onto you and roll around? If so, and you're a heavy sleeper, you're probably done! If you would like your dog to wake you gently, you have a little more work to do. If you want your dog to nudge and nuzzle, use a food treat. Put a jar next to the bed with some biscuits. Use some sort of safe, or he may learn to help himself while you're sleeping to the stash on your night table. Just before the alarm goes off, surreptitiously get a biscuit. When the alarm goes off, and your dog is on the bed with you, let him see the biscuit as you put it partially under your pillow. Encourage him to get it out from under the pillow. With a little practice, he'll be burrowing under you and your pillow looking for biscuits. If you'd like your dog to lick your hands or face to wake you,, it gets a little messier. Put a jar of butter or peanut butter on your bedside table. (You may have some embarrassment trying to explain it if your friends have been reading peanut butter dog urban legends :) Just before the alarm goes off, smear a little on your hands or face. Dogs need very little encouragement to lick it off. If you give your dog plenty of positive reinforcement (PRAISE!!), he'll continue to nudge, nuzzle, and/or lick, even when you discontinue the food treat. You may want to select a command word for what your dog does. I use "ALARM CLOCK", some people use "WAKE UP CALL". Whatever works for you. My personal experience: It took a little while to get Mac solid on "OFF". Well, when I first got him, it was a week before I ever saw all four feet on the ground, and about ten days to convince him that stuff on top of the refrigerator was off limits! Once his "OFF" was reasonable, I set up the alarm. When it rang he was curious about it. I called him onto the bed. When the alarm shut off, I told him "OFF". The next morning, when the alarm rang, I called him onto the bed. When it stopped he hopped off. The third morning, he jumped on when the alarm rang, rolled around on me, and jumped off when it stopped. He liked sleeping in the hall, so he would come flying in, leap from the doorway, and crash into me. After a few loud exclamations ("OOOF") from me, he still leaped, but he managed to never land on me again. He rolls around on me until I reach over and pet him. If I still don't respond, he'll paw me and/or lick my face.

--

Fred Cisin, and Mac ("The snooze button lets me do it TWICE!") diy2@xenosoft.com
(c) 1998 Fred and Mac