Tag Archives: clicker training

Sit happens! Dog training in an instant

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Have you ever watched a dog show? Remember seeing all those dogs standing in the ring to be judged? When sit happens, it’s not a good thing.

Last week Hope did a bad thing. She taught a show dog to sit in about a minute. Fortunately, the dog’s mom, a friend of ours, laughed about it.

It was sort of an accident

Hope went to see a litter of puppies last week. The breeder has gorgeous dogs, does all the health testing, lives with her dogs in the house – all the things you want from a responsible breeder. Hope really, really thought she was ready to come home with a new puppy. Despite how one little boy tugged at her, it turns out now’s not the right time.

It was disappointing for both Hope and her breeder-friend Sue. But they still enjoyed spending time together and playing with Sue’s dogs.

Starting clicking

When Hope and Sue were talking about their visit, Sue mentioned that she wanted to start training and asked Hope to show her some tips to get her started. There’s a club near where she lives that offers Rally classes. Rally is probably the most fun / least stressful of the performance sports. Rally is the one that lets you talk to your dog, has instructions posted along the way, and speed only matters if there’s a tied score.

French Bulldog sitting with tongue out
Sharky

So Hope brought Sue a clicker. A clicker isn’t absolutely necessary for training, but it does make it more consistent and easier, once you have the timing. Hope started clicker training Sue’s three dogs – Sharky (darling little boy), Pinch (adorable adult girl), and Alecia (Sue’s gorgeous little show girl).

Teacher’s pet

All three are food-motivated, which always makes training easier. Pinch is a retired show girl and Sue’s pet. She’s not used to having to “do” something to get a treat – she’s a princess and is treated like one. Sharky is a teen-aged boy. His brain is sometimes present. Sometimes not so much.

Alecia is a training superstar! She figured out the “click” in no time.

Click = treat. Got it!

Sit = click. Got it!

And just that fast, sit happens! Alecia learned to sit for just the possibility of a treat.

In a non-showing household, that would have been a wonderful thing. In a show home? It’s not the end of the world, but it’s not great. Show dogs are supposed to stand to be examined by a judge. They’re supposed to show off their physiques. And they can be standing for a while, depending on the number of dogs they’re competing against.

Sorry about that, chief!

Fortunately, Sue was really proud that her girl learned so fast. And understood that “stand” can be a learned (and rewarded!) behavior just like sit. She forgave Hope. Whew!

Dog training – expectation vs. reality

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Congratulations! You’re a dog trainer!

2-Minute Trainer Book 1 - Clicker & Place

It’s true. The reality is – everyone who owns a dog is a dog trainer. Dog training is all day, every day. Dogs learn from everything we say, do, and are.

The tricky part is being aware of what we’re training!

Our new book, 2-Minute Trainer Book 1 – Clicker & Place, will get you started on the most fun you’ve ever had playing with your dog.

Expectation

People say their dogs “know” when they’ve done something naughty because the dog hides or has a hangdog (sorry, we couldn’t help it) expression.

Reality

The dog knows yelling will happen soon. The dog doesn’t “know” not to do it – the dog knows not to be around when you find it.

To a dog, the answer is not “don’t do it.” It’s “make sure she doesn’t find it.” It’s why they “hide” their accidents. And why, when you’re in the process of housebreaking, you should be hot on the heels of any dog who decides to leave the room!

Expectation

Dog training takes a long time, isn’t much fun, and you need an expert to achieve anything.

Reality

Dog training only takes a couple minutes at a time, is a fun game you play with your dog, and anyone can do it.

It does require patience, but that’s why we do just little bits at a time. The time we spend with our dogs, considering everything else going on in life, can’t be full of tension and stress. Everyone who has a dog should be able to spend just 2 minutes playing a training game.

Double Reality

if you don’t have two minutes to spend with your dog on a regular basis, you probably shouldn’t have a dog.

Expectation

We can’t do this. My dog is an obedience school drop-out.

Reality

Dog training includes tricks.

Teddy practicing tricks

Your dog was probably bored stiff by the glacial pace, boring demeanor, and rote repetition of the exercises in the obedience class.

It’s a fact that most small dogs are descended from animals whose original jobs were getting rid of vermin. That means they were bred to work independently, use their brains, and outsmart the competition. Furthermore, when we say little dogs are smart, we mean it. They don’t have the “obeying” kind of smart, they have the “problem solving, thinking” kind of smart.

Expectation

Dog training isn’t fun.

Reality

If it’s not fun, you’re doing it wrong.

2-minute training is fast-paced. It works best if you go into it with a smile on your face, good “cookies” close at hand, and use that higher-pitched, excited voice you would with a toddler. Moreover,  when you ask “Wanna go train?” your dog should be just as excited as if you asked “Wanna go for a walk?” or if you grabbed your keys and asked “Wanna go for a ride?”

Getting completely real

To summarize, the reality of 2-Minute Training is that you can:
Expect to have fun. Expect to be sorry when time’s up. Expect you and your dog to excel.
Expect to be proud – of yourself and your dog.

Keep at it!

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Fran on Friday

Tango

Tango! The picture of “stubborn.”

It’s easy to get frustrated in training with operant conditioning. Especially Tango. He’s a Brussels Griffon and the name defines “stubborn.” I’ve been using clicker training with him on some behaviors. It just seems to work better than using a verbal bridge on some things. It’s hard to say which behaviors the clicker will work with – just have to try it. With Tango, though, it’s not like I’ll train and after 3 sessions he’ll get a behavior. No. More like after 15 sessions it looks like he might have a clue, and then at some point after that it’s like a light bulb goes off in his head and he’ll be perfect.

As an example, we’re working on “stand” from a sit position. Since Tango is now in Rally Advanced (!), he has to learn the more advanced behaviors, and “stand” is one of them. So he’s sitting in heel position (at my left foot, facing the same way I am) and I wait for him to do something. When he stands I click and say, “Good stand!” and give him a cookie. And we do it again. That waiting for the behavior I want is excruciating sometimes. He’ll lie down, turn in a circle, sit down again. But when he gets up I click and he knows he did something good. And then it’s a matter of refining. We’re still in the excruciating stage. But I see glimmers of the behavior I want!