Clicker Training Archives - Page 7 of 46

Do This, Not That! Video

July 24, 2014

It’s impossible to get rid of a behavior.

It can only be replaced with a different, more acceptable behavior.

Dog training really is that simple, I swear.

Focus on what you want your dog to do instead of complaining about all the things he does wrong. Make a list! Have two columns: One with “Good Behavior,” and another with “Get Rid Of.” Go ahead, get your complaints out first — write down everything your dog does that drives you batty. Now, and here’s the important part, write down something that the dog can (should, whatever) do instead of doing the thing that annoys you next to every complaint you wrote.

All that’s left is to simply teach your dog how to do the desired thing, and reward him handsomely for doing it.

Check out our YouTube channel for lots of dog training videos on the basic obedience skills and get to teaching!

Talk back!

Honestly, how many of you didn’t hear a word I said because watching Levi was so much more entertaining? Talk about a ham — he had a bee in his bonnet during that taping, didn’t he?

Service Dog Schooner is Going to High School!

July 18, 2014

Raising service dogs is good work if you can get it.

I mean, it’s tough work for sure — house training, teaching good manners, public outings that go awry, the list goes on. But I wouldn’t keep doing it if it weren’t loaded with good stuff, too.

One of the best things is seeing the dog I raised working with his new partner. (I originally typed “my dog,” but had to change it. It’s a little difficult to make that mental shift sometimes. He’s not really mine, of course, and I know that, but I quite often let myself forget that, just for a little while.) He’s all Tabitha’s — and she’ll be all his. It’s impossible not to fall head over heels for that boy, I can vouch for that. What a great team they’ll be!

Anyway, I’m all kinds of excited for Schooner.

He’s going to be a senior in high school this year!

Can you imagine that dog in a high school?! It makes me giggle just thinking about it. He’ll love it. They’ll love him. It’ll be one big lovefest.

I’m not saying the entire road will be easy. There will be moments for both Schooner and his new partner, Tabitha, that’ll make them both think “What am I doing?!” Fortunately, those moments pass quickly and are crowded out by the “How did I ever get along without you?” thoughts.

It’s quite a gift to have the opportunity to watch the partnership take place and I’m grateful to Tabitha and her family for allowing me be a little part of this.

Go on, Schoons, rule the school, my friend!

P.S. I want to see your high school graduation picture!

Quicker, Faster, More Effective Dog Training

July 17, 2014

There’s more to dog training than just teaching the dog to do what we ask.

If you want to supercharge your dog’s training, use management in addition to teaching your dog to follow your requests.

What’s management? How does it help me?

Management helps your dog to do what you ask. More importantly, management keeps your dog from doing the stuff you don’t want him to do. For example, we use baby gates in our house to prevent our dogs from getting into the kitchen when we’re gone. They aren’t necessarily learning anything, but we’re preventing them from wreaking havoc (and preventing them from learning how much fun it is to wreak that havoc!) while we’re gone.

If we don’t give dogs the chance to get in trouble, they won’t get in trouble.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it’s so true!

We use management while we’re teaching the dog to do what we ask. It’s what gets us through the situation until we can teach the dog what to do.

Here are some examples of how I use management in a training scenario:

To prevent jumping. Training: teach the dog to sit/stay (with distractions, distance, and duration). Management: Until the dog is fully trained, put the dog behind a gate or put him on a leash so he’s not able to jump on people when you have visitors.

To prevent running off. Training: Teach a reliable come when called (with distractions and distance). Management: Until the dog is fully trained, keep the dog on a leash when you’re outdoors.

To prevent counter surfing: Training: Teach your dog to settle on a mat in the kitchen (with distractions, distance, and duration). Management: Until the dog is fully trained, keep food in the refrigerator OR use a gate to keep the dog out of the kitchen.

Talk back!

Have you used management to help solve a problem behavior for your dog? Tell us about it — leave a comment!

Perfecting the Down – Video

July 14, 2014

We’ve been working for the last few weeks on improving Levi’s down.

He’s a service dog in-training and his behavior is held to a little higher standard because he needs to work in extreme circumstances. His behavior needs to be good at the mall, at a concert, in a doctor’s office, at the park, and yes, at the grocery store, too.

After identifying the parts of his “down” that needed improvement, we developed a simple, straightforward training plan.

You’ve watched the training plan unfold over the last several articles and I’m proud to present our final product. The problems weren’t overwhelming, but they do often give dog owners a headache.

Too often, the dog is accused of ignoring his owner, being stubborn, or just not listening.

Hopefully you’ve seen that none of those things are true, and that the answer lies in some good, clean, clicker training.

Strategies to Get Through Distractions in Dog Training – Video

July 10, 2014

We’re on the homestretch in perfecting Levi’s downs.

We worked on latency, cues, and distractions. If you’ve kept up with our posts, you’ve seen his downs getting better each week. In our final week working on down, I’m sharing some other things you can do to help improve your own dog’s behavior — whether you’re working on down, come when called, sit, or anything else!

We’re sticking with distractions this week because that’s what gives most people (and their dogs) fits when it comes to “listening” or “obeying.” It’s not that dog won’t do it, it’s that the dog really can’t do it in the face of the distractions.

These tools will help your dog breeze through distractions quickly and easily:

Make sure your dog is getting paid enough. Trainers use a phrase: “use a high rate of reinforcement.” That means click and treat a lot. Imagine if you were struggling through a difficulty a crossword puzzle and solved only one clue an hour. You’d probably give up on the crossword puzzle quickly — it’s just too hard. If you’re not reinforcing your dog enough when things get hard (when distractions are present), he’ll give up and won’t focus on you anymore.
Use a treat that your dog doesn’t usually get. Trainers call this a “high value reinforcer.” If your dog’s diet is mainly kibble and a milky bone here and there, when you work on distractions, ramp up the treats to grilled steak! If you have 100 widgets lying around your house, and someone asks you to fill out a survey for them and the reward is … a widget (!), you’re not likely to be in any hurry to fill out their survey. Why would you? It’s a widget — you’ve got loads of them. If, however, they gave you $100 instead of the widget, you’d probably already have completed that survey and asked if they had another one!
Make the task easier. Trainers say “lower your criteria.” That means accept less than you normally would because you’re adding difficulty by way of distractions. So if your dog simply can’t down when the bicyclists pass, click and give him a treat if he starts to lie down and his elbows bend. If your dog is overly distracted by the bicyclists, you way wish to click and treat your dog for simply looking in your direction. If you’re training for a 10K and your running coach wants you to run 5 miles and weight train three times a week, but you can’t do it because your work schedule has you out of town for four days, he may instead say it’s ok if you run and lift two times a week. Instead of getting a big, fat “F” for the week (and potentially derailing your momentum and progress), your coach knows it’s better to do something, rather than to do nothing. It’s the exact same thing we’re doing with our dogs with this strategy — we’re setting them up to be successful. Success leads to more success.

Talk Back!

Have you been using these tips and tools to improve your dog’s behavior? Leave a comment below and let us know what you’re working on and tell us about your success!

Introducing Distractions to Your Dog Training – Video

July 3, 2014

Distractions are what really get our dogs in trouble.

It’s not that they aren’t listening to us. It’s not that they’re ignoring us. They simply can’t do what we ask in the face of distractions.

In our last article, we showed you how we introduced outdoor distractions. But what if your dog can’t listen outside, even in a quiet backyard? Or what if you don’t have a quiet backyard and directly out your door is the hustle and bustle and there’s no “in between.”

Start your distraction training inside. It’s much easier to work on distractions indoors because you control the distractions (because you are the distraction!).

Remember when working on distractions:

introduce distractions systematically (not all at once, but piecemeal)
if your dog can’t do the behavior for which you’ve asked, don’t ask multiple times — simply reduce your distraction
make sure you’re using a really high-value treat
if your dog can’t do the distraction, find the point at which he can be successful

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Clicker Training

It’s impossible to get rid of a behavior.

Dog training really is that simple, I swear.

All that’s left is to simply teach your dog how to do the desired thing, and reward him handsomely for doing it.

Talk back!

Raising service dogs is good work if you can get it.

He’s going to be a senior in high school this year!

Go on, Schoons, rule the school, my friend!

P.S. I want to see your high school graduation picture!

There’s more to dog training than just teaching the dog to do what we ask.

What’s management? How does it help me?

If we don’t give dogs the chance to get in trouble, they won’t get in trouble.

Here are some examples of how I use management in a training scenario:

Talk back!

We’ve been working for the last few weeks on improving Levi’s down.

After identifying the parts of his “down” that needed improvement, we developed a simple, straightforward training plan.

Too often, the dog is accused of ignoring his owner, being stubborn, or just not listening.

We’re on the homestretch in perfecting Levi’s downs.

These tools will help your dog breeze through distractions quickly and easily:

Talk Back!

Distractions are what really get our dogs in trouble.

Remember when working on distractions:

Here’s a video to give you some ideas and show you how to reduce your distractions if your dog’s having a hard time.

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