Am going round in circles in my head atm about how best to do release cues.
What we have here at the moment is a good response to the basic cues of sit, down and stand. If I add in "wait" we have a reasonably good response to that in various different situations (me walking out of the room with food left in front of her, in the park, dogs approaching etc), and then I will release with "OK!" Plus a sort of send away hand signal.
The problem is if I don't add wait after the first cue we get a bottom up and down like a bride's nightie, with me constantly having to give the cue again.
Having rewatched some kikopup videos she says that the cue always includes +wait. So if you ask for a sit you get a continous sit for however long you want and then you release it.
Do I need to rework on sit/down/stand and phase out the wait cue, or should you always do sit-whatever and then add the wait in?
Or does it not really matter? I don't want to keep working on this bit of training if I have to undo it all at some future point.
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Kate or minimu; q about release cues.
SlubberdeVelcro · 19/02/2011 15:07
Do not click the movement that would be teaching the dog that it gets the treat when it moves position.
So good timing required here to start with
Ask for a sit, pause as the dog is still sitting click say ok and release.
Also watch your body language here people tend to hold their breath, put up a hand like a stop sign, leaning forward and this also becomes a command to the dog. Keep your body language as neutral as possible and then up the anti and do odd movements jump up and down, wave etc.
Also as time goes on test your release command, many dogs will release on the first word you say, so build up to saying anything, apples, pears, TV, larry etc and then say ok Huge reward if the dog moves only on the ok or release word.
Do you have a wrong word? eg if the dog makes a mistake (which is great in clicker training as they learn so fast from their mistakes) I tend to say "oh dear" in a very down beat voice the dog realises that was not correct and thinks hard to offer another behaviour.
Don't you do the "DC" yet Slubber - honestly get those shoes and coats and get clicking right now 
I've only just started experimenting with a wrong word/No Reward Marker and I'm quite pleasantly surprised how well it works once they've got the idea.
Minimu's first sentence is what I was trying to get at in my post, only I prefer to use more words and make it less clear 
Whoops - see it now!!!!!
I agree in that I hate scent for obedience but love tracking for working trials and search and rescue. I must say that I do not love competition obedience as much as other training and activities but do still do it. I had a lab marked down in the stay exercise cos he was wagging his tail so much his body moved
but he was the happiest dog there!
I do tend to think of all behaviours as tricks somehow it is more relaxing that way and that is how the dog see them anyway!
Never too late to join the circus
I do tend to think of all behaviours as tricks somehow it is more relaxing that way and that is how the dog see them anyway!
Exactly. That's how I try to approach it now, ever since I realised that I tend to be FAR more impressed when she masters a trick than when she cracks, say, a heelwork turn. The first time she managed "Hide eyes/Be shy" on cue I think the neighbours heard 
.
I think I'd enjoy tracking/S and R far more than I like scent for obedience.
I was very lucky in our last competition - her "sit stay" started out OK, but when I turned round at the end, her back legs had splayed like a frog (she tends to sit very lazily anyway) and her front legs had slid forward somewhat. I reckon if she'd had to sit for 30 seconds longer it would have turned into a splat rather than a sit. The judge was obviously feeling generous that day
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