Clicker Training Archives - Page 23 of 46

Dog Training: Puppy Primer

June 29, 2011

Do you know when your puppy’s no longer a puppy?

Socially, your pup turns into an adolescent between 16 and 20 weeks. Yup. Your 9-month old dog isn’t a puppy. Yowza! (They’ll still be growing for many more months, but we’re talking social development here, not physical.)

Lots of people like to chalk their dog’s mis-behavior up to “puppyhood.”

That doesn’t fly around here! Even 10 week old pups can learn the rules and how to follow ’em. So your “crazy 9-month old puppy” is more realistically an out-of-control adolescent dog!

What to do?

First, get that pup into training when she’s still a pup! If your pup is healthy and on a vaccination protocol (if she’s seen a vet and has had her first set of shots), get her in a good, positive reinforcement puppy class right away. We start training our service pups in-training at 8-weeks. A good breeder will start training the pups with a clicker when they are five or six weeks old!

Get her out (safely) often.

Not to a dog park. (ACK!) But to a lot of different locations every week. Think: shopping center, neighborhood (a different street each day), kids play-dates, soccer games, pool, beach, outdoor cafe, sidewalk, country road, the list goes on.

Be consistent.

Be fair. Teach her what she needs to know and be predictable! If you don’t want her on the furniture when she’s full grown, don’t let her on the furniture now!

I want to hear from you:
What do you wish you’d taught your pup when you first brought her (or him) home?
What are you thankful you DID teach your pup?

Teaching is Time Well Spent

June 24, 2011

I'm sitting in a wheelchair, Ike faithfully by my side. I cue "let's go" and Ike moves forward with me. Going straight is pretty easy for Ike, he learns quickly to keep his feet out of the way and settles at an even pace. We're at Harris Teeter grocery store, doing a training field trip and I'm in a wheelchair to help mimic Ike's future surroundings.

Here comes the hard part — now we have to turn. It's an inside turn, which means Ike has to actually go backward just a bit to keep out of the way. His circle has to be tighter (smaller) than the wheelchair's circle. Uh-oh. We've not practiced this before.

With the clicker, all things are possible. And fast.

In only three tries, I'm communicating to Ike that moving backward is a good thing. It's a pretty complex skill, I think, for a dog to acquire. He has to go the opposite way from his handler. I've spent a year teaching him that being next to me is a really good idea.

The clicker gives Ike the information he needs: what behavior he should repeat. The precision of the click — and the fact that Ike's been clicker trained from 8-weeks of age — gets a behavior happening pretty darn quick.

The turn/back still needs work. A lot of it. But with the clicker, nothing's out of our reach. And it's fast. Because Ike knows the clicker, knows he can count on the clicker for information, he's ready and willing to learn. He wants to figure out this new game. He's a full and willing partner.

And did I mention he's not only smart, but pretty stinkin' cute, too? Brains and beauty… This picture's from Ike's adventure to Lake Anna, more on that in the next post.

A Day in the Life of a Dog Trainer’s Dog

May 3, 2011

What's it like to be a dog trainer's dog? Well, you've gotta work for one thing. Tango, that handsome dude on the left, earns his keep from time to time, going to work with me.

You've got to know something right up front: Tango is my favorite dog. Ever. For all time. He's my guy. Dog people have a term for this, it's called heart dog. Tango is most definitely my heart dog.

So know that part of the reason he comes to work with me is because I love having him with me – he'd be my shadow 24/7 if I could somehow finagle it.

He also happens to be pretty good at keeping puppies in line. And yesterday he pulled double-duty, working a private, in-home training session and also attending group class training with me. In the private session, his job was to set very clear boundaries for a rambunctious (and sweet) puppy — and enforce those boundaries. Tango's an excellent boundary setter, especially for puppies. He doesn't tolerate their antics, he doesn't think they're cute, and he's not afraid to let them know (1) where the line is and (2) when they've crossed it.

The one thing I don't have to worry about, though, is him hurting a puppy. Well, sometimes the pup's feelings get hurt when Tango tells them off, but they're never physically traumatized. In fact, he doesn't even have to put a paw or a tooth on them to get their attention. He's got pretty good display signals. Puppies sometimes either don't notice another dog's signals or they walk right through them as if they didn't see them.

Tango teaches puppies just how important it is to notice those signals. First, he's pretty calm. He lets the pup approach him and stands quietly, head off to the side or sniffing the ground. Second, his displays are very clear. Yesterday when the pup jumped on Tango's head to greet him — not within polite doggie-manners — Tango very clearly and very quickly told the pup that wasn't how dogs greeted. He gave a nice loud growl, then snapped at the pup. He never made contact with the pup, but he definitely got her attention! It happened in the blink of an eye, and then he went right back to sniffing the ground again, doing his best to ignore the pup. She eyed him warily — good girl! — and joined in the sniffing. Really good girl!

We took the two for a short neighborhood walk and the remainder of her interactions with Tango were very appropriate. We used verbal praise to help the young dog understand when her actions were appropriate and relied on Tango to tell her when her actions were not.

In group class, Tango makes for a good demonstration dog. He learned the material already and we've worked around distractions, so he's a good example of what level of success dog owners can attain. Sometimes, clients with their adolescent dogs just don't believe their dog will ever be capable of walking politely on a leash, ignoring another dog, coming when called…so it's nice that those students can see Tango doing those very things.

Does Tango know everything? Is he the perfect dog? No, of course not. He's got his warts, like all dogs (and people). But he earns his keep.

Grilled Pork + Feta = Easy Subway Trip for Ike

April 29, 2011

Part of becoming a service dog involves getting used to a lot of different sights and sounds. Ike had a field trip today to our local commuter train station.

It's highly likely that in his lifetime as a service dog, Ike and his partner will need to take public transportation. It's crucial to make these experiences fun for Ike.

To that end, I brought lots of yummy treats. Not just any treats, though. I brought the really yummy and smelly stuff: feta cheese and tiny pieces of grilled pork chop (leftover from dinner a few nights ago).

Ike doesn't normally get this really delicious stuff in his everyday training. Going to WalMart isn't a big deal to him now. Going with me while I get my hair cut is old hat. The treats I use for those locations are more mundane (but still pretty tasty) because he's used to those situations.

But a train station? That's big. And potentially scary.

The grilled pork and feta cheese helped Ike create favorable associations with the potentially scary train. The noise of the station, lurching left and right on the train ride, the hustle and bustle of people, and the screeching and banging that a fast-moving train makes – any one of those could have thrown Ike into a tail spin.

The feta and grilled pork helped ensure that his train ride was a fabulous experience.

In addition to the really good food, I was careful to lower my standards for Ike. He was in a strange place. With lots of odd sounds. And almost every person there was a stranger to him. So instead of asking him for newly trained behaviors, I asked him for the very easy ones – the behaviors he's been doing since he was a pup. And he got paid BIG for each of those behaviors!

This allowed Ikey to build up his confidence, to realize he really could lie down even on the rocking and rolling train. He really could sit as the train came into the station.

If you're raising a puppy, remember to use very good food treats when you're taking your pup somewhere new. Also remember to lower your standards if you're training somewhere distracting or potentially scary. Let your dog take his time exploring and deciding when he feels comfortable. The more positive experiences your pup has, the more likely he'll become a confident, well-mannered dog.

There's a lot more training ahead for Ike. But his first introduction to the trains and buses earned an A+ today! Next time we go back, we'll likely raise his criteria slightly — maybe I'll ask him to sit for a little longer. Or expect him to watch me a little more. And maybe he'll get the feta and grilled pork every second or third treat. But by really upping the treat value this first time, I've created a positive association with trains and with training. And that's priceless.

Away From Home

March 21, 2011

Travel is part of my job. Attending educational conferences, delivering workshops, giving talks at events…I travel a lot!

My favorite trips are the ones where the dogs can come with me. They can’t all come all the time, of course, but even traveling with just one dog makes the trip more enjoyable. I don’t fly my dogs – I don’t think they’d enjoy any flight where they were in cargo. And I’d worry about them ’til we were reunited. Nah, that’s no fun for me or the dog, thanks.

We plan a vacation every year especially so the dogs can join us. It’s just not a vacation without the dogs!

When I must travel for business and can’t take a dog with me, the best part of the trip is coming home. Jostling for position to see who’s going to get petted first (they all get petted first), seeing those wagging tails and smiling eyes — now that makes me happy.

And I always bring a new toy and some treats home for the expectant crew, which makes unpacking my suitcase fun, too, as they sniff through each item as I unpack it.

I’m typing this from the plane on my way from Clicker Expo in Chicago. Thank goodness it’s a short flight, I can’t wait to see the dogs!

Clicker Expo: What’s A Dog Conference Like?

March 20, 2011

So what do 400+ dog trainers DO for three days in Chicago? Here at Clicker Expo in Chicago, those of us who didn’t bring our dogs are glomming onto those 150 trainers who did bring dogs – we need our “doggie fix,” after all.

We go to educational sessions on such topics as “Aggression Treatment and Context,” “Microshaping,” “What a Cue Can Do,” and many more.

The topics are fascinating: how to prevent (imagine that!) a dog from becoming a reactive dog, how to build your dog’s confidence, how to use games to teach your dog, how to improve your observation skills (so you can be a better teacher for your dog).

In addition to the education (which is tops!), we’re also having fun getting reacquainted with one another, making new friends, and socializing.

As you might expect, when drifting through the crowd, the conversations revolve around dogs. And business. And occasionally some current events happening in the world – especially if dogs are involved, like the natural disasters in Japan.

It’s a great escape from the real world for a few days, a chance to immerse myself into the science of dog training and behavior, and meet new friends!

Menu

Clicker Training

Lots of people like to chalk their dog’s mis-behavior up to “puppyhood.”

What to do?

Get her out (safely) often.

Be consistent.

Subscribe to Email Updates

What People Are Saying