[nagdu] clicker training

[The Pawpower Pack]

Meghan,

I began using clicker training with Mill'E who is my crossover dog,  
meaning that I started her training with traditional jerk and praise  
type training, before making the switch.  Laveau has been trained  
using only clicker training and the difference in her work is  
incredible.  I wish I could adequately describe how different it is.   
She loves to work, she doesn't rush to her destination; just getting  
there is so rewarding for her.  She has excellent food refusal skills  
while working; she occasionally backslides at home but that is my fault.
Clicker has taught me to take responsibility for my part in the  
training process.  It has taught me that behavior is just behavior,  
and that there is really no such thing as good behavior, or bad  
behavior.  There is only desired behavior and undesired behavior.   
This may seem like a small thing-- just semantics, but the words  
"good" and "bad are really quite loaded.  When I used words like that,  
I found that my relationship with my dog was very adversarial.  My dog  
is trying to flout my authority by doing bad behaviors, or my dog is  
testing/disrespecting/ignoring me and is trying to be the boss so is  
doing bad behaviors.  By using the words desirable/undesirable, I'm  
taking responsibility for reinforcing the behaviors I find desirable.   
Jumping on people is undesirable to me.  I don't want my dog to do  
it.  She isn't jumping on people so she can be the boss, she's jumping  
because she wants to greet people and when dogs greet one another  
there is a great deal of face sniffing and licking.  If I find jumping  
to be undesirable, then it is my responsibility to teach her an  
alternative behavior, and set up the situation so that she cannot do  
the undesirable behavior, or if she does do the behavior, it isn't  
rewarding for her.
I want my dog to be a thinking dog.  I want working and other  
behaviors to be her idea.
That is one of the things I love most about clicker training, my dog  
is working to earn a click and is thinking.  She is not trying to  
avoid punitive action on my part.  That difference in mindset is  
amazing to watch.
I hope more of the programs begin to use clicker training and teach  
the science and mechanics behind it to the handlers.  I think there  
would be wonderful benefits for the dogs, less stress for the handler,  
and more pleasing to the public at large.


Rox and the Herbal HenchHounds
Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
"It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point  
out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half- 
wit, and the emperor remains an emperor."-- Neil Gaiman
http://www.pawpowercreations.com/retreat.html
pawpower4me at gmail.com
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