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Awesome exercise!

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It's not easy for a monkey to think like a dog

My cat Tijgje shows off his tricks

One of the first things I would do to teach new trainers at work how to clicker train was training the dog to touch with the nose. I chose this as the nose is the easiest thing to time correctly if you are new to clicker training, rather than a paw or particular trick.

It was also very clear, by using a marker or item on the floor for the trainer to acheive a positive result fairly easily, as there were not many stages to get the result. It may be worth trying this as your first exercise, or for your other half to do.

Put a marker of some sort on the floor - we used to use a lead dogs lead initially, but then progress to a sticky disc, which could be put on things you want the dog to touch i.e. your leg, door, switch etc. etc.

Stand reasonably near and if the dog approoaches the marker or sniffs, click and throw the treat. First the dogs would hover nearby and the click would be changed to when they looked, then when the went up to it etc. etc. (this is the shaping bit). Continue until the dog is actually putting his nose on the marker, you can then start moving yourself, further and further away.

Within around 5/10 minutes the dogs were running across the hall, tapping the marker with their nose.

I just loved the reaction of the trainers, when the realised how easy it was to do this and was a good example of how they can use clicker training in other elements of their work. I still remember how I felt the first time I used a clicker to teach a dog something. A poodle called Spider, who seemed to have an aversion to lying down!!! It was a bit of an Eureka moment!

Kate

P.S I am not a click pureist and will 'help' the dog get the result, either by using my body language with positioning etc., or using food to 'scent'. Some people do just wait for the behaviour which will take a while longer.

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Just because I can't talk, doesn't mean you can't understand me

Thanks everyone, gosh I am so into this now. All excited and cant wait to have a go. Want to get it clear in my mind what I am doing first.

Thanks Kate for breaking it down so simply for me. Heidi loves to play and is an intelligent little soul - I am sure she will gain lots from it - nearly as much as me .

haha, good luck with it! It is a bit addictive I find, it's just so much fun to see your animal think things through and come up with new ideas

If you have the opportunity, I find it very helpful to film the sessions (not out of hand, just put the camera down on a stand or something). When I view afterward I can often really tell where I goofed and what the effects of it were, and that helps me learn to get better

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It's not easy for a monkey to think like a dog

My cat Tijgje shows off his tricks

Whoppee - success

Started off with the door jam in the middle of the room and got her to touch it with her nose. Then tried a place mat and finally and upside down beaker.

She ended up shoving the beaker across the room with her nose so I ended it there.
She tried coming to me and pawing me, lying down, rolling over and begging inbetween but I ignored all that and rewarded with "yes" and a treat when she got it right.

Well done

Sounds like a good start and they all offer various behaviours when they try to work it out, which I think is so cute. The temptation is to help them, but to be honest, the less you do and the more they suss it out for themselves the more likely they are to remember it. However, if she is struggling, try and help.

My little dog is doing her walk backwards for everything at the moment. If in doubt walk back, looks like moonwalking, makes me laugh and she knows it! I have just taught her to circle me, so may use this now to circle me backwards.

Whats next for you then?

Kate

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Just because I can't talk, doesn't mean you can't understand me

this is ALMOST real-time - very little editing...
YouTube - Shaping Explained- Part 1 of Training Your Dog to Turn on a Light Switch with Clicker
of a young dog who has some experience of nose-targeting learning to touch + flip a light-switch.

notice that the clicker gives much-more precision to the marking process...
the dog can just glance at it, + get marked + rewarded - then she touches the WOOD + is not...
touches the plastic face-plate, and IS... etc.

i agree, clicker is great fun!

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

YouTube - Dog Training: Teach Your Dog to Shut Doors Part 1 Clicker

That's it! I'm teaching Merlin how to do this tomorrow! He already knows how to open doors............self taught don't ya know!

Oh blimey, I have no idea what I will be doing next. She's certainly got the toughing with nose weighed off and last night I started "touching with paw" It's really exciting and I find myself lost quite often like a fish out of water when she gets it right and dont know how to progress

Will have a look at the other links and see what I can get from them.

Thanks ever so much for your help