Clean Run Magazine - March 2007 - 34

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stood still and asked for the sit, rewarded it with multiple cookies, and
gave my release cue O.K.; he jumped up and got another cookie. I clicked
only the sits, but rewarded both sit and the subsequent release O.K. with
cookies. He already knows the release so I do not need to click that
behavior unless it gets a bit rusty. I will, however, reward almost every
release with at least a piece of kibble. I reward the behavior I am
currently training, sit, with multiple cookies or higher level cookies.
The release gets lower level or fewer cookies. His sit training looks like
this commands are noted in italic : Sit, click, treats, O.K., kibble. It
looks like jumping jacks when we practice quick sits and releases. I want
them fast and I try to click quickly, and hand the cookie equally fast.
first get up and then lie back down. If he can hold a 5-second down but
gets up at 2 seconds to earn another cookie, on the next repetition he
must down for at least 2 seconds again before I reinforce. Loose-leash
Walking in Heel Heel Position You can apply the same process to walking on
a loose leash. Staying at your side while moving is just an extension of
the duration of heel position at your side while you are standing still. I
like to count steps while training this. I start by rewarding every step I
take with the dog at my side. I feed him while still moving, which
actually gets me another step forward while he is eating. Once I can go a
few feet while rewarding each step, I begin rewarding after two of my
steps, and subsequently after three, four, and so on. If my dog pulls out
of position and then returns to my side, he will need to stay by my side
for another two steps again before I reward if I am at the two-step level
. Otherwise the dog learns to hit the end of the leash, come back, and get
rewarded for doing so. To earn quick rewards, he figures out that going to
the end and returning is what is rewarded. You will never progress with
loose-leash walking when you reward your dog for pulling and returning
instead of staying by your side for longer periods of time without
pulling. Placement of Rewards All recalls, hand targeting, and heelwork on
both sides are rewarded right at knee height with cookies or toys. We
encourage the dog to end up in a position that is headed the same
direction as our feet are pointed. We discourage his crossing either
behind or in front of us in recalls and while playing. This choice,
teaching him to always remain close to your leg and headed in the same
direction you are traveling, makes a big difference when you begin moving
groundwork with your dog. Sweep is always rewarded in the position we want
him to be in, even if he moved away from the position after we marked it.
On recalls if he stops short of us, he would not be fed while standing at
a distance. If he wants the treat, he must come to our leg. When teaching
walking at our side, we mark when he is in position; if he moves away
after the marker, he has to come back to our leg to get the treat. I call
it feeding the imaginary dog. Good clicker trainers refer to Bob
Bailey’s saying about reinforcement: “Click for action, feed for
position.” Down I taught the dow n while kneeling in front of Sweep on
the floor. I watched him for a moment, looking for some tendency toward
dropping his head, and as he did so, I clicked and placed a cookie between
his toes. Before he finished eating the cookie and while his head was still
down, I clicked again and repeated it a few times with the treat. The next
time that I clicked for his looking down I held the cookie between my
fingers on the floor until he had to almost lie down to get it, then I let
him have the treat. From there it was just a couple minutes at most until
he volunteered to lie down, and I could click after he was fully down.
Soon he started to offer to lie down whenever I was kneeling or sitting in
front of him. To get him out of the down position and reset to start the
skill practice again I either used my release word O.K., or I threw a
“reset cookie” off to the side so he had to chase it 34 and then
return to me to earn cookies for lying down again. I added the command
Down the same way as I did for the release and the sit 30 reps after he
was down, 30 reps just as he was about to down, and 30 reps as I was
certain he was starting to down . My position on the floor was a huge cue
for Sweep to down. The first time I was standing up and gave the Down cue,
he just looked at me. I waited silently while he thought about it, and
rewarded him when he figured it out. To add duration length of time the
dog stays in position to the sit and down I just kept clicking while Sweep
was in position almost as fast as I could click and treat and repeat. Then
I moved to marking it every few seconds and treating, and now I praise
Sweep while he is in position and continue to lengthen the time between
clicks and treats. The most important part of getting Sweep to do a
behavior or stay in position for a longer time is not to mark his getting
out of and moving back into position. The following method is incorrect:
give Down cue, dog downs, click and reward, praise dog for staying; dog
gets up, then he goes back into his down and you click/treat again when he
downs. If I clicked and treated when he went back into a down, Sweep would
only learn that to earn treats he must Hand Targeting Sw e e p hits his
nose on our open palm hard and we mark and treat with a cookie that I drop
quickly into the same hand, now a cupped palm. You may also reward with
your opposite hand directly in front of your target hand if your dog
becomes sniffy after you Clean Run | March 07 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
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Clean Run Magazine - March 2007

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