Chapter 6
🐾 Now we reduce the physical help
The previous step may already take several sessions or even weeks, depending on the dog.
Once that works reliably, we can start fading the next aid:
the body bend.
The hand signal for the “S” stays for now.
🎥 Reduce the bend step by step
Do not remove the body cue all at once.
Instead, film yourself and check how much you are actually bending forward.
Then gradually make the movement smaller:
➡️ first a clear bend
➡️ then a smaller bend
➡️ later perhaps only a slight head or upper-body movement
The goal is to make the physical cue less and less noticeable.
🔄 The sequence now looks like this
➡️ Walk forward with the dog at heel
➡️ Say “S”
➡️ Move the hand to the armpit
➡️ The dog makes the small hop
➡️ Say “T”
➡️ Bend down only slightly
➡️ The dog stands calmly and securely
➡️ Wait briefly
➡️ Bring the closed right fist to the nose
➡️ Wait again
➡️ Reward
⏳ Take your time
This step can also take several training sessions.
Even though the individual steps in the course follow each other quickly, in real training the process of fading aids can take much longer.
That is completely fine.
It is better to work precisely than to remove the help too fast and create new problems.
🔄 Vary the reward depending on the dog
Depending on how secure your dog already is, you can:
✅ reward immediately after a good Stand
or
✅ add a little walking away before rewarding
If your dog finds the walking-away part difficult, keep the exercise simple and reward directly.
🎯 Your goal before moving on
Before the next step, your dog should ideally be able to:
S → hand to armpit → hop → T → little or no body bend → secure Stand → closed fist to the nose → wait → reward
💡 Once the dog can perform this reliably with almost no physical cue, you are ready to fade the next aid.