Obedience 101 consists of the five basic behaviors that most pet owners would consider sufficient to qualify your foster pup as a "well-trained dog": Sit, Stay, Down, Come (recall), and loose-leash walking. If you can add [[Housebreaking]] and one or two cute [[Tricks]] to the dog's repertoire, congratulations! Your foster pup has graduated from canine finishing school and is well equipped to make her new family proud.

Obedience 101 consists of the five basic behaviors that most pet owners would consider sufficient to qualify your foster pup as a "well-trained dog": Sit, Stay, Down, Come (recall), and loose-leash walking. If you can add [[Housebreaking]] and one or two cute [[Tricks]] to the dog's repertoire, congratulations! Your foster pup has graduated from canine finishing school and is well equipped to make her new family proud.

[[File:Scooter.jpg|right|300px|Scooter, a spaniel mix pulled from Liberty County AC in January 2012]]

[[File:Scooter.jpg|right|300px|Scooter, a spaniel mix pulled from Liberty County AC by Carpathia Paws in January 2012]]

In my experience, it takes about four to six weeks for most dogs to learn the Obedience 101 curriculum and proof it to a level that allows them to perform the cues more-or-less reliably in new environments with new handlers. Generally I work through the list by teaching one behavior every few days, then continuing to refine and proof that behavior while teaching the next one.

In my experience, it takes about four to six weeks for most dogs to learn the Obedience 101 curriculum and proof it to a level that allows them to perform the cues more-or-less reliably in new environments with new handlers. Generally I work through the list by teaching one behavior every few days, then continuing to refine and proof that behavior while teaching the next one.  

I usually start with Sit, since it's the easiest behavior on the list to teach and it forms the basis of the [[Nothing_In_Life_Is_Free| Nothing in Life is Free]] protocol. You can take them in any order, though, depending on which comes most naturally to your foster dog and which seems most urgently needed.

I usually start with Sit, since it's the easiest behavior on the list to teach and it forms the basis of the [[Nothing_In_Life_Is_Free| Nothing in Life is Free]] protocol. You can take them in any order, though, depending on which comes most naturally to your foster dog and which seems most urgently needed.