[nagdu] clicker training

[Tami Kinney]

Lora,

Um.. As long as it takes. How helpful is that? /smile/

It can take longer with a dog that is used to doing things one way, and
the dog may find the new way of approaching those doors to be pretty
radical and a bit concerning... Especially having been hurt by one. If
what you're doing is resulting in the behavior you want there, it may
just take time for him to mentally readjust and accept that this is now
the way to do things. If he seems nervous about it, you can add
reassuring praise and touch to the click and treat. Or you can back up a
bit and reinforce on part of the overall behavior you want. In other
words, start at the beginning of the new behavior chain. Reinforce, say
the first response to your signal to move to the right. Then, when that
is set and the dog just does it, add in the next move toward the result
you're looking for and reinforce that new behavior and so on. In applied
operant conditioning, it's called chaining and can work really well for
complex behaviors. I've also heard of the general idea as gradual
approximation or successive approximation. I always think it sounds
dreadfully complicated when you put it that way, then I realize I've
been doing it since I was a kid in training. Just didn't call it no
fancy high-falutin' sounding name. /lol/

It's also helpful, or so it seems to me, to learn to judge fine signals
in the dog's response to see if I can figure out where the dog is having
difficulty and find a different approach to helping it through the
glitch... Mostly, though, it's a matter of patience and consistency
until the new way of doing things is automatic for both of you. Sounds
like you're making progress, both of you, so that may be all you need.
The patience part does seem to fall into awfully short supply after
awhile, though, but then it suddenly pays off. Whew. /grin/

Anyway, I don't know if that is helpful at all, just my thoughts of the
moment. 

How's the foot? Best, and keep up the good work!

Tami

On Tue, 2011-08-30 at 08:00 -0600, Lora wrote: 
> Hello
> My dog's foot got caught in a door about three weeks ago. I was
> heeling him like I thought my school wanted. I later found out I was
> doing it slightly wrong. I am now wanting my dog to go to my right
> side for right handled doors. I have been teaching this to him. He
> understands the concept but unless I have treats he will not complete
> the task. I have been clicking and treating for about two to three
> weeks now. How long do people click and treat with their dogs? Any
> suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.