Clicker Training For Dogs By Karen Pryor.pdf

Clicker Training for Dogs

By Karen Pryor

Initalizing the Clicker

This first step is essential - don't skip it!

With this method we are going to be "shaping behaviors." You need a way to signal to the

dog that he is performing whatever behavior it is that you were trying to get. Initially he will

also get a treat for each correct response but since that takes a few seconds (at least) to

happen, the clicker marks the exact moment of response, essentially "bridging" the time

between response & reward. This is classical conditioning, like Pavlov & his drooling dogs.

You are going to take a clicker & pair it with a food reward until the click itself gets the dog

all happy.

So.. get yourself some clickers Î (http://www.clickerlessons.com/faq2.htm#clicker) little

toy-like devices that make a fun click sound. If you prefer (or while you are waiting for your

clicker to arrive), choose a "bridge word" instead. I suggest "Yes!!" - it is short & happy! Say

it briskly, in a rather high pitched, & very excited voice. I will be using the term C&T in the

lessons, meaning to click & give a treat. If you are using a bridge word, just say it & give a

treat whenever I have written C&T. I do recomend the clicker over just the word most of

the time, however. It seems to be processed more quickly by the dog's brain and the

consistency of the click sound is also good.

And don't worry - you won't be clicking forever... they are only used in the training phase of

any new behavior!

Okay, go in a quiet room with your dog & have a bowl of really tasty treats. Food such as

hot dogs, chicken, roast beef, etc. works really well, so do high quality (all natural) dog

treats such as the Oinker Roll or Natural Balance. The treats should be cut up into very small

pieces & be soft (crunchy ones take too long to eat). Or have a large chunk that you break

small pieces off of.

Now, as long as your dog isn't doing anything naughty at the moment, click your clicker (or

say your bridge word) and give him a treat. Then click it again & again give a treat. We are

NOT asking for a behavior (such as sit) here at all... just making the connection needed for

the clicker to be effective. (A few dogs are frightened by the click sound. If your dog is, then

try muffling the sound by having the clicker behind your back or in a pocket, or by using a

Snapple beverage top - pushing in the raised button in the center makes a softer click. The

fear shouldn't last long! )

Repeat 5-10 times. You'll know when you can stop - you'll click & your dog will immediately

look up at you, "There is that sound, so where is my treat?".

I'll give you a few minutes to go do this...

There! Wasn't that fun? Excellent job, trainers!

AN IMPORTANT NOTE! To really succeed with this method of training, it is essential that the

bridge, whether it be a clicker or a word, ALWAYS be followed by a terrific reinforcement. It

is usually referred to as "click and treat" for a reason. That is one danger of using the bridge

word.... I found that I said "Yes" to my dog at times when I wasn't necessarily training &

didn't follow through with a treat (or something equally rewarding for her).

Attention

Okay, folks! Now that you have your dog conditioned to the clicker (or bridge word) you are

ready for the next step. (Miss that lesson? The Clicker )

Again, go to a room without a whole lot of distraction, one where your dog already finds you

more than usually interesting (the kitchen is usually best!). Have your bowl of tasty treats

ready.

Say your dog's name ONCE in an upbeat, happy voice.When he turns to look at you, C&T.

Then let him get a bit distracted by something and do it again. And again! You are looking

for: he hears his name, and turns to look at you (okay at this point if he is just looking at

your hand)! Many dogs will also come closer to you which is fine but not required.

If when you first say his name he doesn't look, then reach forward & gently touch him on the

side or something so he turns around. Even if he doesn't look right at you, C&T. He'll soon

get the idea!

At first, hold the treats in your hand behind your back, but then progress to having them

sitting on the counter. Looking at the bowl of treats gets him nowhere... he needs to turn to

look at you! If he keeps looking at the bowl, be patient... he will eventually turn to look at

you.

Here are the next few steps.Take it slowly - but when he is consistently doing a step

correctly then you can move on to the next!

Once he is consistently responding to the sound of his name, you want to start shaping the

behavior so he is actually giving you eye contact. For many dogs, this is accomplished by

warming up by practicing as you have been, then saying his name again but NOT clicking if

he looks anywhere except your eyes. If he has been looking at, say, your hands, he'll likely

try that again (since it has worked so well so far!), but be patient and wait. You are hoping

that he will get frustrated, give up, and look up at you as if you say, "What??" As soon as he

does, making eye contact, you C&T and praise! From now on, when practicing attention in a

quiet area, your dog has to give actual eye contact to receive a C&T from you.

Sugar Bear is staring at Joey's

hand, so Joey waits...

Sugar Bear looks up a Joey's face -

C&T!

When your dog is quite reliably responding to you at this point (I hope you are remembering

to say his name only ONCE) then you need to start being variable with how often you C&T a

response. By doing this you can shape your dog's responses to be even better as well as

decrease the risk that he will become food dependent. There are two ways in which his

response can improve - how quickly he looks up at you, and how long he holds the eye

contact. Shape each one separately! Say you decide to go for a quick response first. From

then on, only C&T if he turns right away when you say his name. If he takes too long, you

can just ignore that or perhaps smile, but it earns no C&T. You might want to have better

than usual treats for this, since he will need to work a little harder in order to figure out what

exactly it is you want now. When you decide to work on length of eye contact, stop C&T'ing

the instant he looks at you, instead holding out a bit. Increase the required time in little

increments, say for a count of 2 at first. If he's still looking deeply into your eyes - C&T and

give a jackpot! If he turns away too soon, ignore him for a moment. Then try again.

At this point your dog is ready to learn to respond even around distractions. To start this,

have him sit in front of you. Say his name and C&T for a response. Then, while he is still

focused on you, have another person approach from the side. Your dog will likely turn & look

at her. She (your friend) should immediately turn away, ceasing to show any interest. You

say his name and C&T a correct response. If he doesn't respond, then just wait a bit. It

might take a minute or two but your dog will eventually lose interest in this now-boring

visitor & look at you again. The instant he does, you C&T, giving a jackpot reward! Then

your friend should approach again & repeat the above. You will find that very quickly your

dog can hardly be bothered with the visitor. After all... YOU are far far more interesting! If

your dog really has trouble with this, then he may not be ready for this step yet. Your friend

can work to being able to pet your dog.

Notice that there are two ways in which you are making this exercise more difficult for your

dog: length of eye contact required before you C&T AND responding in spite of a distraction.

Initially, be sure to work on only ONE of those at a time. When working on length, do it

without distractions. When introducing distractions, don't require any length of time, instead

C&T'ing a quick look. In fact, when a dog responds at all in the face of a very strong

distraction (such as another dog coming over to play), I would C&T as soon as he turned

toward you, not even waiting for him to look up at your eyes. What a good boy for paying

attention to you at all instead of playing! Work on all of the pieces separately like this, then

you will be able to put them all together. This concept applies to every exercise you will

teach your pet!

Please keep all of these training sessions SHORT & FUN. Stop when your dog is still enjoying

the training!

From that point you can use it whenever, wherever... You are outside & he sees another dog

you'd rather he didn't? If you practiced this faithfully you should be able to say his name &

have him instantly turn to look at you instead of the other dog!

Whenever you get a "breakthrough" or an exceptional performance like that, be sure to give

a jackpot reward! That could be a really delicious treat or 5-6 bits of treats, given one at a

time to lengthen the time spent getting it. After the initial teaching, the reward doesn't have

to be food. It is far better to vary the reward: sometimes food, sometimes a ball tossed,

sometimes a belly rub, sometimes the door opened so he can go outside. Discover what

things you dog is the most excited by! Dogs certainly vary with that - my older dog Bear

loves human attention & ear rubs, while my younger Rottie, Teddy, was never happy unless

her reward was food. She was a natural born piggie! Use your imagination & be

unpredictable!

Have fun!

Targeting

This one is really fun & easy! You are going to teach your dog to touch something with his

nose on cue. Do this because: it's fun, it's a good way to teach your dog to ring a bell to go

outside, finishes, it can be used to desensitize a dog to nail clipping time, to teach agility,

musical freestyle, & obedience trials exercises as well as for teaching service dog type

behaviors.

Here's what you do:

Stand in front of your dog (or kneel in front of a little one). Rub some of your treats on the

palm of your hand, so your hand smells good )to your dog!). Have the actual treats in your

other hand.

Quickly bring your smelly hand, empty, palm forward almost right up to his nose. I

guarantee the first time he'll poke it, hoping it contains that treat he smells. Super! He

touched you! C&T (Click & Treat), giving the treat from your other hand. Be sure you clicked

just at the exact moment he touched your hand! If you aren't in time, don't click at all, just

praise.

Do it again & again, gradually moving your hand a bit farther back so eventually he is

reaching out or walking to touch it. But do it gradually - over several sessions. I knew my

Rottie Teddy had the concept when she would reach out to touch my hand, but keep eye

contact with me the entire time.

Now... at the seminar where I learned this from trainer Leslie Nelson, she said that many

dogs will do this excitedly about 6 times, then lose interest & just look at you. Don't quit -

just perhaps rub a bit more treat smell on your palm.

You can add the command (or "cue") pretty quickly because the behavior is so easy. As soon

as your dog isreliably touching your hand when you offer it, begin saying "Touch!" as you

put your hand out.

Next steps are to have your dog touch your other hand instead and start to become variable

with rewarding.

You can also then use the command "Touch" to mean touch other things. In our classes we

use it to teach dogs to go lie on their beds, and at home my daughter taught Sugar Bear to

ring some bells hanging from a doorknob as a signal that she wanted to go out. Very useful

behavior! Sugar Bear can also pick up something I drop, get me a tissue when I sneeze, and

push an Easy Button - all taught with targeting.

Sit, Down & Stand

Be sure you have finished The Clicker lesson!

Teaching the sit, down & stand are very easy, but may require patience. Instead of

physically putting the dog into position, saying the command & hoping he makes the

connection, you will be helping him to discover them. Have a bunch of tiny soft treats ready.

You are going to use one as a "lure" to help him to get into the position you want. The lure is

only used at the beginning - I will show you how to quickly fade it. (Be careful to follow the

instructions carefully for that as you want your dog to always respond to you, whether or not

you have a treat!). Stand or kneel in front of your standing dog. Show him a treat in your

hand, then move it slowly from his nose up & back a bit over his eyes but slightly out of

reach. Most dogs will rather quickly sit so they can better reach it. You might need to be

patient & wait for a moment. But when he does, immediately C&T and praise. Please

remember that the click has to come at the exact moment his rear hits the ground so he

learns that that is what got him the treat! At this point you want to give the treat right away,

too. It's okay if your dog gets up after the click - the click actually ends the exercise each

time. If he doesn't sit at all - maybe keeps backing up trying to get the treat, then just turn

away & ignore him for a few moments. Of course... don't give him the treat! Then try again,

from the start.

Notice that I never said when to say "Sit." That's because it is best to wait until the behavior

is being performed reliably before adding the verbal cue. That way he doesn't connect the

word with the wrong behavior. Also, dogs learn the hand signals much more easily so tend

to ignore the verbal commands that go along with them. It's best to teach them separately.

Once your dog is sitting, lure him into a stand by moving a treat from his nose straight out

(stay parallel to the ground, if you lift up at all he will try to sit again!). Don't move the

treat very far - you want him to just get off of his haunches and then stand still. As soon as

he lifts into the standing position, C&T!

To continue practicing sitting & standing until that is easy. Be sure at this point you are

reinforcing each correct response with a C&T.

Sara lures Sugar

Bear up

into a sit...

Sugar is sitting -

C&T!

Sara lures Sugar

into a stand...

Sugar is standing -

C&T!

Sugar Bear responds to

just the Sit signal.

No more luring, but she

still gets a C&T!

The Stand signal.

There is no longer a treat

in Joey's hand.

The Down signal

The Down is very similar to the sit. Lure him into a sit & kneel in front of him. Use a treat to

lure him into the down position. Start the treat at his nose, then drop it straight down

(rather slowly) to the floor and out a bit towards his toes so he needs to lie down to get it.

Be careful not to go out so far that he needs to walk forward to get it! Some dogs drop right

away... some remain with their rears in the air. If that happens, just keep the treat on the

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