I can now get $3 off my next purchase from the Clicker Training store! Wonder how many clickers that'll buy...
Just one evening training session yesterday, but I was determined to teach something new! Frankie doesn't like any kind of manipulation of her body. She won't ever act aggressive, but she'll shy away like it's a game. Tonight I was determined to start teaching 'play dead' to go with our 'freeze' paws up trick. I think it'll be a hoot when we've got this one polished. Pugs aren't widely known for their prowess doing tricks or obedience (at least not to me) so I think we'll wow some people with all the stuff she's learning.
Frankie loves to be petted. I realized that when we try to scratch her tummy when she's in a 'down' position she'll lay on her side (for better access, I'm sure...hehe). Bingo! This is how I'll teach this trick! I had my daughter pet Frankie, and as soon as she started to turn on her side (my 'must do' behavior with this was that her hips had to be all the way rolled over) we clicked and treated. Things were going well. As soon as my daughter would go to pet Frankie, she'd roll on her side voluntarily. Unfortunately we had to take a break to drive my daughter to an activity, then hubby came home with KFC for diner....needless to say, poor Frankie was wondering about the rest of her dinner by that time. In hindsight, I probably should have just let her have the rest of her kibble.
When we pick the session back up, we have to start from the beginning again. I pet her in a down position, she rolls to the side, I click and treat. After awhile, all I had to do was move my hand in a semi-circle and she would offer the behavior. Hubby was sitting on the couch, so I got his attention and said, "Look, I'm a Jedi knight! All I have to do is wave my hand over her and she rolls on her side!" Sure enough, Frankie didn't dissapoint and offered the behavior after my 'Jedi wave'. We got a good laugh out if that since we're big Star Wars fans. We ran out of kibble before she started offering the behavior without a hand cue, so we'll work on that some more tonight. I'm excited to later shape this into a 'roll over'!
...must...resist...I will NOT start the...roll over...tonight!
<ahem>
Anyway.
That's all for now!
Ellen & Frankie
Well, you must be more
Well, you must be more computer savvy than me. I clicked on the link for the RSS Feed thing and didn't know what to do with it! Just a bunch of code to me. Are there instructions somewhere?
We've been to Eugene once for one of my daughers swim meets. And my Mother-in-Law lives in Albany which isn't too far away. We'll be there for T-day. The rain has let up...thank goodness! It's always a downer, especially after a nice long summer like we had this year.
Ellen & Frankie
How to use RSS Feeds
Hi Ellen,
Depending on what you're using for a browser and all that, RSS feeds can be either very easy to use or completely bewildering. A little over a year ago, I put up some instructions here:
http://clickertraining.com/rss
However, since then the new version of internet Explorer has been released, and it makes subscribing to feeds very easy too! So, using any version of Firefox or internet Explorer 7, you can just click on the feed icon (it's a little orange rounded box with some curved white lines) in your address bar, and it will both show you the feed nicely formatted, and let you subscribe to it right in your browser.
I really encourage everyone to try it feeds. They're by far the best way to keep tabs on frequently changing sites like clickertraining.com, and to subscribe to blogs like those here. In case you didn't know, each blog here has its own feed. You can see the feed for your blogs here:
http://clickertraining.com/syndication
I hope this helps!
Hi Bill, Thanks for the
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the instructions! I had no idea you could make it a part of a news page. This is awesome!
Ellen & Frankie
It must be morning!
This was meant to be in reply to Sherry's comments! Oooops!! Couldn't find a way to delete it and put it where it's supposed to be! Doh!
Great blog!
Hi, I've just been reading your blog and it's really good, it's great to hear from other people that are clicker-training like this... Man, these blogs are a great stuff...
what I wanted to say... yeah, one of my dogs was really touch sensitive and totaly didn't like being physicaly manipulated, but in the end, the fact that she started seeing it as a game actually helped us. First I got he rused to petting (if I knew about TTouch then... it would be much easier... but with it's help she got from surviving petting to enjoying it). hen i started pushing her around a bit while we were playing tug of war and i worked on behaviours which involved me holding her paws for example or something, like shaking a paw or dancing. so while we were playing i would for example took her paw and then threw the toy or lured her in a down with a toy
and turned her to her side. everything was very fast and playful. I started carrying her more around and made a trick out of everything witch involved doing something to her. Bit by bit, i got to the point wen i could do everything to her, and i was doing everything rewarding her for calm behaviour caus eit's important for me to have a dog that will trust me. that way, it's easier to help him when he's in pain or something. And it is much easier to treat small wounds or restrain the dog this way, helped me a lot.
good luck with Sanja Miklin
3/205
LPC UWC, Hong Kong
Thanks for your great
Thanks for your great comments, Sanja! I read about your touch sensitive dog in one of your previous blogs. I think it's great that you made a game out of petting. Frankie loves to be petted, but she protests when you try to make her do something like lay on her side.
Ellen & Frankie
Oops!
I meant to say my "stubborn" but oh, so sweet Cavalier. I guess I didn't really want to call him stubborn. =-) --
Clicking the Pug
This is terrific. I am really enjoying reading about Frankie's progress. I am trying to clicker train my adorable but oh, so sweet Cavalier and your posts are giving me needed encouragement! Keep up the good work!
Hey, my first comment!!!
Hey, my first comment!!! Thanks so much for taking the time to relpy to my little blog. I guess I'm just excited that someone is reading! Good luck with your Cavalier (they're SO cute!). Maybe you could start a blog so we can encourage each other!
Ellen & Frankie
Hi Ellen, Yep, I'm reading.
Hi Ellen,
Yep, I'm reading. Everytime I turn on my computer I check my Earthlink Reader/Clicker Training RSS Feed, and there you are! It's a real pleasure.
I don't think I'm ready for a blog yet. I'm not sure I'm computer-literate enough. And I know for sure I don't know enough about clicker training. I'll just keep reading yours. =-D
I've also followed your weather comments. My brother lives in Eugene and I've been a bit concerned about flooding. Here's hoping for dryer skies!
Sherry in Arizona