Have clicker, will train! Any hints?

[doodledrawers]

Hi there. My clicker arrived in the post today, and my training book yesterday (Complete Idiot's Guide to Positive Dog Training, which seemed to fit the bill ), so I'm ready to start training my 12 week old Bearded Collie. Both her parents are sheepdogs, so I'm hoping she'll prove pretty co-operative! Anyway, I'd welcome any hints / tips / things you don't read in the books from any more experienced owners out there. I'll report back soon with a progress report .

Tips not always found in books:

1. Start your training sessions somewhere quiet with very few distractions. You can increase the level of distraction as she becomes consistently reliable in each training location (eg from living room to garden, from garden to park etc). Remember somewhere like a garden is quite a stimulating distraction filled place to a young pup, lots of smells and sounds, birdsong, birds flying overhead etc.

1. Make sure your dog/clicker is well 'charged' before you begin, by click-treating her enough times that she is actually looking to the clicker rather than the treat to see when the next one is coming.

1. Timing is everything with the clicker. The click must be instant to the desired behaviour and the treat as soon as possible after the click ie The click must come precisely WHEN the behaviour is performed, not afterwards.

1. Never click more than once for each desired behaviour.

1. Never click to encourage, coax or prolong a behaviour. The click pinpoints a specific behaviour and signals 'yes, that's right, your treat is on its way' and as such encourages the dog to repeat the behaviour it was carrying out at the precise monment it heard the click.

1. Break down each behaviour you want to teach into small easy to manage steps. Only move on a step when you are sure she is consistently achieving the step you have just been working on.

1. If she doesn't seem to 'get' what you want from her. Go back a step at a time until you find the point she is able to perform reliably, then make sure that step is fully reinforced before moving on again.

1. Keep training sessions short and sweet and always end on a positive note so she is keen to try again next time.

1. Once you at the stage where you're happy your dog knows the verbal command you are trying to teach, you can begin to fade out the clicker. You can do this by clicking once every 5 repetitions, then one in 10 etc, then randomly on fewer and fewer occasions, perhaps selecting only the fastest responses or best positions etc.

1. Every now and then give her a jackpot prize of a few treats in one go. Think of this in terms of why slot machines are so addictive. People keep putting money into them in the hope of winning a big prize. If they only won 10p every time, eventually it would become boring, predictable and not very rewarding, but if there is the promise/possibility of a big win at any moment, they will continue to repeat the behaviour they believe might cause that jackpot to happen.

10. Have fun!

Hth.

Clicker training is so easy

for a few days just click the clicker and give the dog the best treat ever. A small bit of cheese is good.

Keep doing this several times a day.

Then you have to get the dog to do a behaviour so wait for the dog to sit and then click instantly then treat. Then move away and the dog will stand up and wait for him to sit again and then click and treat

Soon the dog will sit all the time for a treat. When the behaviour is learnt eg sitting then you can add the word sit.

So dog learns, sit gets me a treat then the word sit means to sit and I get a treat!

Dead easy

Then move onto other behaviours when the dog is in his bed click and treat keep doing this for several days and then add the word bed.

Work on one behaviour at a time but they pick it up really quickly.

The book you have is fab and explains things clearly.

Once the dog gets used to the click meaning a treat I tend to throw the treat a little way away which means the dog moves from the behaviour you are asking for. This means they have to think again what did I do to get the treat - then they redo the behaviour and realise clearly that this is what they should do.

Thanks for your help and time, both of you - some really useful points. I'll let you know how we all get on!

They are great tips. I got a clicker for my puppy and am just at the stage of clicking and treating so he knows what to expect. I didn't know what they next step was, but I do now!

Is it wise to let others do the clicking and treats at this stage to get the puppy used to listening to others, or should it be just one person doing the training?

Doesn't matter who clicks and treats but you will find your DC are often better at it than adults! So it is a great way for them to interact positively with the dog.

Doesn't matter who clicks and treats but you will find your DC are often better at it than adults! So it is a great way for them to interact positively with the dog.

minimu can you move to just clicking without treating some of the time? How do you know when you don't need to click a behaviour anymore?

No never ever click without treating. You can treat without clicking though.

The click is showing the dog the correct behaviour and the treat is confirming this.

When the dog is familiar with the behaviour add the word. When the dog reliable does the behaviour on the word command you can begin to frop the clicks.

You are aiming for about 99% success rate before you drop the clicker. I do train very scientifically so I will actually count the number of times I do a command and work on the 99% success rate. But this is not really necessary just a sad old dog lady with not much else to do!!!!

So say sit the dog sits click and throw the treat.
Say sit the dog sits and just treat.
So sometimes click and treat and sometimes just click and treat.

A dog will need constant reminders so even with my obedience champ I will still get the clicker out for basic sit commands etc now and again. It keeps them motivated and quick to do the behaviour.

I have managed to get my dog to sit without actually telling him the word. I stand looking at him expectantly and he sits, I click and treat.
I then walk away from him and repeat again.
I have even added the word 'sit' which he does, I then click and treat.

Does that sound ok?

Whats the next step for us?

I really want to stop him jumping up at us when we come in. He rips any carrier bags we are holding to shreds with his sharp claws when he jumps.
I make him sit before petting him. I wonder how long its going to take him to realise he doesn't get any fuss when he is jumping up.
He is 5 months old btw

Fantastic Kid. I would begin to say sit now as it appears that the behaviour is learnt but still click and treat. Only say the sit once but click as soon as he sits. if doesn't sit stop saying the word for a bit and just practice the behaviour again.

When you do come home it is a good idea to totally ignore the dog for a few minutes. (I know this is really hard and you want to have a dog running to greet you with waggy tail) But if the dog gets into the habit of staying in his bed, then you can put shopping on the side, take off your coat etc and then call the dog to you and make a huge fuss of him. Sometimes I may even be in smart clothes and don't want to be greeted by a huge dog well in my case 5 dogs. So it gives me time to change and then come and have a grand greeting on my own terms.

He will learn to wait in his bed until you say and this will also reinforce the recall and mean you can into your house without being mugged.

This method also stops any problem with seperation anxiety as if when you come home you make a huge fuss of the dog it implies to the dog that there is something to be worried about when you leave.

Thanks mimimu,

I also have the problem of when people knock at the door. I can't be sure they have shut the gate behind them so there is the risk of him getting out. But also the risk of him jumping all over them.
When he was younger/smaller, it was easy to pick him up. I am not picking him up, he is a lump!

Sometimes I will close the baby gate to keep him in the living room, other times, I will hold his colour. I am sure both methods are wrong as he needs to learn that its no big deal when someone knocks at the door, but I am clearly making it a big deal!

What I do is to call him to the kitchen for a treat when the doorbell goes. Then I shut the kitchen door and go to answer the front door. He now associates the bell with a treat in the kitchen and goes straight there.

Absolutely Romanarama use the door bell like pavlovs bell! Knock on the door and then send the dog to his bed and treat. Keep doing this several times a day and soon when they hear the door bell the dogs will run to their beds.

You may prefer a different behaviour when the door bell rings they go into the down position etc.

Practice it loads without people arriving as that is an added distraction then add the people arriving when the behaviour is solid. (I don't mean have noone around until then but don't expect the dogs to go to their beds until the behaviour is learnt well without distractions!)

kid it wouldn't be a bad idea to put a sign on the gate too so that people shut it behind them

I had thought of that, but thats as far as I got!
At least if there is a sign there, there is half a chance of people closing the gate. The dog has started to run straight to the gate now and try to hook it open with his paw!

just bumping this soI can refer back nextweek.

.

minimu, I have some questions!

I've had our new puppy home for nearly 2 weeks now (she is nearly 10 weeks) and we are going great guns with the clicker. She adores the training sessions.

Can I ask how many sessions I should ideally be doing per day with her? At the moment I am doing 3 - 4 (usually before her meals so she is hungry and well motivated) and they last 3-4 mins. Is this too much?

The other thing is can I vary what I teach during the day? I never try different commands in each session but I might do down before breakfast, sit before lunch, and watch me before tea. She seems to understand although she goes tend to throw a few sits at me first before doing a down or a watch.

As she is still quite little am I going to confuse her? Should I keep plodding on with sit?

Thanks so much for your advice.

Am watching (stalking!) carefully as I have similar questions! Also any advice on how to teach 'stay'?

Sluberdegullion sounds fantastic to me - just the right number and keeping it short and sweet is great.

I would usually teach one command for a few days then move onto others. You will find though that the first command took a few days to learn but she will pick things up quicker and quicker as time goes on.

While she is learning the behaviour (and not yet the word) I would only be doing one behaviour.

You are aiming for 90-98% success rate. So if you ask her to sit 10 times and she does at the first time of asking for 9 of those times - she is ready to move on. I would not always test this out by asking 10 times just an example!

Teaching Stay - I usually do this from the down position as they will stay happier for longer. So teach down first.

Also I would have taught the wait before the stay. Wait is when the dog has to stay still until told to do something. They learn that wait is a shorter command than a stay. So teach wait before feeding them. Get them to sit say wait hold their food bowl in the air when they are still (have a release command - ok, go etc) and then let them have their food. Build this up so the wait becomes longer. If they move do not give them the ,soon you can put the food on the floor and say wait and they will not take it until the release command.

With stay the same idea. Put them in a down say stay and hold a titbit in your hand after a few seconds give release command and click and give titbit - gradually leave the stay longer and longer. You can practice this frequently throughout the day. You can build this up to staying when there are distractions, and then take it outside and get them to stay on the walk etc. Also when they get better at it try a stay with you our of sight. Again do not move on too quickly - you are setting them up to succeed not fail.

thanks so much minimu. Phoebe can already do 'down' (although because we have also taught her to roll over, if we are not careful and clicking in time, we get a 'downrollover', all in one!!)

Great advice re the 'wait' before food. This is lots of fun

Thank you minimu. Really helpful advice. The wait command will come in really handy too.