In Part 1 I wrote about how we started out, and in Part 2 I wrote about how we had found out Luke was reactive.
Our first few classes were spent working on clicker basics and the commands “sit”, “lie down”, “stay”, and “here”. Luke did very well with all of those. We had originally signed up for 3 classes and they gave us a 4th free, so we signed up for two additional classes because we knew there was more we wanted to learn and accomplish.
Our trainer Dave wanted to try what he called “shaping”, which I believe is similar to what they call “targeting”. This training is done in steps to reinforce a desired action such as going to a bed, ringing a bell to go out, opening doors, and fun things like getting a beer from the fridge (which my nephew’s dog can actually do!). We wanted to use it to get Luke to go to his bed, in the hopes we could get him to settle down when people come over (he barks at everyone), and I also wanted to keep him out of the kitchen when I’m cooking. Our beagle Kobi had always been under my feet when I was cooking, and though I knew it was a bad idea, I let him do it. Luke took that over and I probably encouraged it by giving him and the other dogs a nibble sometimes. I’ll write more next time about all the bad habits we had that we’ve had to learn to break!
We used a tool, seen to the left here, called a freestanding target. These are used in agility, and Dave used it because it was handy there! The idea is to get the dog to touch the target with his nose. This is done in steps; click & treat when he steps towards it, then click & treat when he looks at it, then when he actually touches the top with his nose. Each step is done a few times, and as you move on, you withhold the click and treat, trying to get them to try something else. My husband worked with Luke on this, with Dave instructing, and Luke caught on very quickly. In only a matter of a few minutes, he had Luke touching the base of the target instead of the top!
That was one time we saw Dave get really excited, and he said “Luke is really smart!” It makes a pet parent so proud to hear those words! We tried to move on from there with working towards getting Luke to lie down on a rug. This time I was doing the training, and it didn’t go nearly as well! I wasn’t quick enough to see him looking and we didn’t get far. Luke may have been getting tired by that point too, so we gave it up for that night.
At home my husband worked with Luke on targeting his bed (I tried too but didn’t do as well), and it didn’t take long before Luke was going to his bed and sitting or lying down on command, with just the word “bed”! The steps are walk towards the bed, look at it, touch it, put a paw on it, etc. until he got to sitting on it completely.
In the next class we worked on someone knocking at the door and getting him to stay in his bed until he was given a command we chose “say hi” and he could come greet the person and get a treat. We needed to work on this at home and then get people to come over to put it to the test. Our first trial run with “strangers” didn’t go nearly as well as we hoped. I will fill you in on that in Part 4. But I will say that it is working well at keeping him out of the kitchen. He isn’t perfect yet, but he’s getting better. There’s even been times where I’ve gone into the kitchen to do something and he’s gone right to his bed without me even telling him to (but the norm right now is that I need to send him back more than once)!
We’ve also been working on “heel” and loose leash walking, which is very challenging (more on that soon as well), but Luke and I just had a great walk yesterday where he did very well with that. I was so excited, and it helped me to feel better after our less than successful greeting test last week.
Parting thoughts and advice based on our experience. I’m not an expert – you should always consult a trainer for expert advice:
- There are a lot of highs and lows to training! We’ve had really good times and really bad. I need to remind myself that we need to be consistent and persistent, and not to get discouraged.
- Luke is still young and I think we need to remember that too. I believe we’re building some basics here that can only get better as he matures.
- Training can be fun and rewarding! There’s nothing like watching your dog think and figure things out, and hearing a professional say that your dog is smart!
In Part 4 I will tell you exactly how our unsuccessful greeting at the door session went, and about the challenges of breaking old bad habits!
Training is good for a dog’s mind and body, and helps their overall fitness. We’re happy to be joining the FitDog Friday blog hop. Thank you to our blog hop hosts SlimDoggy, To Dog With Love and MyGBGVLife. Please visit their sites and others through the links below to learn more about keeping your dogs fit and happy!
I’ve been enjoying these posts. I’m happy the clicker training is going well. That targeting tool is cool. And Luke is such a handsome boy!!
Oh, thank you! He really is a good looking dog, though I thought I might just be biased. 🙂
I’m so glad you’re enjoying the posts…it’s fun to write about and share our experiences.
Clicker training sounds very effective. I’m so glad.
Thank you! We need all the help we can get, and the clicker has been a great tool.
Old habits are so hard to replace with new ones. Bravo Luke!
Thank you, Brian!!
Habits are definitely hard to break, but we keep trying!
Sounds like you’re learning some new techniques and making lots of progress.
We’re getting there! But some days I feel like we have a long way to go when it comes to Luke being fearful. We hope the training will build his confidence.
Great post, you guys are doing great. I never saw that thing to teach them to touch very interesting.
Thank you! Yeah, it took me a while to find a photo of that because I had no idea what it was called or what it was really for! But I knew they taught agility classes where our training was held, so that gave me a clue of where to look.
We learned some clicker training (for the humans) games in our therapy group. I’m thinking about doing a post on it.
Oh, I hope you do! I’d love to read about it.
Nice work, Luke! Patience is definitely key when it comes to training. Pyrs don’t do very well with shaping; they just don’t care! We do try every now and then though 😉
I’ve tried just a little clicker training with our beagle, Cricket, and she is nothing like Luke with it! She sees no reason she needs to do anything but look cute in order to get a treat. LOL
Patience has never been my strong suit, but I’m working on it. 🙂
Go Luke!
Thanks!! 🙂
Good job Luke! Wooooowoooooooo!
Thank you so much, Ku!!!
Love, Luke
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am also still working on loose leash walking as well as door greetings with Koda. I am glad your walk went well the other day though! I look forward to part 4!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks, Jenna! You and I may need to exchange notes on some of this then, maybe we can help each other.
Training does take time and consistency and patience. As someone who would have stayed in school forever if it didn’t cost a ton of money to do, I’m not used to failing since school was always fun for me, which made it seem easy. Our first agility trainer told me one day that in agility, you were going to fail more often than you succeeded that was ok because that’s how you learn. Realizing that has helped me to not get as frustrated (although it certainly still happens, like when Barley started her weird nipping behavior) when we have less successful training sessions! Hang in there and celebrate the successes!
And I love the picture of Luke looking away from the treats! Barley does that, too. She’ll sort of side-glance at them and then look away and it looks like it’s taking every ounce of self-control she has to not look at them. It cracks me up!
Apparently looking away is common…they probably think if they don’t look at it, they won’t be tempted. LOL
Oh, I’m not used to failing either. I once dropped a class in junior college because I knew I wasn’t going to get an A in it….I had a 4.0 and I wasn’t messing that up for anything!
That will be good information to know if we do go on to agility, and just for training in general, that some failure is expected. I’m learning to focus on the positive.
Haha ain’t it the truth that there are a lot of highs and lows with training. There were times when the dogs would have a disastrous training session before a hunt test and we would think the test was going to be a mess and then they would nail the test. But that is normal when working with dogs. It sounds like Luke is doing really well.
Thank you. I’m glad to hear that you agree that the ups and downs are normal! I get discouraged easily, so it’s something I need to remind myself of constantly.
Luke is doing great. It’s amazing how much impact a good trainer can have in guiding you. With only a few sessions we made great progress with Jack & Maggie – sounds like you are with Luke too.
I feel like Luke has done so much better with this round of training than he did with basic obedience. It’s either the trainer, the personal attention (basic was a group class), or the fact that he’s older. Probably a combination. But having someone my hubby and I both like and feel comfortable with as a trainer goes a long way towards helping all of us.
it was interesting to read about your training. and of course, Luke, you are really smart, I’m sure! I still wonder why Easy forgot (or ignores) so much things he learnt once… except ONE thing, the clicker… it’s always in his mind :o)
It’s probably more ignores than forgot! Luke chooses to ignore commands at times, and I know darn well he knows what he’s supposed to be doing!
It sounds to me as though the training is going well. I often look away when I’m waiting to be told to take a treat – as though the temptation to take it is less that way!
It makes sense that if you refuse to look at it, you won’t be as tempted!
Training is an ongoing process for life. We are better some days than we are others, but we just keep plugging along. Glad that clicker thing is working so well for you.
Thanks, Emma. I think that’s something I never realized about training. I used to think you’d just teach them something and that was it, done! When we got Luke and I realized how the girls had slacked off on stuff, that was my first clue that I was wrong about that!