Quite a long article but might appeal to those interested in clicker training the retrieve. Not an example of 'normal' progress as Rachael has not been easy in this respect.
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker this was really good Pippa, thanks. I've been finding it a bit tricky to get my two to hold the dummy well, they normally spit out instantly for a treat and Brodick wants to hold the sides. Both fine with the normal dummy but the rabbit skin dummy is just asking to be played with (brodick mainly). what this showed me was the need for extreme patience, breaking things down, and celebration of the tiniest success at each stage! I'm too keen to get them on to the next level all the time and I think that's where I go wrong, need to wait till they have nailed a stage (not just sort of got it right). Its me that needs the training I think .
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker Goodness, that really is quite a journey! Good for you Pippa for hanging in there, if it were me and my dog in that situation I am afraid I would probably long ago have decided that she was never going to be a gun dog... You are obviously made of sterner stuff than me!!!
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker Excellent article, written with humour too, which appeals to me Unless you are very lucky, I think that they all have an area where they excell and one where they just dont seem to " get it " . With Sam, it was his dreadful pulling on lead , I followed every guideline, ever bit of advice but he just wasnt getting it at all . Such elation when, quite suddenly at about 10 months of age, the penny dropped He still displays youthful exhuberance on his way to somewhere but walks like an angel on the way home so I guess we are half way there .
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker really interesting. I'm currently trying to teach Digby to return things to me rather than play with them himself or just demolish them. That's really useful Pippa. I think a sense of humour is required with most things in life Kate - I have found this particularly so with both children and animals.
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker [quote author=Sersi link=topic=1307.msg8473#msg8473 date=1363353699] I think a sense of humour is required with most things in life Kate - I have found this particularly so with both children and animals. [/quote] And with husbands, too! ;D
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker [quote author=Karen link=topic=1307.msg8477#msg8477 date=1363355148] [quote author=Sersi link=topic=1307.msg8473#msg8473 date=1363353699] I think a sense of humour is required with most things in life Kate - I have found this particularly so with both children and animals. [/quote] And with husbands, too! ;D [/quote] Amen to that ;D
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker I have tried this method today with Digby. He loves to pick up everything and anything and rather than try and train this instinct out of him (quite tricky I would imagine) I thought I'd train him to bring things to me gently and willingly - well that's the plan anyway. He started really well with lots to click, but, he did insist on sitting so far away from me it made it difficult to do and was killing my back. When I tried to encourage the sit closer he just lay down and then danced around the kitchen offering a variety of sits and downs obviously not having a clue what I was asking him to do. I did manage to get him sat back with me again and ended on 5 consecutive clicks , however, looks like I need to break this down further and train a closer sit before continuing : Pippa - the detail of your progress has been really helpful.
Re: Rachael's Journey: Twenty Sessions with the clicker I'm finding the progress updates great too. We did some 'grasp the dummy for treats' clicker training last night with me sitting in a chair. It went well. Obi was in a good position and he got the idea of grabbing the dummy in the middle.
