Karen Pryor Clickertraining - Ask the Expert: Q&A

Training Your Dog to Sit

Melissa Alexander — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Q: I'm trying to teach my dog to sit, but she's not really getting it quite right. What should I be doing?

Training "Leave It"

Emma Parsons — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Q: I have a rescue Border collie/lab mix. He is about 5 months old, and an absolute delight. He picks up things very easily and constantly needs a job. We have been working on clicker training and we both really like it, but I have a couple of "positive training" questions. First. How do I train "leave it"? Second. How do I train him not to chew the house up? Third. How do I maintain the bond that I have developed, but have him listen to other people?

Dog in the Kitty Litter

Karen Pryor — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:00:00 -0600

Q: How can I stop my dog from eating cat poop?

Child Guests Scared of Dogs

Karen Pryor — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 -0600

Q: During the holidays last year, we had a young relative visit our home who was terrified of our dog, who is a little excitable but very good natured. I couldn't seem to convince the child—or his parents—that there was nothing to be afraid of. What can we do for such encounters in the upcoming holiday season?

Overcoming Fear of the Clicker

Karen Pryor — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0600

Q: I've successfully clicker trained my dogs in the past, but I now have a retriever who's scared of the clicker. The sound bothered him at first, and now he won't respond to anything I've tried—he heads for the hills as soon as I take the clicker out. What can I do?

Preventing Jumping on Strangers

Karen Pryor — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0500

Q: Can you give me some pointers for using clicker training to stop my dog from jumping on visitors? I have gotten her to stop jumping on family and frequent visitors, but new people are at her mercy.

Introducing Dogs to a New Baby

Aidan Bindoff — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 05:00:00 -0600

Q: How should I introduce my two dogs to our new baby?

Playing Tug Games by Your Rules

Aidan Bindoff — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Q: My puppy bites at my loose trouser leg and shakes it. I tried growling and shaking my leg, which made it worse, so I tried ignoring it, but that hasn't worked either. What can I do?

Sue Ailsby's Tools for the Job: A Clicker and Patience

Aidan Bindoff — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Sue Ailsby is a well-known and highly accomplished clicker trainer who has competed successfully with her dogs in just about every possible competition venue. She now gives clicker training seminars across Canada and the US. Sue has put years of clicker training wisdom into her online Book of Training Levels and has also posted a blog of her clicker training adventure with her service dog in training, Stitch, at www.dragonflyllama.com.

Managing the Treat-Free Competition Ring

Melissa Alexander — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Q: How do I move from food treats to praise only?

Bite Inhibition Training

Melissa Alexander — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600

Q: I have a new puppy, and she wants to chew on everything, including me. What can I do?

Training "Stay"

Melissa Alexander — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Q: How do I train my dog to stay?

Training Your Dog to Lie Down

Melissa Alexander — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Q: How do I train my dog to lie down?

The Dog Who Chewed Shoes

Melissa Alexander — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Q: How do I stop destructive chewing? I've tried everything I can think of!

Why Training "Come" Differs from Other Behaviors

Karen Pryor — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Q: In the book Clicking with Your Dog, and on this website, the method to train a good "come" is discussed. In both places, you start out using the "come" command as the cue. Why is this training strategy different than others, where you add the cue after the dog knows the behavior?

Reinforcing Doing Nothing

Karen Pryor — Mon, 01 May 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Q: I have been reading through all the articles on your website. I found one area of interest that is a little confusing for me. I have trained my dog using the clicker and she will do every trick on cue (with a word). When I bring my clicker out to try to teach a new behavior, my dog goes crazy and starts offering many behaviors. You state in the articles that a dog who does this doesn't know the behaviors on cue. But my girl will do all of them on cue. I am finding it hard to get her focused. Why is she going so crazy? Also, why do owners say their dog will only listen when clicker is present?

Keeping Training Records

Melissa Alexander — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Q: Should I keep records of my training sessions?

Spritzing Your Dog

Karen Pryor — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Q: Some puppy kindergarten trainers use a squirt bottle to squirt water (with or without additives such as lemon juice, vinegar, Bitter Apple, etc.) to squirt a puppy if it plays too roughly with others. Do you consider this a positive and up-to-date technique? Is this a technique you personally use or endorse? And if not, what would you recommend doing instead, when one pup in class plays too roughly with another?

Crate Training

Emma Parsons — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0600

Q: My puppy loves being in his puppy pen in the TV room, which is one of those foldable metal fences, open on the top. He hates his actual crate, which is a metal cage for dogs, quite large, with plenty of room. I can get him to go quietly into it if I give him a wildly desirable treat. But once the treat is gone, so is his patience for the crate. I try to go in to release him only when he is being quiet, and I'm trying to work up the time he spends in the crate. Also I try to put him in the crate at "sleepy" times. But the crate training is so hard to do emotionally...he yowls! He is lonely and bewildered...he can't be loose in the house, because he chews and eliminates. So we are working on the house-breaking and chew-toy training. He is a whiz at clicker training though, and only 8 weeks old!

Training an "Emergency" Down

Karen Pryor — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0600

Q: How can I clicker train an emergency "down"? This seems like an important behavior to have on cue.