Training Fun Tricks

Dogs are remarkably intelligent. Given the right training methods, they will learn very quickly. I'm a great fan of operant conditioning, or clicker training. It's the same method that trainers use to teach dolphins and whales to do tricks at the marine parks. Now, you can't use compulsion on these animals, so operant conditioning obviously works really well.

The best site to learn how to use this training technique is at Karen Pryor's Clickertraining website This site has not only information, but brief videos to help you get started, as well as all the clickertraining products you'd ever need. Spend some time there and make sure you've got a handle on the technique before you get started. Have a stash of treats too - small moist treats are the best in my opinion, because the dog takes no time at all to swallow them, and they're soon ready for the next one.

So what can you teach with clickertraining? Well, you can certainly teach obedience with it, but I love to teach my dogs tricks. For example, I taught my Australian Cattle Dog Cody to go and close a cupboard door. Here's how I did it. Cody was well conditioned to the clicker. I cut a circle out of cardboard and showed it to her. Of course, she sniffed, and I clicked and treated her. That got her interested in the circle, and each time she put her nose on it, I clicked, and she was treated. I then stuck the circle on the open cupboard door at her nose level and again clicked and treated when she nosed it. I then only clicked when she nosed the door hard enough to swing it shut. When she was doing that reliably, I added the command "shut the door". When she was reliable at that, I started cutting the cardboard circle smaller and smaller, until it was gone. By then, Cody knew what "shut the door" meant, and it was a great party trick for her to do when we had visitors. They were really impressed :-) The interesting thing was, that it took well under an hour to teach Cody this. The more you clickertrain your dog, the easier it becomes, as they know what the click means and are more able to recognise what you're asking them to do.

Sound like fun? It is!! You can teach roll over, hi 5, say prayers, and so many more fun tricks with clicker training. Give it a go, and do let me know how you get on.

Until next time, have fun!

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