Day 5 of the 7-day Mini Course

[Adina P]

Day 5's Lesson is: Behavior Fluency.

Share your experience and thoughts here!

[Adina P]

Yay!!! Awesome! See? Just giving it a bit of time for the dog's brain to absorb all this and soon it all connects! Congrats...=)

[Holly Paterniti]

I am looking at these posts and am starting to get really depressed about this whole thing :( I am really hoping the full course will work out better than the mini ones :( Bear was really getting it and then when I tried to do the moving target stick..........it all fell apart. He was truly excited to do the clicker training, but as soon as I added the target stick......he did it a few times and then decided to not do it anymore........he just wanted to the treats :( Guess I will try Day 3 again tomorrow? I would really like to get to the mouse pad though :(

[Adina P]

Holly, it will be okay. Seriously, I can't think of a single training method that goes perfectly from start to finish. We've JUST started with the sample. Remember the course teaches you how to do clicker training, but that doesn't mean it will go perfectly...it will take time for both YOUR skills and Bear's to come together. That's okay.

You know that one training program (David Dikeman) that I wrote a review about that I love? (It's a traditional old method that involves choke chain corrections and we are NOT doing that one as that is too difficult to do as a group long distance without a trainer). Anyway, there were days where I cried after a training session because I had such a hard time getting it right. I wasn't doing that bad, but I was NEW and going at it alone (I worked without a trainer). It was HARD, but it's still an AWESOME program and I got a very well behaved dog out of it.

When something doesn't 'click' (no pun intended) right away, take a break, rethink it over...and go back later. You haven't failed anything -- others were having trouble and then had a breakthrough later =)
I would continue with the target stick...you will NOT be behind because when we start the main program we are starting from SCRATCH essentially.

Also...in a few days...if you decide you'd rather work with a live trainer than with our program, that is OKAY too =)
You've gotta do what works well for you.

[Holly Paterniti]

Thanks Adina :) You are such a sweetheart. After school tomorrow I am going to try the target stick again, but this time I am going to reward every single time. I am really looking forward to the full course because maybe I will better understand it :)

[Adina P]

There is a fun exercise in the main course where you get to work with a person and pretend to be the dog so you can see from the dog's perspective what it's like to figure out stuff with clicks =)
(Ummm...you don't actually 'act' like a dog or anything in the exercise, though...)

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

Abby liked the short stick better than the long one - I used a paint brush - about 1 foot long. Then I moved on to a dowel that is about 2 feet long. Don't get discouraged... if Bear isn't interested, wait a few minutes and try again. Maybe try when he's hungry and see if that gets his attention. Abby sees me grab the clicker and she is looking for treats! And sometimes she is just "treat" excited and could care less what I'm trying to get her to do and she gets frustrated. I just try again later... I think persistence is the key with this one. I will be on day 5 again tomorrow - and the next day if needed - until she "gets" it.

[Linda and Murphy]

Murphy was pretty obstinate with this one. The stick I used had a small ball on the end. Murphy touched with his nose a few times and then quit. He sat and barked, wanting the treats. I quit for a couple of minutes and picked the stick up again. This time he bit the ball. Obviously, he wasn't into this one.

[Adina P]

Both of mine know shake and so tend to paw at things that are at hand shaking level...I think that helped them too =)

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

As I didn't start with the rest of you guys I asked to get all lessons in one go and hoped to catch up with you guys by doing 2 lessons a day. I don't know if I am doing anything wrong or if Benny is smarter than I thought because I am done with all lessons. Benny was a bit scared of the stick at the beginning but after a few times he got it. The mousepad lesson didn't work at the beginning because Benny didn't know what to do with it. I pointed with my finger on it and he stepped on it voila. After 3 repetitions he did it by himself. Even adding the cue in this backchain exercise works without any problems.
It doesn't matter how often I repeat the exercise with him he always offers me the requested behavior.
So far I only trained inside, I think it will be completely different when I train outside and other dogs are around us. As soon as Benny sees a potential playpartner and he is off leash he is gone to greet the dog. He doesn't listen to the come command in these cases only after I repeat it several times. I hope that clicker training will improve this as well.
I would also like to learn an emergency sit or down or stop command for cases where Benny is out of my reach.

[fergie11]

That sit, down or stop @ a distance thing comes in intermediate to advanced obedience classes. Fergie is really good at it if she's next to me but at a distance she's clueless. What happens if I yell sit she first comes to me and then sits. That's not good if there is a car in between us. I'm with you. I really want to teach that and no matter what I am going to.

[Trish]

This has been a tough lesson for us. Murphy is only four months old and just wants to grab the stick or the mousepad and run! He has so much puppy energy it has been hard to settle him down to do the lesson. Maybe after a long walk when he's tired? We are going to persevere but I am a little discouraged right now. Hopefully, today will be better :) I refuse to give up-I really love the whole concept of clicker training!

[Doodle Kisses]

Tired but hungry is a good state of mind for clicker training...well not TOOOO tired, but enough so he is not at peak energy.

Also try clicking RIGHT before his mouth touches the stick. That way he understands his MOUTH has nothing to do with what will get him a click. Timing is important with a mouthy dog.