I have been using the clicker to shape both sit and come for the last week and a half. So she understands the game. She sleeps in a crate, but barks and whines a good bit in it. We have been feeding her in the kennel and leaving treats in there sporadically. I even spent a little time trying to lure her in the kennel, first with a treat and then with an open hand (then click and treat). Today at lunch we were having a picnic with my 5 year old. Delta could not be trusted in this situation, so I put her in the kennel. She started barking and carrying on (unfortunately she is quite vocal). I tried covering her kennel when she barked, and uncovering when she did not, but I do not think that I was responding quickly enough. In desperation, I even rapped on the kennel top and said "hush!" I had read the article on this site about training the dog to get into the crate. Honestly, I did not think that it would work. How am I going to get my pup to randomnly go into the crate? But I was out of options, so I gave it a try. I just stood next to the kennel, and she wanted to be by me, so when she got close to the open door I clicked and treated. Immediately, she perked up, and began trying to get another c and t. She began throwing sits at me, I just stood there. Eventually she put her head in the door, c and t. There were some more thrown sits, and some barking at me, but eventually I had her going completely in the crate and staying for about one second. All of this happened in about 2 minutes, and then I stopped the game. My wife was sitting there watching. When it was all over, she looked at me and said, "How did you do that?"
Well done! If you're not already doing it give the treats only when she is in the crate. I highly recommend Susan Garrett's 'Crate Games' DVD which will produce a dog who really really really wants to go into and stay in their crate.
It's great watching them work it out isn't it. Keep playing it in short sessions, also C&T when Delta is being quiet at other times. These pups sure can make an array of noises can't they. Dexter loves clicker training.
This is the one that I am having a little trouble wrapping my mind around. How does the pup make the association that the C&T was for the silence (and not for something else like lying down)? I know that I will need to do something, because I do not like how vocal she is. My last dog was a mute.
Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. Hopefully someone more experienced than my can explain it. Sometimes I clicked and treated other times just popped a treat down and said good boy. Even if he was chewing a chew toy, I kept rewarding anything he was doing that was good behaviour. At first it distracted him so I stopped doing it as I thought it was having the opposite effect. Then I saw other posts where members were being advised to do it and started again. Dexter soon learned and lays quietly more often or chews his chew toys and not my bottom step. He does get bored quite quickly so I do lots of training and game sessions with him before he gets the chance to get bored. My days consist of dog walks, training, one to one and a half hours of work and very little else at the moment. When I work he goes in his crate or I set up the treat and train that I have depending on what work I'm doing.
When Delta is being noisy, ignore but once quiet you can C&T and let her out. That's how they learn that they are being rewarded for being quiet, I believe.
They don't, at first. At first, they might associate the reward with lots of different things. What you have to do is be very good with your timing. You have to click for the very thing you want repeated - an approximation won't do. That's the beauty of the clicker, it's very precise and lets you mark the behaviour you want with precision. This helps the dog learn faster. After a while, the dog will isolate the behaviour that is getting it the reward, in this case silence. Once it gets that, you are away...and the clicker helps you get that faster than any other tool. You do have to watch it though - not in this example, but in others. I saw a vid the other day where a dog tended to lift its paw when handing over a retrieve. This is because both the action of lifting its paw and delivering a dummy had been rewarded. If you get unwanted behaviours creeping in, you have to work round that to eliminate them.
