Touch/Target and Clicker.. can't beat it

T

Toffee's Mom

Forums Sage
Caro's thread about giving your dogs stuff to do in the winter inspired me and I thought oh I need to do something new, as I haven't been walking as much and done very little agility :o:mad:

So I heard some of you have taught your dogs to close all kinds of drawers and stuff, SO I thought I could do is get out the ole clicker and teach closing the door of my bedroom. Please excuse the mess, we just got up, lol
This was our second session this morning and all in all took us about 20 minutes and we are now adding the label...

Shelties are so smart, they pick up so very fast what you want, don't they?

http://www.youtube.com/user/MsLadyWolff#p/a/u/0/9iF5v4Z_uiw
 
That's too cute!
Have you thought about trying to get Toffee to pick up laundry? I've clicker trained Athena to do that, and it can be great when you're in a lazy mood, and don't want pick it up :x She'll also bring me remotes and my cell phone.
There's also a woman with a sheltie from a friend of mine who trained her sheltie to bring her a tissue, and then to go throw it away.
Just some more ideas of cute things to teach with a clicker :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwyBbLg_cbw
 
oh you know maryjo? She's the dog with the wondersheltie who did all kinds of things backwards, isn't she??
Interesting! What a great little dog doing that video, mine are so silly compared to that kind of training LOL. But mine show that even simple folks like me who aren't professionals can train almost anything with a clicker... One can't do wrong with it!

I have a problem getting Toffee to take something in his mouth, how did you all train that? I would LOVE to teach him the tissue trick!!
 
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I don't know Mary Jo personally, but my friend Pam sold her Boomer when she lost Taz. Taz was her dog that did all of those really neat tricks that you're thinking of.
Athena didn't like picking things up at first either, but was going to need to for open obedience (dumbbell). What I did to get her started was to click for her even looking at the dumbbell, then clicked for getting near it, then clicked for touching it with nose/mouth, then clicked for putting her teeth on it, then clicked picking it up and dropping it, then for picking it up and carrying it a short way, finally progressing to her bringing it to me, sitting, and placing it in my hand. From there, I have been able to teach her to pick up other things with little to no trouble. She really gets interacting with objects, and offering behaviors now that we have done that.
It doesn't have to be a dumbbell that you use. You can start with any object that you'd like Toffee to interact with
 
HopeShelties said:
I don't know Mary Jo personally, but my friend Pam sold her Boomer when she lost Taz. Taz was her dog that did all of those really neat tricks that you're thinking of.
Athena didn't like picking things up at first either, but was going to need to for open obedience (dumbbell). What I did to get her started was to click for her even looking at the dumbbell, then clicked for getting near it, then clicked for touching it with nose/mouth, then clicked for putting her teeth on it, then clicked picking it up and dropping it, then for picking it up and carrying it a short way, finally progressing to her bringing it to me, sitting, and placing it in my hand. From there, I have been able to teach her to pick up other things with little to no trouble. She really gets interacting with objects, and offering behaviors now that we have done that.
It doesn't have to be a dumbbell that you use. You can start with any object that you'd like Toffee to interact with
Click to expand...

Great story of Taz and glad she got Boomer now!!! Pam must be a great breeder!
I will give this a try, how long were the sessions? Toffee has a low frustration threshold (wonder where he gets that from :rolleyes2:)
When he sees the clicker he gets so excited he goes through all the tricks and stops thinking!!
 
Just a few minutes each day is all I did. Always stop on a good note. Once they're offering something that you want a few times straight, go ahead and quit. If it gets to where they get confused or frustrated, go back to the last successful point and reward again for that, building back up to what you want.
 
HopeShelties said:
Just a few minutes each day is all I did. Always stop on a good note. Once they're offering something that you want a few times straight, go ahead and quit. If it gets to where they get confused or frustrated, go back to the last successful point and reward again for that, building back up to what you want.
Click to expand...

ok, I need a /like button on the posts ;)
I definitely will keep the sessions short, I will start this tonight with buying a tissue box! LOL
 
You guys are going to inspire me to try and teach Edan some new tricks. Its been a while since he learned a new one.

I actually find it rather funny that family will try to get him to do "traditional" doggie tricks like shake hands, play dead and roll over but he doesn't KNOW these tricks. BUT he will run an agility course, leave food alone (I can put a treat right under his nose and he won't touch it until I say 'ok'), and high-five. I find it rather amusing actually.

I'm going to have to think about what I can teach him.
 
Silaria said:
You guys are going to inspire me to try and teach Edan some new tricks. Its been a while since he learned a new one.

I actually find it rather funny that family will try to get him to do "traditional" doggie tricks like shake hands, play dead and roll over but he doesn't KNOW these tricks. BUT he will run an agility course, leave food alone (I can put a treat right under his nose and he won't touch it until I say 'ok'), and high-five. I find it rather amusing actually.

I'm going to have to think about what I can teach him.
Click to expand...

Toffee can do rollover, leave it, shake hands, and find my sneakers...
but he can not not play dead or high five :)
He definitely can NOT run an agility course as well as Edan (yet) lol
I am going to try the kleenex trick it is just SO cute...

let's share, guys on how they boys are doing, lol
 
Coincidence! I taught Chase how to close doors with the touch/target command and clicker training earlier this week!
 
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