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Training = Fun

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Clicker Training

After I posted the last post about rewards, I realized that I did not even talk about clicker training. If you are a fast mouse clicker, you can be a fast reward clicker. Most pet stores have them, and they are so very very useful when teaching new behaviors. I can click fast than I can say good dog. In fact, I can click about 6 times before I get out good dog. So that may be something to think about. It is easy to teach the pup that the clicker means good dog. All you do to get started, is click the clicker - and give a treat. Very very quickly the dog will realize that the clicking sounds = food! Then the next time you are training a sit or what ever, just click the second the dog sits down. They will know, I did good and food it coming.

How to reward

I was watching one of my favorite shows yesterday (good Dog U), and the trainer brought up a great point that I wanted to pass along. When training your dog, make sure to reward the dog at the correct time. So many people (and yes I have done this too) will reward the dog before it has finished what you ask of it. For example, you will call the dog to come, and when it is about 4 feet from you, you tell it "good Dog". That is not correct. You just rewarded the dog before it came to you. So the next time, you call the dog thinks - I only have to get close, not actually come all the way. So make sure the dog as completed the whole task before you reward. Also - the second the do the task you want, especially when you are teaching a new behavior, praise and reward. Don't wait a sec, or get the treat then praise. Make sure the second the dog has come all the way to you, praise it while getting the reward. Let them know that they have done what you wanted.

Happy training!