Clicker Training

I know the rain is good for the flowers, but I’m getting a little tired of it. And not only is it raining, but it’s cold, too. Not conducive to playtime outside for the dogs. And if they don’t get their playtime outside, well they make up for it inside. In a pre-emptive strike, I’m trying to get them tired out indoors before they get any ideas of their own. (Generally speaking, my ideas are better than theirs – their idea of fun usually results in something broken due to their exuberance.)

So what’s a house-bound owner to do with rambunctious dogs while the rain makes it’s way through town? Lots of things, really. Here are a few ideas you can use for the next rainy day…

1. Play Time: This is easy and fun – the dogs and I both like this one. You can play whatever games your dog likes – tug, chase me, catch me, retrieve, etc. In my house, my dogs really get a charge out of me chasing them. The hallway closet creates an island in the middle of our house and the dogs love it when I give chase, round and round we go. All the dogs (except Old Man Lucky) join in and it’s almost like a conga line. Occasionally the leader (usually Tango) will throw us a curve ball and run back to the bedroom or out to the family room. He keeps us on our toes.

2. Another fun way to tire out your dogs is to engage in a little bit of training. Grab your clicker and your treats and teach a new trick. Or challenge yourself (and your skills) and try to capture something novel – like a head turn to the right or to the left. I was bored one day and captured Tango glancing over his left shoulder. I captured it with the clicker and in no time, I put it on cue and had a cute new trick. I lack creativity and just named it "glance," but you could think of some cool cues like: "someone’s coming," "who’s sneaking?" or something creative and funny.

3. Fun, homemade toys: I like to put a few pieces of kibble inside an empty 1- or 2-liter bottle (leave the lid off). Let the dogs have fun by chasing the bottle all over the house and trying to figure out how to get the goodies out. Some dogs get it right away and learn to tip it up, while others gnaw and chew on the opening for awhile. This one needs supervision, though, to make sure your dog doesn’t chew off and swallow a piece of plastic.

4. Rocket Recalls: If your dog is fit and healthy – and likes to retrieve – toss a ball either up or down the stairs and click and treat each time your dog brings the ball back. This is an easy way to exercise your dog without moving anywhere!

Enjoy the rain – and the time you spend inside with your dogs. We’ll be rewarded with greener grass – and better behaved dogs!

In the picture on the left, you can see Tango in mid "give." Several clients have recently asked me for help in teaching their dogs to give up things or to drop the ball when retrieving. On a difficulty scale, teaching give is relatively easy.

First, start after your dog has already had some exercise.

Next, have some really tasty treats. Not hard, crunchy dog biscuits! Something really special.

Then, give your dog the toy. (If you can, hold onto it while it’s in your dog’s mouth.)

Offer your dog the treat – put it right up next to his nose and say your word. (Give, drop, thank you, please, out, whatever…)

If you’ve chosen a really good treat, your dog should drop the toy to get the treat. Immediately say "Good dog!" and let him have the treat, while at the same time picking the toy back up. 

As soon as the dog finishes the treat, give him to toy back. Lather, rinse, repeat!

Here are a few things NOT to do:
– don’t chase your dog – this is fun for the dog! Maybe even more fun than giving the toy up!
– don’t scold your dog – your dog is acquiring a skill. Yelling doesn’t help your dog learn.
– don’t tease your dog with the toy. This is a simple exchange game.

  In this picture, something’s clearly caught Lily’s attention. (It’s probably Nemo hiding behind a shrub – they like to play hide and seek.) This is called a distraction. The bane of a dog owner’s existence, the distractions. They’re everywhere! Another dog, visitors, a dead bird, a bouncing ball, the smell of a hamburger on the grill — you don’t have to go very far to run into a distraction.

The mistake some dog owners make is thinking that if their dog knows a behavior in class or at home, the dog knows the behavior. Wrong. The dog knows the behavior in that specific place under those specific circumstances. Add in some distractions and you’ve got a dog who can’t do what you’ve asked. Not because he’s willful or stubborn or hard headed. But because you’re asking too much of him.

Work with distractions, not against them. That means using a distraction as a "teachable moment." If your dog really wants to greet the visitors, ask him to sit first to earn that privilege. If he sits, he gets to say hi. If not, he doesn’t get to say hi. The important thing to remember when working with distractions is to keep them low enough that your dog is able to be successful. That’s really important – we’re looking for success, not looking for failure. So maybe if your dog is too riled up to greet guests at the front door, he’s behind a baby gate for 15 or 20 minutes until everyone’s settled (including your dog), and then you bring him on a leash to say hello to the visitors.

Distractions vary from dog to dog – what is irresistible to one dog, another dog barely notices. Your dog is in an individual – work with him and his preferences. Once he realizes that his behavior allows (or doesn’t allow) him access to the things he loves, you’ll be on your way to a well behaved dog!

How long do I have to train my dog? How long should my training sessions last? How long until my dog gets it?

Every time you are in the company of your dog, one of you is teaching the other one. I try to be sure it’s me who is teaching my dog and not the other way around. So the answer to those questions at the top of the page is — you’re always training and teaching your dog. If not, your dog is training you!

My dogs all know the basics like sit, touch, and watch me. I’ve practiced in lots of different situations, trying to vary the circumstances so it’s easy for my dogs to do what I asked no matter where we are or what’s going on around us.

Once my dogs have the basics down pat, I can then use those basics every day as a way for my dogs to earn their goodies. What are their goodies? Whatever they like, whatever they enjoy. All my dogs get fed twice per day. They all get to go outside. They all get to get on the sofa with me. They all get scritch-scratched. They all get lovin’ and smooches. None of that changes.

What does change is they have to give me a sit (or touch, or watch me) before they get those things. If they don’t give me what I ask for, they simply don’t get what they want. No punishment, no lectures, no guilt. It’s really that easy: I ask them for something easy and then they can have the goodie, be it lovin’, running out the door, or hopping up on the sofa.

This keeps me smack in the middle of their world. They get used to "asking" for things and looking to me for permission to do the things they love. It’s never a battle between what they want to do and what I want them to do. They are happy to do what I ask, because they know it always leads to what they want.

So, make a list of all the things your dog enjoys — mealtime, play time, snuggle time, etc. And then start inserting a request before you do each of those things for your dog. Let me know how it’s going!

Stubborn. Hard-headed. Spiteful. Angry. Knows better. Dog owners often describe their dogs with these words when talking about their dog’s "bad" behavior.

Any animal trainer will tell you that dogs aren’t stubborn, hard-headed, spiteful, angry or know better. Those words are an indicator that the person hasn’t thoroughly taught their dog what to do, how to do it and when to do it. And they probably also haven’t noticed when the dog does the "good" behavior. And more often than not, the person has been stingy with reinforcements to reward that behavior, if they did indeed notice the "good" behavior.

You’ll notice I put those words in quotes. Animal trainers don’t describe behavior as "good" or "bad." Behavior is behavior. Instead we use labels like "appropriate" vs "inappropriate." "Bad" dogs bark when someone’s at the door, but would also be praised if they barked to ward off an intruder. Behavior itself isn’t good or bad – it depends on the context. And we usually put an awful lot of responsibility on the dog to figure out when they should — and shouldn’t bark.

If your dog sits beautifully when the house is quiet and no one is around, but can’t keep her rump on the floor when she meets neighbors, your dog isn’t dumb or stubborn. You’ve simply not taught your dog to sit in such a distracting environment. The fault doesn’t rest with your dog. You just need to work more with her in slightly distracting environments, rewarding her successes. Good animal trainers make it really easy for their animal to succeed. So if that means working 100 feet from the corner where the kids are, that’s where you work. Meet the dog at her level and you’ll find success after success.

Here’s a real-life human example of how powerful distractions can be. Remember back when you were first learning to drive? You were probably about 15 years old or so and just getting behind the wheel could be nerve wracking. But you practiced and you learned all about turn signals, side and rear-view mirrors, navigation, turning, steering, and braking. You got to the point where you were pretty darn good tooling around your neighborhood.

Now, what if I asked you to run into downtown D.C. right around 3:30p. I’ll give you turn-by-turn directions, a map, everything. Oh, and by the way, can you take two toddlers down with you, too. They’re a little cranky, so they’ll probably fuss a bit. You should be fine, right? You know all the mechanics about driving a car — piece of cake, right? You should be able to zip in and zip out without any trouble at all. 

So you’re in a traffic circle, trying to look at the map, trying to quiet the screaming toddlers, and I tell you how stubborn and hard-headed you are because you forgot to use your turn signal or look over your shoulder before you changed lanes. How much is that going to help you complete the task I’ve given you? Not much. If I were smart, I’d have someone watch the toddlers, I’d be your co-pilot and navigator, and I’d be doing everything possible to make this trip in and out of the city at rush hour easy for you. Especially if I have any hope that you may one day willingly repeat this task for me.

So next time you hear any of those words come out of your mouth, stop and re-examine the situation. As your dog’s teacher, how can you help your dog succeed? How can you make it easier for your dog to get it right? I promise you’ll have much more success if you take on the responsibility of teaching!

I’m preparing for an Orientation for a new set of classes tonight. I bring a dog or two of my own to use as demonstration dogs. No other dogs come to class that night. So which dogs should I bring? Nemo? Tango? Lily? A combination?

There isn’t a simple answer – Lily’s a bit reactive around other dogs. Tango can be grumpy if there are puppies around. Nemo’s great, but he’s a drool machine.

And here’s the interesting part:

Lily is without question the smartest dog of the three. I can teach her just about anything. She’s a fast learner, too. And eager! Sometimes she’s too fast! And go figure – she’s also the one who needs the most "management" when we’re out and about. She’s not aggressive, just really noisy when she sees another dog. Not happy, not mad, just really excited.

Nemo’s probably the slowest dog of the three. He’s much more interested in socializing with people and other dogs, than he is in actually learning something. He’s not a dummy, don’t get me wrong, he just has his own priorities… (And as I mentioned earlier, he’s got the drool-thing going on in a big way!)

Tango is a certified therapy dog – you’d think he’d be the easiest, best, fastest, etc. Strangely enough, he’s not! He’s earned his Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog titles, yes, but he’s not nearly as easy to take out and about as Nemo. He’s great with people, but doesn’t care for other dogs who rush up to him or who are over-enthusiastic greeters. I’m not worried about him starting trouble, but he will let that other dog know he doesn’t appreciate their invading his space.

So…which one to take with me tonight to Orientation? Probably Tango and drooley Nemo. I’ll just bring a dish towel to clean his jowls…