Clicker Train Your Dog and You'll both be Happy

Getting Ready for Clicker Training

Clicker training is an effective, positive method of teaching your dog basic obedience, advanced obedience, and competition behaviors.  The clicker method uses the theory of operant conditioning, which involves positive reinforcement when your dog performs a desired behavior.  

You use the clicker to mark the correct behavior, so your dog knows what’s expected.  Once you mark the behavior with the clicker, you give your dog a treat right away.  You use progressive steps to train your dog using the clicker method of training.

Your Dog Offers the Desired Behavior on His Own

The crucial element of clicker training your dog is to get the desired behavior without physically pulling, pushing, or dragging the dog.  Your dog should offer the behavior on his own, learning what the desired behavior involves.  Physically forcing him to perform a behavior is a negative approach to dog training. 

An example of rewarding a desired behavior is attempting to teach, “Sit”.  When your dog sits, click and treat.  It doesn’t matter when he sits or where he sits, just click and treat whenever he sits on his own. 

Don’t give a cue for “Sit” yet but continue clicking and treating whenever he sits.  Soon, your dog will be sitting just to get the treat.  When he’s comfortable with sitting and understands why he’s getting a reward, you can add the cue, “Sit”.  It doesn’t take long for your dog to understand the cue and begin responding to the word, “Sit”. 

Click to Mark the Desired Behavior

The key to clicker training is to click at the right time.  Clicking too soon or too late only confuses your dog.  The instant your dog gives the desired behavior, click and treat.  If you give your dog a treat, even a few seconds after the behavior, it won’t be effective.  Your dog won’t associate the correct behavior with the click if the treat is too late.  It’s better not to give the treat at all if you can’t deliver it to your dog immediately. 

Reinforce Your Dog’s Behavior with High-Level Treats

All dogs are different and have different likes and dislikes.  To reinforce clicker training, choose treats that your dog loves.  Most dogs will not work just for praise or a pat on the head.  Treats are considered the primary reinforcement because almost all dogs will work for food. 

Once your dog performs the correct behavior for eighty percent of the time, you can gradually fade out the treats.  If your dog has a setback or becomes distracted by something else, add the treats back to the training.

Advancing Beyond Basic Clicker Training for Distance and Duration

Make the desired behavior harder for your dog once he knows the cue.  Extend the time he has to sit by a few seconds, gradually adding more time. 

When teaching the command, “Stay”, for instance, stand next to your dog while asking him to stay, and click for staying while you stand next to him.  Next, take a step away then come back to your dog, and click and treat him.  

Eventually, your dog will stay no matter how far away you get.  You can apply this method for any of the behaviors you want your dog to learn. It’s great for distance work, targeting, and basic commands like sit, stay and down.

Add Distractions and Continue Clicker Training

Once your dog responds to the cues and the clicker, add distractions.  Distractions are the most difficult obstacle your dog has to overcome.  Begin clicker training with distractions outside in the yard before bringing him to a busier spot. 

When your dog gives the desired behavior when a neighbor is in the yard or a child rides past on a bicycle, then it’s time to move on to harder distractions.  Bring your dog to the park or a public event.  When he gives the correct behavior, click and treat in the same way as when there were no distractions.

You should add distractions gradually, especially with reactive dogs.  If your pup has difficulty with the distractions, go back inside and continue clicker training the basics until he’s more comfortable.

Finally, Fade the Clicker

The final step in clicker training your dog is to fade the clicker.  Begin slowly, using praise as the treat after clicking.  Return to using the clicker whenever you want to teach a new behavior.  You can use clicker training to train your dog for agility, obedience competitions, therapy dogs, or service dogs.

Good luck with your clicker training! 

References:

Clicker Solutions: “Basic Clicker Training”

Clicker Lessons: “What Is Clicker Training?”

Image: Elf at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

What Your Puppy Should Know During the First Year

You've just brought your new puppy home, holding him in your arms as he licks your face with puppy kisses. The last thing on your mind at that moment is training. That's okay but as soon as your first greeting together is over, the training starts.

Does this seem too soon?

No way. You should start on the basics of positive-reinforcement training right away, if your want to give your pup a safe, positive, loving home. Always have dog treats on hand for rewarding good behavior. 

Here's a little chart outlining what your puppy should learn during his first year. This is not written in stone. Remember that all dogs learn at their own pace, so use this as just a guideline.

The golden rule of training your puppy is that patience is the key. If you get frustrated at any time, stop the training session. It's better to end on a happy note, so your puppy looks forward to his next lesson.

What Your Puppy Should Learn during the First Year

These guidelines are broken down by the age of your puppy. Don't get stressed if your puppy's training milestones are different from this outline. He'll progress in his own time because all he want to do is please you.

Two to Four Months Old

This is a time for introductions and behavior in your home. These are the social graces that your puppy needs to learn. If he master these basics, you'll have a relaxed and happy puppy wherever you go.

• Meet and greet people without jumping
• Introduce your puppy to the veterinarian and groomer
• Begin socializing him with other dogs
• Positive crate training
• Answer to his name
• Housebreaking
• Learn to walk without tugging. A harness or head halter helps a lot with tugging issues.

Five to Seven Months Old

This is the time to get into basic obedience training. Clicker training can help a lot with positive training and marking your puppy's success.

If you put if off training for too long, your puppy will develop bad habits that are hard to break. Your puppy is never too young to learn.

• Come when called from 10 to 15 feet away.
• Sit

• 

  Four months old learning 'sit'

  Zen – this is learning not to grab food out of anyone's hand or not taking it until you say it's okay. It's basically learning self-control, which continues as your puppy grows.
• Stay (working up from a few seconds to a few minutes)
• Down
• Continue with loose-leash walking

Eight to 11 months

Now that your puppy knows the basic commands, just continue reinforcing them. You can add extra distance and time to what he already knows.

• Come – gradually work up to a distance of 40 feet for the recall
• Sit, Down and Stay – combine all of these commands, adding extra time for all of them. You can tell your puppy to sit and stay, or down and stay. Walk a short distance away to start, then come right back. Work on this daily until your puppy will stay until you tell him to get up.
• Zen – continue working on your pup's self-control. You'll be glad you did as he gets older.

  

  Eight months practicing 'down and stay

Twelve Months Old and Beyond

If you've been consistent with your puppy's training, he should get a gold star at this point. He should know all the basic commands down pat.

You can also teach your puppy some tricks along the way. Many tricks are based on obedience commands. Take a look at YouTube for some trick ideas. It's full of well-renowned trainers that can help you teach your puppy some tricks.

Training is a lifetime commitment, but it's worth the effort. You and your puppy will have fun, frustration, triumphs and form a loving bond that never ends. Just when you think your dog knows everything you've worked on, he might regress. Just remember, your puppy isn't perfect and just like you, he can have a bad day. Use baby steps when training your puppy and enjoy those moments of success when they happen. Just make sure your puppy training is positive and fun.

How to Train a Dog to Walk up a Ramp into a Vehicle

If your senior dog has trouble jumping into the back of your SUV or truck, then a dog ramp might help. My 10-year-old collie started refusing to jump into the back of my SUV about one year ago. I had to lift his front paws up into the back of the car and then pick up his back end under his belly.

I’ve done that for about one year, but he’s 80 pounds and it’s getting harder for me to lift him. Plus, he doesn’t like it. Another problem is that when he jumps out of my car, his front leg always comes up lame. I think it’s too much pressure on his paws and knees when he jumps. Afterward, he limps for about two days before his leg feels better again.

Finally, I decided to buy a ramp for the car. I checked them out, read the reviews and figured it was worth a try. There are also extra-wide and extra-long ramps for larger dogs available. I actually got lucky when my daughter found a ramp for free listed in the area Facebook page.

Well, I brought the ramp home and started training my dog to walk on it. You can’t expect your dog to just start walking up and down the ramp as soon as you get it. I’d say it takes about two weeks to get a dog used to the ramp. If you decide to try it, be patient, giving your dog plenty of time to get used to the incline.

If he has a bad experience going up the ramp, you may never be able to get him to use it again. Here are a few tips on training your dog to use a ramp.

Learning how to use a dog ramp

Training Your Dog to Walk Up and Down a Ramp  

Here are the steps to train your dog how to use a ramp for getting in and out of the car: (If you trained your dog to target objects, that could help train this also.)

•  Have some of your dog’s favorite treats on hand.
•  Put the ramp opened flat on the ground.
•  Bring your dog up to the ramp, letting him sniff it.
•  If he touches the ramp in any way, give him a treat.
• When he’s comfortable touching the ramp, put a treat on the ramp, so he can reach over and get it.
• Gradually, move the treats further along the ramp, so he has to step on it.
• Do this until he’s comfortable with his paws on the ramp.
•  Keep luring him with treats until he walks onto the ramp.
•  At this point, you should be able to lure him across the ramp.
•  When he’s walking across the ramp successfully, you can add a verbal cue that he doesn’t know yet.
• The next step is to add elevation very slowly.
•  Put a brick or piece of wood under one end, so the ramp is elevated slightly.  Use the same method to get your dog to walk across the ramp.
• Slowly increase the incline of the ramp until it’s the height of your car, SUV or truck. Just make sure there’s a surface for your dog to step onto when he reaches the top, such as a deck or platform.

·         When you’re sure that he’s 100 percent comfortable climbing the ramp, you can put it against the back of your SUV.

Your dog might still get nervous when it comes time to try to use the dog ramp to get into your SUV. Just be patient and continue using the treats. If he seems scared or nervous, don’t force him. Go back and keep practicing from the point when he was comfortable.

Eventually, he will get it and you won’t have to worry about lifting your dog or having him hurt himself jumping out of the vehicle. I hope this helps you get your dog used to using a ramp.