It’s about time I do this Level One Homework. Ellie has tested up to level seven on some of the behaviors and still haven’t completed MY homework.

Five things I hope to accomplish by training the levels:

1. All around good behavior from my dog(s)
2. Increased awareness on my part in the planning and design of training sessions. I don’t want to keep my criteria too easy for too long nor do I want to raise the criteria too quickly. Record keeping will help with this.
3. Increased eye contact and attention in challenging situations.
4. Solid foundation of self-control for future obedience and agility training.
5. The ability to use eye contact to move my dog (Sue demonstrated this at her seminar and it’s really cool to watch)

To work on:

Level Three Watch (Required) The dog finds the handler’s face and holds eye contact for 30 seconds with as many voice cues as necessary. Glancing away is acceptable but any prolonged look is not.

Level Three Down Stay (Required) The dog Downs and stays while the handler walks 20′ out, stays for one minute and comes back. One cue is allowed for the Down, and two cues for the Stay. There will be one mild distraction. (Tested and failed - she only stayed for about 45 seconds and then went into a sit.) Work on duration and maintaining position. (work Level Two outside on the long line!)

Level Three Sit Stay (Required) The dog Sits and stays while the handler walks 20′ out, stays away for 30 seconds, and comes back. One cue is allowed for the Sit, and two cues for the Stay. There will be one mild distraction. (tested and she broke the sit after about 45 seconds. Increase duration)

Level Four Sit Test this! The dog sits from a down with one cue.