Clicker Training Part 2: Doggy see, Doggy do

How can we deal with fear? Allow me to sound like a cheesy self-help author for a moment.

Think back to being a kid... you're way too scared to go down the big waterslide/try a new food/kiss a warty old relative, but then you see your brother or sister or some other kids doing it. They're all fine, in fact, they seem to enjoy it (ok, perhaps not in the warty relative scenario).

It's quite likely that, at least after a few repetitions, this makes you a little curious about it. Maybe you start to feel a bit left out or even... jealous. Suddenly, you find yourself rather wanting to give it a go so you don't miss out!

Enter Sidney.

This guy is totally unfazed by the clicker. He literally does not care, he just wants some roast beef.

Ignoring Dennis completely (but making sure to stand within his field of vision/hearing), I proceeded to click and reward Sid, who thought it must be Christmas again.

Sure enough, guess who comes timidly creeping over to see what's going on? As in the previous session, Dennis twitched a little every time he heard the click, but this time you could see his little face going “oooh!” at Sid getting all the treats and attention. He didn't run and hide!

Eventually, I let my mum feed Dennis some treats and I stood a few paces away and clicked just before each one. Success!

Perhaps the vicarious reinforcement worked and/or the slightly softer sound of the clicker in the distance helped. He does have massive ears after all, so maybe the sound of the clicker too close is quite startling.

Anyway, as it appeared we were making progress, we ended the session on that high note. Well done, Dennis!

Clicker Training Part 1: Beef with the Clicker

Excited for our very first clicker training session together, I gathered some tiny snippets of roast beef, picked up the clicker and called Dennis over. And we were ready to go!

My first aim was to get Dennis to associate the click with a reward.

I kept the clicker in one hand behind my back and picked up a treat with the other hand. He sat down and stared at me, licking his lips and jiggling excitedly. Then I clicked just before giving him the treat, which he gobbled up eagerly.

I managed to do this twice, noticing that he twitched a little at the sound of each click.

The third time I clicked, there was a very different outcome – instead of eating the piece of beef being offered to him, he ran away and hid under the table in terror!

I purposefully didn't make any fuss because I didn't want to make his fear seem justified or reward his anxiety with attention.

When he eventually returned to me, I smiled and praised him, giving him a couple of treats by hand to reassure him that nothing sinister was going on. But as soon as I reached for the clicker, he darted back under the table.

Great – my dog is scared of the bloody clicker! My guess is that it sounds similar to the nail clippers, which he hates because I once accidentally grazed the edge of his quick (the sensitive part inside the nail, which isn't visible in dogs with black nails).

On his second return, he ran back under the table the moment I even tried to offer him a treat. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that the merits of his sudden aversion to food did cross my mind.

So as to end on a positive note, I waited for him to come back to me and gave him plenty of cuddles and eventually a treat (no clicks!)

Dennis and I are going to start clicker training!

I'm probably slightly (a lot) biased but Dennis does so many cute things.

Miniature Pinschers are known for what is adorably referred to as a 'prancing gait' (which basically means they walk like they're doing dressage). Sometimes when he's excited, he taps his paws like he's doing a little tap dance. I often think to myself “aww, I wish I could make him do that on command!”

Then I realised it was absolutely possible and I just hadn't been committed enough to try it out. The answer is clicker training! Of course. People are training cockatiels and llamas and kids with clickers these days. How hard can it be to train a dopey, unruly mutt with a short attention spa-... oh shit.

~What do we need for our mission?~

1 clicker

We already had one of these from years ago, where it proved popular with our elderly poodle, Sid. They're widely available online and basically consist of a small plastic case housing a piece of bent metal that, when pressed down with your finger, will make a 'click' noise, followed by a second 'click' noise when you release your finger (resulting in a clear, consistent 'clickclick').

You don't necessarily have to buy a clicker. Apparently some people use pens or even a small light, which can work for dogs with hearing impairments.

Some clickers, like ours, have a nice plastic button on top to press instead of pressing the metal directly. This makes it easier to click using other parts of your anatomy (I'm thinking of palms/feet, what were you thinking of?)

I made sure ours still clicks, because that would have been quite an anticlimactic first training session otherwise.

Some small, highly desirable treats

The basic idea is to find something as irresistible as possible, so your dog will be enthusiastic and keen to work for it.

For our first session, I raided the fridge for the smelliest, most mouthwatering treat I could find. I toyed with the brie, but decided on some sliced roast beef, which is a little less slimy to handle.

I snipped the beef into slightly smaller than pea-sized pieces using a pair of scissors – he's only a little dog and the point is to reward him with small tastes of victory, not lay on a banquet.

Common sense dictates that the ideal time to start is when your dog is hungry, which for Dennis is literally any time.

1 dog

Big ears optional.

~Why am I clicking at my dog?~

I want Dennis to associate the clicking sound with a reward (note: the click is not the reward, it's a signal that tells him “you're going to get a reward!”).

Then when Dennis performs behaviours that I want to reward, I can click at the exact moment that he performs the behaviour. This will tell him that whatever he is doing in that split-second is going to get rewarded.

Also note: I do not need to click 'at' him. He only needs to hear the sound of the clicker rather than pay any attention to it visually (it's better that he looks at me), which is why I keep it behind my back or at my side.

~Why can't I just give him treats or say a word like 'good' or 'yes'?~

I could do that, but it works out far more efficient to use a clicker because it is a distinct, consistent sound that can be done easily at a precise moment.

Simply giving him the treat can often be too slow to do at a precise moment and it's just not practical if he's moving around or is some distance away from me.

Saying a word can also be tricky to time correctly and it isn't as consistent as a clicking noise because our voices differ slightly each time and can unintentionally convey an array of different emotions.

A common analogy is that clicking the clicker is a bit like clicking a camera and taking a snapshot of the exact moment the dog does what you want. Hopefully I can 'take snapshots' of all the cute things he does and eventually train him to do them on command :D

See how Dennis gets on in subsequent posts!