Clicker Training? We'll give it a try!

I'm not a blogger, not a writer, and I seriously wonder if I'll take the time to keep this up. But it is a nice idea to chronicle the events surrounding this new puppy.

A quick history. I'm not a dog trainer, but I have noticed through the years that dogs have always seemed to read my mind. For instance, Scoobie, my wife's puggle , will leave her lap and come straight to me within thirty seconds of my thinking about going to the store. His eyes open wide, he'll jump off his chair then wait by my feet, sometimes for a half an hour or more just to take a ride!

Strange dogs frequently seek my attention as well, and most of my dogs over the years have been adults rescued from the shelter. There's always one that wont let me leave without him. They've all seemed to get the basics fast and with no exceptions have been great companions and valuable members of the family.

That said, Last October, a friend of my step son informed me he had bred his beautiful Boxer with his Mastiff female, and offered me pick of the litter. While I was not in position to afford a puppy, he said this pick was free. (he even charged his own family for these dogs).

The day they were born, he came to my house, dragged me down to his place to see the puppies and said I needed to take my pick! A tall order with 13 whimpering blobs of fur. but I made of momma, and let the puppies get a good scent of me.

The day their eyes opened I was invited back again. This time to make a choice. Still not an easy task. I sat on the living room floor, Nicky (Momma) next to me, and Bud (daddy) behind me on the couch while I was swamped with puppies!

After 45 minutes or so, most of the babies has gone to Niki for a snack, and this one little male decided he'd rather cuddle up under my beard and and nibble my earlobe than munch on momma. He picked me, so I picked him.

I visited the pups every three or four days 'till they were 6 weeks old, and bought him a collar right off so that prospective customers would know he was already spoken for.

The day the pups were 6 weeks old, a group of folks were there picking out puppies, and my baby (Trip AKA Psycho) was hanging close to my feet with all those strangers in the house.

He preferred being with me than with the children and the other puppies. Needless to say, he went home with me that night. (The rest waited until the 8th week, and a complete vet check, which I had the pleasure of helping with!)

Never once did this little guy whimper for his mom and litter-mates, and he was completely weaned. He moved in with Star (my wife) and I, Scoobie the 3 year old puggle, and our three cats, two of which were born with us, and never looked back.

He's a little over five months old, and sits on both verbal command and hand signal, usually relieves himself where he's supposed to, sits automatically for the leash or the tie out to be put on, and sleeps on his bed in my home office when I'm home working.

So. For training. I've trained a few dogs over the years, parolees from the dogie crowbar motel all, but It's been forever since I've had a puppy to train.

I've always subscribed to the ASPCA Dog Training Handbook for the basics, but with this special little guy, I was looking for something better. That something came in the form of a book by Pat Miller called "The Power of Positive Dog Training" which was my introduction to Clicker Training.

I'm here at this website because of her book and her references to ClickerTraining.com.

So, we'll see how it goes with little Trip. He's been easy to train so far, but like any puppy, he's developing his share of bad habits. Like pulling on the leash and jumping up. (but he's much better about the latter).

I've ordered some clickers, a treat bag, a video and target stick from Karen Pryor, and a soon as they get here, we'll see where it goes. And oh yes, I've got plenty of Old Mother Hubbard oven baked biscuits to start with.

Wish me success everyone. This puppy is plenty smart enough, It's me I'm worried about!