Go Dog Training

Related Blog:  WHAT IS A CLICKER?

Modified Version: CLICKER TRAINING YOUR CAT.

A Clicker must be "Charged Up" before you can use it.

Teaching your dog what a clicker means is EASY!  

Do it from the couch, your favorite chair, while cooking dinner, or working on your laptop.

The big trick is to remember that in the beginning there is only equation.  

CLICK --------------> Dog Is Give A Treat.

HERE IS WHAT YOU DO.

1.  Prepare 30-50 small pieces of TASTY Treats.  Tasty is very, very important.  I use tiny pieces of chicken or cheese.

2.  Set the treats in a bowl or tupperware container.  Be sure your dog can't reach them.  Fiddle with them for a moment, but don't give any to your dog.  In a way you are teasing your dog with the scent, sound and presence of the treats.

3.  Get your clicker out.  Show it to your dog & then pick up the treat container, but don't give your dog a treat... yet.  

4.  Make a plan for keeping your dog within earshot of the clicker:  Close doors, or leash your dog.  In my house sitting on the couch or standing in the kitchen seems to keep all the dogs nearby.

5.  Look at the clock and plan on training for 20-30 minutes (This is a perfect TV show activity).

6.  With your clicker in hand, start doing something.  Watch TV, type, dishes -whatever!

7.  Without warning press down on the clicker "CLICK!"

8. Now reach for the container and give your dog 2-3 treats.  Do NOT call your dog to get the treats.  This is room-service.  You deliver the treat!!!!  Toss it, hand it, whatever!

9.  Continue doing what you were doing & ignore your dog.  Ignore begging too!  When your dog spontaneously stops begging, you will know they are almost "Clicker-Charged."  A clicker charged dog doesn't need to beg, they just wait for the click.

10.  Randomly reach for the treats or the container.  Fake-toss your dog a treat.  Pick up the container, etc...  Each time you do this you will NOT give your dog a treat.  This is an important step.  You must un-teach your dog that treats = treats.  You are "ruling this out" (nerdy trainer talk :).

11.  In between DOING NOTHING & DOING RULE-OUTS, "CLICK" (just once) and THEN give your dog a treat (room-service, remember).

12.  While Charging-the-Clicker" 40-50% of what you will be doing is: Nothing.  30-40% of the time you will be doing Rule-outs (taunting your dog with the container, fake-tosses, picking up treats and putting them back in the container.  During this time, your dog is free to do what s/he wants to do, including sleep, ignore you, lick, stare, beg -whatever!

13.  Only 10-15% of your time will be spent on CLICKING.  Each click must happen randomly and be followed by a treat.

14.  When your dog completely ignores everything (including fake-tosses & reaching into the treat container, AND ONLY looks excited when they hear CLICK, your dog is clicker charged.

15.  Over the next 2-3 days, randomly CLICK and then immediately get your dog a tasty treat.

You are now ready to CLICKER TRAIN YOUR DOG!

>>>>>>STAY TUNED for TEACHING NEW BEHAVIORS WITH THE CLICKER!

Clicker Training A CAT...

While there are some differences in what you can teach a cat vs. what you can teach a dog (Natural Behaviors Can't Be Ignored), the basic concept is the same.

BEFORE TRAINING WITH A CLICKER... 

You must charge your clicker.  This process is the same for dogs and cats.  

READ MORE HERE.

However, I tend to find the following tips are helpful with cats.

1.  Use WET FOOD or BABY FOOD (Gerber Chicken is great!)

2.  Secure your clicker to a spoon for fast & easy clicking & licking.

3.  Train your cat (and some dogs) in shorter sessions.

CAT SAFETY TIP:  On the sidewalk your indoor cats don't look LOST - They look like Indoor/Outdoor Cats.  Indoor kitties should wear a cat collar with an ID tag.  Be clear!  Skip your cats name and write:  "Indoor Cat" & a phone number!

Clickers are not just for dog training!  

You can use clickers to train cats, rats and birds too.  There is even something called Chicken Camp where trainers learn to improve their timing and clicker training skills.  Zoos use clickers to train animals to lift lips and limbs, open mouths, bend down and perform other behaviors that make routine health checks less stressful for the animals and the keepers.  Over the years, I have come to love training with clickers.

Perhaps you've wondered, "Could my dog be clicker trained?"  

Any dog can be trained with a clicker.  If you decide to try clicker training you won't need to use the clicker forever, or even all the time.  Clickers and verbal praise can be used simultaneously to mark desired behaviors and/or variations in performance.  They are most often used by trainers to teach dogs new things.  Eventually the clicker is faded out, or shifted as new behaviors are taught.  

WHAT IS A CLICKER?

Clickers (shown above) are small, hand-held tools that make a CLICK-noise when pressed with the thumb.  Clickers are used when new behaviors are being learned or when known behaviors are being applied in new situations. Clickers MARK behaviors that are currently being rewarded.  Verbal Markers can also be used to teach behaviors, but the crisp, clean sound of a clicker is preferable when trying to mark precise moments of a dog's actions.  A clicker is like a high quality, professional camera that can take a photo showing drops of water falling from a glass.  Whereas my phone-camera might only show a fuzzy blur of water.  When used correctly, clickers make for crystal clear communication.

 A.  Standard, Box Clicker  (Cheap & clear, easy to hear sound)

B.  Karen Pryor's iClick  (Raised button is easy to push with a gloved hand)

C.  Triple Crown Clicker  (Contours to hand and is comfortable to hold)

DO I NEED SPECIAL TRAINING TO USE A CLICKER?

A clicker is a tool; it can be used correctly, used incorrectly and abused.  As with most tools, the product depends on the user.  For example, if I was given watercolors, a brush and instructions to paint a portrait of your dog, you would get a picture of a dog, but you might not be impressed.  Ask my mother, an artist, and you'd get a technically correct product with added style and artistic flair -a painting you could frame.  Hands-on instruction and coaching from someone who has trained with clickers will give you an advantage, but what you really need is practice.  The best thing to do is start using the clicker for simple behaviors.  

Stay tuned...  >>HOW WILL MY DOG KNOW WHAT THE CLICK MEANS?

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.

Your dog is NOT being naughty...

On purpose,

To get back at you,

Or, because they are trying to dominate you!

Your dog's behavior is not malicious.  

Behavior is a result of past CONSEQUENCES & current MOTIVATIONS.  

Chances are they...

a) Really DON'T know better.

• They are acting on instinct (dogs bark, whine and chase things).
  

• They are doing what feels best to them (peeing and pooping feels better than holding it).
  

• They are repeating something that has worked before (checking the counter for more toast).

   

b) Just don't care.

• There is no yucky consequences (peeing on rug = relief).
  

• The consequence is late or seems unconnected (yell at dog for chewing couch sometime while you were gone).
  

• The consequence is actually rewarding the behavior (pushing a dog down for jumping up = touch/attention).
  

• Something else is more compelling/appealing at the moment (pulling towards the next great smell is worth the choking sensation).

  
  

Things to think about...

Have you ever done something even though you "knew better?"

Have you ever performed poorly at something you "know how to do?"

Have you ever made a bad meal or burnt dinner?

Did you do it to "get back" at someone or as revenge, or was it just the way things went?

Did everyone notice how "in charge" you were of their food enjoyment and "feel subordinate" to you?

Have you ever missed a payment or fogotten something important?

Was it to "make a statement" about something, or prove your power?

Did you do it "on purpose" even though you "knew better" and had done it right before?

Do you know better than to call in sick when your friend is visiting?  

What is your motivation?  

What is the consequence? 

Are you a "good" driver?

Have you ever sped?

Why, it is "wrong" isn't it?

Have you ever been "sneaky" about when/where you speed?  Why?