As I write this post, thunder is rolling overhead with enough resonance to shake the house. As I write this post, a Doberman is curled up at the foot of my bed. That’s our only storm coping tactic at the moment. How does this work?
I brought home a hula hoop a couple of weeks ago. Valenzia was a little shy of it; she didn’t seem to like the shoop-shoop sound the sand made, nor the fact that it swung around in a wide arc that barred her from Mommy (me). I didn’t want my dog to be uncomfortable with the hoop, and one of the best ways I’ve found to counter-condition a “scary” object is to turn it into a training target.
I’ve posted before about using shaping games and silly tricks to foster creativity or take the edge off a wired dog’s energy. Since I was doing a few minutes of shaping anyway, I figured I could use our short training session for the next video installment. So, here it is!
Before I go any further, I need to emphasize that I have the best parents on earth, and my father did — is doing — a great job.
That said, this post is about a parenting event. 😉 Sorry, Dad!
I happened across this video a couple of months ago and bookmarked it. I enjoyed it at the time, but even as I was watching, I was thinking of clicker training.
I really like shaping, and I love the results I get with a dog who has learned to offer and vary behavior. I hear frequently from clients or trainer friends who don’t enjoy shaping or don’t get satisfactory results, and while it’s true that not every dog adores it, I think that most of the time their failure to love it isn’t that they have the wrong dog — it’s that they, or their dogs, are diligently following this checklist.
Have you ever tried to train against a taboo?
There are some who oppose all forms of trained protection sport and protection work, citing variously that the training is inherently abusive (it’s not), or that the dogs dislike it (obviously untrue!). Occasionally a protester will suggest that biting a person in a sleeve or suit must of course reduce a dog’s bite inhibition, making it more likely that the dog will mouth or bite a person not in protective gear.
I’ve argued logically against this before, but now I have empirical proof — I can’t even pay my dogs to bite!
My breed of choice, as most people know, is the Doberman. Like most working breeds, Dobermans are high-energy dogs who like having a job to perform, and bore easily if left with nothing to do.
I recently had someone tell me, “Clicker training works for your dogs, but my dog is too stupid to learn. She can’t even figure out how to walk down the stairs; there’s no way she could learn to do tricks. She’s just dumb.”
Think your dog isn’t bright enough to train? Keep reading.