What would your dog do if he could choose?

Your dog knows you have rewards, he can smell treats or a ball in your pocket but you just stand still and wait. 

Try it 

What does your dog do if he isn’t sure what you want of him? 

Bark at you?
Jump up?
Go through a routine of all the behaviours that have earned rewards in the past?
Walk away?
Lie down? 

In the absence of a cue what would you like your dog to do? 

I had a think about my dogs earlier, if Bruce doesn’t know what I want him to do he will sit by my side and look up at me, occasionally he may look around the room or at my pocket.
My two old dogs who have sadly passed away; Leon and Lola would both sit and look at me making eye contact, waiting.
Princess will stand still
Ethel will either sit or do a sit pretty
Tinkerbell will usually sit and look at me, sometimes she may do a spin round or lie on her back to see what works before she sit down. 

If your dog offers a behaviour you like without being asked REWARD IT, reward it, reward it –  each and every time it happens.

Having default behaviour that your dog does without being asked in the absence of any instruction from you is great as long as it is a behaviour you want. 

Take that into real life – if you bump into a friend in the street and stop for a chat what would you like your dog to do? When you sit in a cafe or pub, what do you want your dog to do? 

If your dog does something great without being asked reward and it will happen again. It makes life easy if your dog just … does – without being nagged and reminded.