Before you can start focusing on obedience, adventures, or fixing problem behaviors you must teach these three things. Once you spend the time to teach your dog these fundamentals you might find that you do not need to fix every tiny behavior. You can rely on these three skills for almost everything. In today's episode, you will learn how to teach your dog to settle, build engagement, and a solid recall; the fundamentals of a well-behaved dog and reliable companion.  Free Gift - Resolving Complicated Bad Habits without Punishment https://www.matadork9.com/resolvingbadhabits Train with me - https://www.matadork9.com/coaching Leave a review here - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acknowledge-dogs-matador-canine/id1584049404   Podcast Transcript 00;00;18;13 - 00;00;41;25Michael J. AccettaWhat skills did you teach your dog? The first engagement, solid recall, and settling calming them down. Those three things are the first things you should focus on. Whenever you get a new puppy, whether you're getting an older dog or you finally decided to start training your dog. I'm Michael Aceto, founder of Matador Canine. Brilliant author of The Dog Training Chico and host of the Acknowledged Dogs podcast. 00;00;41;26 - 00;01;01;03Michael J. AccettaThank you for being here. Before we dove in a little bit more about those three things, I want to offer a free gift to you. Click the link in the description and get the free PDF download for resolving complicated bad habits without having to use punishment. It's a very short read, but it is packed with useful information, so please take advantage of it. 00;01;01;06 - 00;01;20;28Michael J. AccettaIt is my gift to you. Okay, so the first one is engagement. Engagement is huge. This is where Lucy's walking can be fixed. This is where a solid recall can be built. And that's why it's before the solid recall. Engagement comes first. If you go out into an environment and your dog is not focused on you, there's no way you can teach them to do anything else. 00;01;22;15 - 00;01;40;06Michael J. AccettaYou have to teach them engagement. First, they have to be engaged. Or do they have to be focused on you? They have to want to learn with you over all of the other stimuli in any environment. Right. You go out for a walk, they're going to be looking at the squirrels and be looking at the cats. They're going to be looking at the dogs, and everything else besides you. 00;01;40;22 - 00;02;05;00Michael J. AccettaYou can't start teaching basic obedience or manners or nice loose leash walking, or any of that If your dog is not engaged with you. So how do we build engagement? Well, my favorite way is to wait. What would I wait for exactly? Go sit on a park bench. Hold your dog's leash and wait. At some point, they will get bored with the outside world and they will look toward you. 00;02;05;22 - 00;02;29;06Michael J. AccettaWhen they look toward you. You're going to mark and reward. That is my favorite way to do it. Shaping engagement. The more they turn toward you, the more you mark the reward. Sounds super simple. But when done effectively, your dog becomes insanely responsive, and they're actually looking to you more than everywhere else. Once they start looking at you, we can start to ask for more things, right? 00;02;30;04 - 00;02;50;11Michael J. AccettaBut we can't ask for more things if they're not looking at us. So take the time today. This is my action plan for you today. Go outside, sit on your front stoop, sit in your car, or sit on a park bench. Hold the leash with the clicker and some treats They're going to turn around eventually when they do mark and reward the second they make the decision to turn. 00;02;51;13 - 00;03;15;08Michael J. AccettaIf they start to go, you click and they don't come all the way to you. That's okay. Don't worry about it. At least toss a treat out to them. Eventually, they'll get it. Practice this over and over and you start to do these in different envi