Workshops & Seminars

Introduction to Do as I Do Workshop (learn through imitation) – with CJ Hazell

Sunday, May 4
9:30am-12:30pm and 1-4pm

Dogs have a wonderful ability to learn through social learning. That means that they can see what someone else does and then try it for themselves. They can imitate what they have seen, learning new skills as they do. We can tap into this ability by teaching our dogs to learn something new by imitating what we do. The Do as I Do technique was developed by Claudia Fuggaza as part of her graduate research and has grown in popularity as a training method since then. Tapping into social learning allows us to teach some skills more quickly, teach complex behaviors more easily, and often the dogs will remember it better.

In this workshop I will introduce the starting protocol for using this method. Your dog needs to know 3-6 behaviors that they can do independently of touching you. They should know these reasonably well. Also choose behaviors that you are comfortable demonstrating. If you don’t want to get onto the floor and rollover, then rollover should not be one of your behaviors. But if you are fine doing it, then go for it. Some suggestions that work well are SPIN, BACK, DOWN, SIT PRETTY, 2 or 4 FT ON, GO AROUND, FOOT TARGET, TOUCH OBJECT WITH NOSE, LIFT PAW, JUMP OVER, or PICK SOMETHING UP. The workshop if for introducing the technique to your dog so we won’t be teaching them brand new behaviors…yet.

Cost: $75 for members, $90 for non-members. Limit 8 working spots, unlimited auditing. $20 per auditor.