Teaching Any Command to a labrador In Minutes. Just as a child steps into the street without being aware of the meaning of the blast of a car horn, and continues on his way in oblivion, it takes experiences to become conditioned. I’ll bet that when you step off of a curb, and hear a car horn blow, your head spins both ways at once, as you jump back, looking for the impending accident. The difference is conditioning.

So set aside a few minutes of practice, away from your labrador. It’s best to do this with any family members available. What we need to do is develop timing. Have some cans rinsed clean and dry. Insert six pennies in each, tape the top can closed, and crush the sides of the cans, so as to make them square to stop them from rolling, to avoid creating a prolonged noise.

It is imperative that you handle these cans silently! At any time, should these training aids accidentally create a sound, praise must accompany the event. This will tell the dog you were not addressing his behavior, and that he should disregard the incident. When more than one dog is present, and any dog is being addressed through the use of sound, each labrador must be individually praised and acknowledged with direct eye contact and non-physical praise.

Praise Must Always Accompany Sound, with one exception. That is, when a behavior is being addressed after the fact. When you have discovered a behavior that occurred outside of your presence, this would be the only time the sound shall be presented without verbal praise. The details are covered later in “using sound to break bad behavior.” To teach your labrador the “recall” or “come” command, we must first create a phrase, and select a “key” or “cue” word in that phrase.

Your next command must be accompanied by sound. The first time you use a phrase you do so with no sound. If your labrador responds properly to this first request, praise him immediately, even before moves.

Any response, the twitch of an ear or tail, a shuffle of a foot, a brief glance, any reaction at all, to any command, always requires spontaneous, instant, continuous praise, for however long your dog is thinking about your request, (even if he’s thinking of leaving!) Continue praising constantly until your dog comes all the way to you, even if it requires that you move backward as you continue to speak praises and coax, even plead or beg, (but not to repeat the command phrase).

In our example, suppose the dog performed well. That does not mean that he will always respond the same way. You have to bare in mind a conditioned reflex means your dog has little option but to do as you want.

Later, when you are done with all of the intricacies involved, test it out like this: Find yourself and your trained dog in a comfortable situation, like yourself sitting in your easy chair and him snoozing by the fireplace. Ask him to come in the proscribed manner. When he jumps up and sticks his big wet nose in your face, tell him he’s good, and tell him he’s free. Let him resume his leisurely pursuits and call him again.