One More Thing That Helped

One other thing that I believed helped us greatly in obedience has to do with proofing.

As a trial approaches, I start doing a daily novice run through. I put treats on a shelf and NOT in my pockets. First, I run over to the shelf and treat for every exercise. I then do every other exercise and gradually only treat twice (after the solo part and after the group part). As I do this I also cut down on praise except at the end and between exercises.

This, in theory, gets the dog used to the treat and praise schedule of an actual trial.