Canines In Action

I was totally surprised today to find this website. It's a
site by my dog Moki's Puppy Class Instructor. :D

It lists a Bio on the Instructor and much more. I was totally
taken by surprise. In our classes,she never said a word
about it. It does give me a new respect for her experience
and it shows pics & talks about her two rescue dogs she
brings to puppy classes. The way she interacts with these
dogs is amazing. You would never guess that they once had
problem behaviors. Check it out at;

http:www.caninesinaction.com/trainers.shtml


and http://www.caninesinaction.com

Loads of free info for dog training. Liz & Moki

Liz,
It sounds like you hit the jackpot in finding a trainer for Mokki! Keep up the great work and perhaps someday soon we will be seeing him get his Canine Good Citizen!

Thanks Candy. Yes I think I lucked out in getting into
this particular class with Laura. As she said in class, she
is the instructor, but WE (the class) are the trainers.LOL.
She is very relaxed & easy going during class time and
always takes time to answer anyone's questions. She is
a "clicker training" advocate and offered it as a method
of getting the dogs to recognize when they've done
something right& get a reward/treat, but didn't push
anyone to use it if we didn't feel comfortable with it. I'm
an "all thumbs" kind of a person, and tend to be super
serious about each lesson, so it's more of a distraction
for me.
Did you see the photos of her dogs, a Doberman named
shakespeare and a mixed breed named Chaucer? She told
use Chaucer was so dog aggressive no one was willing to
adopt her. Rosie, of Southside Animal Shelter, talked her
into taking her to correct the dog's behavior problems.
Chaucer has come a long way with positive reinforcement
training & she was adopted by our instructor Laura.
I orginally was signed up for an evening class, but changed
to an afternoon class at the last minute. I'm glad I did b/c
Moki & I got this instructor.:)

I did see the photo of her dogs. They are very lucky to have her too!

I am also a very avid fan of clicker training. I trained Dixie positively with verbal praise and rewards. I trained Dusty with the clicker. He caught on so much quicker because he learned the sound of the clicker was YES I DID IT RIGHT! It's hard to keep your verbals at a constant level and tone since human emotions come into play too much. Now I have a clicker in my purse or in my pocket all the time!

Clicker training is an all thumbs approach for most people because you have to learn to balance the leash, clicker and food rewards. Once you get it down though and see how much it helps the dog in learning, you will not want to do it any other way!

I think you should at least give it a try since you have an instructor who is willing to teach you to "click" the right way! I am not an advocate of clicker training a dog unless the trainer understands the concepts of clickers and learns how to do it right. If used incorrectly (as in any training tool) it can actually confuse the dog more than help them associate the click with wanted behavior.

It sounds like you are really enjoying your training experience with your new pup! What a great way to bond!!!

Spunds like you really did get a great instuctor Liz! That's awesome!

We use the clickers too, although I am like you...I have trouble juggling treats, clicker, leash, etc. so I use the clicker more at home when I don't have to worry about the leash and I am really trying to shape a new behavior. At class I just don't feel quick enogh with my click so I use a bridge word instead... Yes! or Good Girl! Seems to work :)
good luck in the rest of your class! Sounds like you are having a geat time!

Candy,

Actually she demonstrated the clicker method with her
own dog" Shakes", as she calls him. I do understand the
concepts, but I'm a bit slow with the reward/treat part. She
said it needs to be as close to the click sound as possible
for the dog to make the connection. She didn't want us to
use "words" at all during the first 3-4 weeks of training, just
hand signals and keeping the pups focused on us & ignoreing
everything else. A nice smelly treet in your hand does wonders.
I'll try the clicker at home. As Cincysmom said, it would be easier
with out trying to handle the leash & everthing else too. I'm
sure it will work well with Moki. He's very quick. I'm the slow
one so maybe using the clicker at home will help me get used
to it.

Liz,
The nice thing about the clicker is it gives you more time to get the food reward to the dog. Of course it needs to be as instantaneous as possible to the click but you can actually gain a second or two once the dog understands the click means he did good and the food is coming. Because verbal praises and words vary from one time to the next, it takes longer for the dog to associate the cue and therefor the food needs to get there faster. You may use the same word each time, such as YES but the timing and the tone vary.

Once the behavior is shaped and the dog starts to understand I will click and give verbal praise with no food reward every other time. The objective is to get the dog to do the command without a food reward.

I am only telling you this because I was a rebel when it came to clicker training at first. Now I think it is the greatest thing to come along for dog training since sliced bread! The key though is consistency. Use it all the time. Not just at home and not just at class but everytime you train.

Check out this site for more information on clickers
clicker training website

Wow, I might try this trainer.

Did you know that even chickens can be trained by using
the clicker method? I didn't but check this out;

http://www.caninesinaction.com/chickencamp.shtml

I'm impressed.:D

Karen Pryor (one of the clicker originators) has even trained a fish to jump through a hoop in the tank! It is amazing!!

Candy,

Forgot to mention this earlier, but I checked out the link
you gave on Karen Pryor & her training methods. It is a
great link with so much helpful info.I've bookmarked it for
future reference also. Thanks so much for posting it.:)

Hugs to Dixie & Dusty :D Liz & Moki