Photos of owners engaging their dogs in obedience exercises during class sessions

Basset hound walking properly positioned in the
" heel" command. The heel command teaches the dog
to walk by the side of the owner without pulling.

A Vizsal in the heel exercise.

A Japanese chin in the heel exercise.

A Labrador retriever heeling.

A proud Dalmation heeling!

An Australian Shepherd assumes the automatic sit
after stopping from the heel command. Notice the
eye contact between the dog and the owner -this Aussie
is patiently sitting waiting for the next command!

Another example of sit immediately following
heeling in a Boston Terrier. In the Head Start program,
dogs are taught to do this automatically.

Another example of sit immediately following heeling in a
Chihuahua. Notice that the Chihuahua is properly positioned,
i.e. head even with the owner's left leg, and sitting straight.

This photo shows the exercise in which the dogs heel between other
dogs who are in line and commanded to stay as the other dogs pass.
In this example, notice the black lab maintains its stay as the
other black lab passes.

Example of Standard schnauzer heeling between other
dogs who have been commanded to stay.

A Yorkshire terrier maintaining the "stay". Notice the hand signal,
which is a very important visual cue utilized in teaching this command. Eventually, the owner will be able to move further from the her
Yorkie, and circle around the dog while it maintains its stay. Food
rewards are usually not needed in the teaching of "Stay"; instead,
social praise and physical positioning usually suffice.

The black lab pictured above maintains good eye contact with the
owners who are circling around their dog during which he maintains
the stay command.

A giant schnauzer puppy in the Stay command as the owner
circles around his dog. Dogs are taught primarily to maintain a
stay in a sit position, rather than lying down.

The puppies are positioned in a line next to each other and all
are required to remain in the stay command.

In this example, the dogs are in a sit-stay in a figure 8 formation,
and required to remain in a stay until they resume the heel exercise
in a figure 8 formation. In a figure 8 formation the dogs are guided
around the red traffic cones and cross in the middle. this exercise
is designed to teach the dogs not to pull towards another dog who
they pass by in close proximity.

Owners heeling their puppies in a Figure 8 formation

An owner positioning his Whippet puppy in the stand-for-examination command. Eventually, the goal is for the owner to remove the prompt
- initially used initially to position the dog properly.The goal is for the
dog to stand without any prompt, and remain standing in a still position.

This is another example of an owner in the beginning stages of
teaching his dog to stand-for-examination.

This Australian shepherd has mastered the stand-for-examination
command!

This example shows a Standard poodle who has also
learned to stand. Notice here, however, the owner is able to move some distance away, thereby effectively putting the dog in a stand-stay

A Springer spaniel puppy in a stand-stay

A giant schnauzer puppy being commanded to stand-stay.

Group photograph of the owners in the class teaching
their dogs to stand-stay.

Owner instructing her Bouvier puppy in the command "go to place".
The pointing gesture to the specified location is an important
visual cue for this particular command.

An owner trying to engage her standard poodle puppy
(who appears focused elsewhere) in the go to place command.

This photograph shows the socialization exercises in which the dogs
are placed in line and every owner moves to every dog and interacts
with them. This exercise benefits all dogs, particularly those puppies
that are anxious and fearful around unfamiliar people.

During class sessions a 10 minute break is taken between
the first half and the second half of the obedience training and
socialization exercises. This photograph shows the owners gathered
around the instructor, Richard Polsky (blue jacket), receiving further instruction.

Distant view of a training session in progress at MarVista Park.

Distant view of a training session in progress at Palms Park.