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Clicker training "stand" from a sit or down?

8 replies

D0oinMeCleanin · 15/10/2012 11:26

How?

Devil Dog is doing his bronze award. Unfortunately the class he is going to favour leash corrections above anything else, they get a treat for doing it right and a correction for doing it wrong Sad

I really do not want to give my dog leash corrections, so I am determined he knows his homework inside out before next week. Sit we've had down for years, same with down, wait is reasonable, we've just been able to cue 'leave it' during our first session, so I am confident he will pick that up by Wednesday.

Stand we are having trouble with. He loves his clicker, he loves getting clicks, he likes the clicks better than the treats. He is determined to earn clicks no matter what. All of this is excellent of course, except when learning new things.

Stand for instance, if I give the cue for sit, he sits, gets his click and gets his treat, he stays in sit even though the release cue is the click. I wait and wait and wait and wait and wait for a stand to click, eventually he realises I want a different behaviour and so he lays, we don't click this. He still lays and lays and lays and lays and lays. I walk away to try and get a stand, we might be practising wait, so he waits, while laying (wait now has a cue) I throw a treat on the floor to try and get him to stand, we might be doing leave it, so he leaves it, while laying.

I try and lure him into a stand with a treat, he still lays, I am not sure what he thinks we might be practising at this point. I hide the clicker behind my back and pretend to turn away hoping that he will think it's game over and stand to go about normal business, nope, he still lays determined he will earn a click, I step towards him in the hope that invading his space will get a stand from him, nope he stays in lay.

How the hell do I get a stand? the training manual I was given says to man handle him into a stand, I don't want to do this, do I? There must be a better way where he chooses to stand and gets his click.

At the this rate he is going to spend the entire class laying down, which will be great for leave it and wait, not so much for stand and heal

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shoutymcshoutsmum · 15/10/2012 11:31

What happens if you put the treat on the ground after the trick? That makes my pup stand.

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shoutymcshoutsmum · 15/10/2012 11:31

Click not trick Blush

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pimmsgalore · 15/10/2012 11:34

could you have the clicker in your hand and treats in your pocket (put them in when he is sleeping) and when he wakes up and stands click, treat and say ok or up or stand ? We have been clicking and treating pimmsdog when he stretches and he now knows "bow wow" (thanks to DC for the name) Grin

Do you know how to get them to lie down on their mat. Pimmsdog will sit on his mat when given the command "mat", if I then tell him to lie down he lies next to it and plonks one paw on the mat I think he is rebelling Hmm He is very stubborn and will not lie on his mat for love nor money or really juicy favourite treats

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Cuebill · 15/10/2012 12:17

Several ways to teach a stand.


If he is finding it difficult I would start from a sit and lure. Hold a piece of food near his noise. Hold the food in a underhand position and you are in front of the dog, take a step backwards keeping the treat at nose height and so drawing the dog towards you. if your hand is too high the dog will remain sitting too low and he will go down.

Stand from a down - be in front of the dog an again with hand in underhand position take a step backwards this time you will have to bring your hand diagonally upwards to bring the dogs nose up. Click and treat when you get the stand.

Another way is to be walking and just stand still he may sit, in which case ignore or he may stand still Click and treat the stand.

Underhand position is when you hold your hand with the food pointing upwards and fingers beneath the food.

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D0oinMeCleanin · 15/10/2012 13:59

Thank you Cuebill. I will try that later.

Shouty he's not allowed to pick things up off of the floor unless he's given a cue, which is "Go on then" so if I throw a treat on the floor he looks at me, which is good because it's what he's been trained to do. He learned that today, he is clever when he tries.

pimms, I had the same issue with puppy when learning to go to his mat while we were eating, he'd get on the mat but not lay on it. I just didn't click the down unless he was on the mat when he was down.

Start slowly, so for instance, click a down with one paw on the mat at first, then stop clicking and that and wait for two paws on the mat, then halfway on the mat. Use food to lure, unless he is as stubborn as my dog and lays stick still until he earns his click, in which case ask Cuebill Grin

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D0oinMeCleanin · 15/10/2012 14:54

Yeah it worked. Eventually, took a while, he seemed to think it must be some kind of trick, but he got there in the end and I got two stands. Will practise again later, after I've showed dd1 how to train roll over. She is desperate to have her dogs do tricks. Roll over should be easy for him, he seems to like laying down Grin

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D0oinMeCleanin · 15/10/2012 17:05

I just got lots of stands (not cued yet) a couple of lures into "settle" also not cued) and loads and loads of brilliant "leave it". He likes "leave it" it's a game he knows. He can leave entire piles of treats. Tomorrow we are going to practise "leave it" the thing on the plate and "leave it" the tennis ball. Maybe tomorrow night we will try "leave it" the squawky parrot.

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pimmsgalore · 15/10/2012 18:51

Doin Its worked, 2 more training sessions today and he is now going down on the mat and is not even tempted by DD (who was instructed to run up and down the stairs singing loud songs) Grin

I am really pleased with him, we think he was kicked down the stairs in his previous home and he has issues with anyone being on the stairs, hence the reason why I wanted him to go to his mat which is just round the corner from the bottom of the stairs. Maybe we will all now be able to go up and down the stairs without being growled and snapped at Smile

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