Go Dog Training

Training Small dogs can be a challenge.  Dogs that weigh less than 10lbs move quickly.  They are also so close to the ground already that using a Food-Lure (a treat held in your hand, close to their nose) can be challenging.  For medium and large dogs Food-Lures are a convenient ways to move dogs into positions like sit or down.  However, with small dogs Food-Lures can sometimes cause more jumping-bean action than is conducive to training.

For really small, fast-flying dogs I prefer to sit back and relax when training.  For this type of training a CLICKER is really, really handy.  A clicker is a small device that makes a click-sound when the metal flap inside the small box is pressed down and released.

Clickers are used to train dogs, horses, cats, pigeonsrats and even marine mammals.  Using a clicker is simple.  In the beginning the animal in training needs only to learn that each click-sound will be quickly followed by a small reward (technically it must be a reinforcer) that the animal will enjoy and working for.  I like using small, tasty bits of food like cheeses or meats.

The rules are simple.

1.  Click what you like.

2.  Click at the EXACT moment the behavior is accomplished.

3.  Don't command the animal to DO anything, JUST WAIT for something -be patient!!!

4.  Reward the animal after every click.

5.  Train is short intervals 5-10minutes

Sometimes it is helpful to think of the clicker as a camera.  At the end of the training if each CLICK was a PHOTO, and if you placed all those photos on your kitchen table you would have only photos of the behavior (sit, down, bow) that you were hoping to train.

Here are two Kinder-CLICKER lesson for fast-flying, jumpy little-dogs.

1.  Click (and reward) the dog anytime they are NOT moving.  Click the dog for being still in any position.  Offer extra treats for clicks that marked exceptionally cute still positions (like sit or down).  After 2 or 3 sessions, raise the bar and click only certain positions.

2.  Click (and reward) All Cute Behaviors.  This is my favorite.  I will click anything cute!!!  Head-tilts, play-bows, prairie-dog position, sit, down, waving.  Then I pick one behavior that gets clicked and a special bonus treat (gorgonzola).  I like to see how long it takes for the dog to offer only that behavior.