clicker training questions
Ok, I am using the clicker for training my puppy, and I ran into some questions that I'm not finding answered in the various books/web pages I'm reading.
We have had great success with getting Oskar to look at me (he is very watchful anyway, so this was easy and fun) and responding to his name. The other clicker game he loves is "let's go" which means I walk or skip or run away, and he runs after me, then sits in front of me for a click and a treat. He sat reliably for food and attention when I got him from the breeder, so that's already been done.
But what I'm wondering about is how many different things can I work on with him at a time, or should I just stick to one at a time? Do I just keep doing the same game over and over? I don't think he's going to be "reliable" at anything yet--he's only 10 weeks old, and I don't want to bore him. But I also don't want to be confusing by starting something else if I'm not supposed to.
I just don't quite understand if it is ok to click for all behaviors we want, or if I should just concentrate on one or two.
Also, do I need to click for every single time he does the behavior? Like if we're not playing our "lets go" game, but he follows me anyway and sits, should I click and treat? (And if so, do you all always carry the clicker and treats?)
One other question not technically clicker related: what about the umbilical cord tethering? Has anyone done it? does it seem useful? I thought about doing it with him now that he accepts the collar and leash well, because I liked the idea of him getting really happy to follow me, but then I started thinking about it, and wondered if I shouldn't just skip it and go on with my clicker training games. I don't know if I want to teach him to follow me as closely as the tethering might entail....esp. not when he's a huge boy! And I'm not entirely sure what the benefit of the umbilical cord tethering is....He sticks pretty close on his own--not underfoot, but he likes to be where he can see me.
We do have plans to go to class, too, but right now I'm waiting on his second round of shots, so while he's getting out for socialization, his puppy class won't start til next weekend.
We have had great success with getting Oskar to look at me (he is very watchful anyway, so this was easy and fun) and responding to his name. The other clicker game he loves is "let's go" which means I walk or skip or run away, and he runs after me, then sits in front of me for a click and a treat. He sat reliably for food and attention when I got him from the breeder, so that's already been done.
But what I'm wondering about is how many different things can I work on with him at a time, or should I just stick to one at a time? Do I just keep doing the same game over and over? I don't think he's going to be "reliable" at anything yet--he's only 10 weeks old, and I don't want to bore him. But I also don't want to be confusing by starting something else if I'm not supposed to.
I just don't quite understand if it is ok to click for all behaviors we want, or if I should just concentrate on one or two.
Also, do I need to click for every single time he does the behavior? Like if we're not playing our "lets go" game, but he follows me anyway and sits, should I click and treat? (And if so, do you all always carry the clicker and treats?)
One other question not technically clicker related: what about the umbilical cord tethering? Has anyone done it? does it seem useful? I thought about doing it with him now that he accepts the collar and leash well, because I liked the idea of him getting really happy to follow me, but then I started thinking about it, and wondered if I shouldn't just skip it and go on with my clicker training games. I don't know if I want to teach him to follow me as closely as the tethering might entail....esp. not when he's a huge boy! And I'm not entirely sure what the benefit of the umbilical cord tethering is....He sticks pretty close on his own--not underfoot, but he likes to be where he can see me.
We do have plans to go to class, too, but right now I'm waiting on his second round of shots, so while he's getting out for socialization, his puppy class won't start til next weekend.
Comments
For me it took time to find out how much Junya is able to handle and I "guess" that's the case for every dog. Some dogs can take more, some less. Junya isn't afraid for almost anything and doesn't seem to make a big deal out of new things that happen to him (he's almost always calm), but... later on it's clear to see these things still made an impact on him. He builds up tension. Positive and negative. It's like a kid going to an amusement park. They'll get all excited, which is positive, but still they're building up tension (it's positive tension, but still...). Anyway, it also shows in Junya's body language (Turid Rugaas has an interesting book on that) and for training him it's the same. Too much will show later on. He'll turn into a more naughty Junya. Till so far I'd estimate Junya can take about three new exercises per week, which we then train during the week in short periods of 5 minutes. Better short and more often, than long and stressful or boring. And there's the weekly puppy class of course which is about an hour long. Great fun!
For me there are 2 common goals I tend to use a clicker for: 1) "capturing" a behavior you like, and 2) refining a behavior through repetition.
It sounds like you are doing mostly refinement, so in regards to how much to focus on one thing, I have been told by a trainer I work with (a "clicker head" like me) that it is best to focus on one thing for several reps (lets say 10), break for a bit, then move on to the next thing. So you will ask your pup for a sit, clicking and treating when he performs the behavior 10 times, then break for a bit and move on to the next behavior. That is how I would run a training session, if you focus too much on clicking on anything you like, you will just end up confusing him during the session. Remember that dogs will (more often than not) offer the last behavior they were rewarded for, so that is why it is good to stick with one behavior at a time during a session as they will quickly start to offer the behavior during repetition.
Then there is capturing, capturing to me happens outside of a training session (unless the goal of that session is to wait and capture a specific behavior). An example of this was how we reinforced Blue for doing a "stretch" when he was younger. Our goal was to bring that behavior to the forefront of his social repertoire (due to his poorer dog-dog communication skills). So, what we did is keep a clicker and treats with us all the time, when he did a stretch (think "play bow") we clicked and treated - that was it. We didn't make it a session or anything, and we didn't make that behavior a center point for a training regiment for him, we simply wanted him to offer the behavior more often. Clicking/treating for that behavior in all different situations helped make that behavior a common thing in Blue's social repertoire. He now uses it to relive stressful situations or calm other dogs (and himself). It's an example of using the clicker to "capture" a behavior without putting it on queue or refining it. One thing we never did was click/treat him for the stretching behavior while we were working in a training session (focusing on some other behavior) even tho he would often offer that stretch behavior suring sessions, that way we didn't confuse him during the session.
All this work with Blue went far, he is a very obedient dog.
I hope that helped you.
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I was starting to wonder the same thing for Stella. She's 16 wks now, and I was starting to feel like she is losing interest in the training. That info really gives me more to work with!
http://www.dragonflyllama.com/ DOGS/ Dog1/levels.html
However, sometimes they really do get bored, and so then you just up the criteria - make it harder for them to preform the same task, or add another behavior onto the behavior you were just working. Like go from a "sit" to a "sit and watch me", or something like that.
Just some tips, I hope it helps.
That site Kris posted is an awesome resource!
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Snf
And the site from Kris is great--really, really helpful!
Yeah, 30 minutes is a long time, but I bet they really worked up to that! My little guy of course can only focus his attention for less than 5 minutes, though I gotta say, he's pretty good for a puppy....we can do 10 repetitions of something, and he'd clearly go on longer, but I want to make sure I end when it is still pretty exciting to him. I love that now he follows me around and sits in front of me and looks up expectantly....where's my treat? *lol*
Yesterday we happened to be in Petco when they were having a puppy class and the woman dragged us over to have Oskar play with another puppy to demonstrate what good puppy play looked like. That was fun for him, and the little Basenji mix he played with, but I would NEVER take my dog to one of that trainer's classes: she kept going on and on about dominance, and then I asked if she did clicker training and she said it was "bad" and she had to "reprogram" a dog that was clicker trained. Whatever. I did discover they have free puppy socialization, though, so I might take him back for that occasionally as long as that is all it is. No classes with those trainers for sure!