Hello after a few struggles on the way and me not being happy with Sirius current cues, i decided to start again from scratch, as well as starting a log train (which i'm not even sure if i can keep track of). I took another look at the labrador's site training section and proceeded to dust off my unused clicker, charged it and started right away with the training. I started with the sit cue step by step, till stage 4 in which i decided to stop for a precise reason. I always noticed that when i gave the cue in my language between sit and down Sirius always seemed to... go randomly between them like if he didn't get at all what i was saying, and i came across that as well when i was reading some posts of Pippa in the training section, anyway the reason that made me stop with it is that now i have to discriminate between the sit cue and the down cue. In fact Sirius does respond quite efficiently on the sit cue, after a week of intense training or to be more precise.... (me finally being constant with the exercises ) Sirius is pretty much ok with the sit cue in a "low distraction environment" and from that i'll gradually work on different places and introduce the dreaded duration! Right now i've been working with him on the down command basically a session of down with 20 pieces of delicious parmesan or wurstel (he goes nuts for them) and... well that's it. I decided to make this topic mostly because Snowbunny has suggested me to make some video of my training with Sirius, and honestly she's been a very helpful person whenever i talked with her in private. So cheers for Snowbunny! And ofcourse Every single members of this nice community
Well done Peter. Its really interesting when you take a step back and work things out like you have done. The clicker is a very powerful tool (as Julie says ) I think dogs do very well to work out what we want of them, an accurate marker does make such a difference.
Yes drjs@5 i think one of my problems was the marker part, i avoided for a long time the clicker because i really wanted to mark with voice, but seems like i always messed up something. So started again from scratch and changed cues name as well (now they're in english) but i have a lot of work to do with him and lots of bad habits to correct, for now i'll just continue with baby steps. "Progress overtime and victory is mine"
Well done Peter and Sirius. Baby steps come together and build to the goal. You will be victorious and also have a bilingual dog
@Peter that's great news, it's always tough to go back to basics I know because we had to with Charlie as he was 9 months old when he came to live with us with NO manners/training at all, but so worth it. I was a reluctant clicker user but now alongside my whistle it's my most valuable training tool especially with our rescue dog Charlie who responds in an excited way as soon as he sees me get the clicker out Good boy Sirius xx
@Newbie Lab Owner I try! He's still very naughty! Still working on the down these days eventually i'll have to correct some of his bad habit like biting the leash when i move away or steal it and proceed to chew it! @charlie Aye but i have to admit that once you start again from scratch it's not so tough! Looking forward to read your log
small update Sirius understands the down cue as well as the sit one, i decided to add duration to the sit cue. Currently following http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teach-a-dog-to-stay/ stage four. How have you taught your lab to sit with duration? Shares your methods!
Hi Peter. I used the method in Pippa's article. Although it's not particularly well proofed against other people, dogs, tennis balls etc. That's on my "to do" list
Well I liked it and used it till stage 3 , but after that it kinda confused me a little. I came across this http://www.clickertraining.com/node/4829 it's simple but i'm wondering if i can somehow introduce the release cue, give it a look and tell me what you think! Other members feel free to share your tricks!
What are you confused about precisely? 4 is about proofing it against distance, duration and distractions. You have to do this with everything you train. For example, you can't expect a dog that can hold a sit/stay for just one second to be able to do it for a minute - you have to build up to that. Same with distractions; a dog that can sit for two minutes in the kitchen won't be automatically be able to do it at all outside when there's good smells wafting around. And distance - if you train your dog to sit with you by your side, then he won't automatically be able to stay there with you two metres away. The other article is pretty much the same thing. At this stage, the click is the release cue. I'd stick with that for a few sessions, until you've mastered the behaviour, and then worry about introducing a release cue once the sit/stay is nice and solid. At that stage, you can do as Pippa suggests. When you want the stay to end, you use your release (mine is a rather high-pitched "OK, then!"), and throw the treat a short way so he has to move to get it.
