6 replies to this topic

[Heather Rae]

First, I have no idea how to address this one... Tuesday has incredibly sharp teeth and I've begun working on "Sit" with her, but I'm finding the experience to be a little painful for me. I'm trying to get the treat to her on time, but it sort of requires letting her bite my fingertips to get the treat. The Mal already knows I don't want him snapping my hand off and nibbles them gently from my fingers... but what can I do to keep my fingers in tact from those tiny needle chompers?


Second, I decided to try my hand at clicker training... can I try using clickers and free shaping on a puppy?

Moreover... clickers or not... is it okay to teach more than one cue to a puppy at a time or should I wait until she seems to have one before moving on to another?

On trying the clicker with the older dog... should I use the clicker to reinforce or reteach commands he already "knows"?

[ShesMaggie]

Try putting the treat in your palm with your hand open flat. Hold it down lower so she takes it out of your hand versus reaching up to take from your fingers. (Hope that makes sense.)

Maggie started clicker training as a puppy and it has worked well. We worked on one concept at a time and gave her a chance to grasp before introducing a new one. But she caught on pretty quickly.

Lastly, I have been using the clicker as a refresher for my older dog on commands he knows...

[Oko]

Hi!

Puppies can begin clicker training the moment they come home (and sometimes before then!), so yes, puppies can definitely be trained with a clicker! It's a great training tool as you don't need to wait for the puppy to age to get started. You might want to muffle it with a piece of poster tack as to not frighten her, as some clickers are rather loud and 'scary'.

About training more than one cue: It's fine if you want to teach more than one thing at a time, just make sure to end the session with a word like 'okay!' before you start training another cue, so the puppy doesn't get confused and grows to understand 'okay!' or whatever words means 'we're working on something else now'.

As for the the taking treats gently, there's a great clicker trainer on youtube that goes by the name of kikopup, here's some links to her pages:


Here's her webpage with videos for puppies
It covers how to teach a puppy to take treats nicely, as well as some other basic stuff.
The teaching to take food nicely video is nearly at the bottom on the left.

Here's a link to her youtube channel, it has tons of great tutorials on clicker training all sorts of behaviors, from basic training through tricks, and don't be surprised if you end up watching all her videos, haha.

As for the older dog, right now i'm doing exactly that. I'm working on retraining sit and down for my family's 10-year-old miniature poodle, and she's doing great.

Happy clicking!

Sorry if any of this isn't clear, i'm up past my bedtime

[gcv-border]

The breeder I got my pup from will start clicker training the pups at 5 weeks old.

Re: the pirahna puppy or dog. I agree that the way the treat is presented can affect how the dog tries to get it. So present it as suggested by ShesMaggie, but you can not always do that. Soo --- If you get an overenthusiastic nip when your dog is taking the treat, cry out in a high voice. "OUCH". The high voice is similar to the yip when a dog gets hurt by another dog. Usually, in a properly socialized dog, the offender knows it has done something wrong and will often not repeat the same action. i.e. next time you give a treat, you should see that your dog is gentler.

Another trick I have used is to put a metal spoon inside my hand with a treat on it. When you treat the dog, present your hand like normal, but if the dog bites too hard when taking the treat, they will also get the unpleasant sensation of biting into a metal spoon. They generally will not like that. After several bites on a metal spoon, they should learn to have a softer mouth. I like this method because the dog is teaching itself. You, the handler, continue to treat and act normal while the dog figures things out for himself.

Jovi

[Root Beer]

Second, I decided to try my hand at clicker training... can I try using clickers and free shaping on a puppy?

Absolutely!

Moreover... clickers or not... is it okay to teach more than one cue to a puppy at a time or should I wait until she seems to have one before moving on to another?

I'd say it's fine to work on more than one thing at a time, just be careful not to overload. Maybe work on one behavior in one short training session, and then another in another session. I always have a bunch of new behaviors in progress with each dog, but we work on them in bits and pieces.

On trying the clicker with the older dog... should I use the clicker to reinforce or reteach commands he already "knows"?

With an older dog, that can be a good way to get started.

Do you know the clickersolutions website? www.clickersolutions.com There are a bunch of training articles there, and you might find some good info, both about starting a puppy and starting an older dog on clicker.

Different dogs take to clicker training in different ways. You will learn quite a lot from both of them.

[Heather Rae]

Thank you everyone. And I'll definitely check out the sites.

Both dogs seem to be taking a real shine to training. Nick seems to enjoy it but Tuesday seems to adore it and tries to get me to get back to training when ever she has the chance. She does these perfect little sits to get my attention and she stares at me with their sweet hopeful little eyes. When she sees me grab the clicker she does these little hops as if she's going, "yippy! yippy!" It's quite encouraging. I'm not sure she'd ever let me stop if she had her way.

[dsmbc]

Hi Heather, a quick easy way to teach your dog to take a treat politely is to hold the treat in your hand, if your dog comes at it with teeth, close your fingers/ fist around the treat. puppies, especially will ultimately start to lick, once he does, show treat again, if he can take it nicely, give it to him, if not close your hand around it again. Play this game several times before you start a training session and you dog will learn pretty quickly to take the treat nicely.

Yes you can start shaping a puppy, might as well start them off right. Also dogs, especially border collies are smart, you can shape more than one behavior at a time. You might want to ensure you have good transitions and make sure each behavior is clear. For example, I would not teach a nose target and a paw target in the same sitting, but I would work on nose target and back up at the same time.