Now much of the time the clicker is a great resource like when teaching the puppy to walk on a loose leash, going into his crate, doing sit and stay. All great. But I'm beginning to wonder about its use in interrupting a negative behaviour. Take Ted and garden plants. I'l catch sight of him chomping down on a hellebore leaf, or a clump of epimediums (I had to dig up the elephant's ears as they're poisonous to dogs), tell him to leave, which he does, click and treat, then he'll go back to doing just what I interrupted. The latest is that he's learned he can now jump up onto a chair I use, when it's empty. The word "off" is not yet embedded, so any progress like him eventually getting down of his own accord, is clicked and treated. Then he goes right back onto the chair, and I am becoming coming conditioned to command, click and treat. The same applies when he goes into land-shark mode and goes for women's skirts and dressing gowns. Off he comes to "leave!", graciously accepts his treat and then returns to the tussle with the tassels. So who's the trainer here? Is he coaching me in getting the treat thing going by doing something he shouldn't? I'd be interested to know how others deal with interrupting bad behaviours (which I know are, to puppies, self rewarding fun). BTW Ted does not get a treat with every click. I'm going for the slot machine gambling approach with him. He's 11 weeks 5 days, and again asleep on my foot at I write this. Ted is not the only one learning here, I'm in remedial basics every day.
Training a puppy is a huge learning curve for both you and the pup. I think we've developed a kind of mutral respect and adapted our lives to each other. Some things we managed to imbed, he waits for his dinner until told to eat. Some we've imbedded the wrong behaviour, he will find a sock or something just as I'm about to leave the house which results in a chase and him getting a treat so he drops it quickly. Some we've accepted, we've got a throw over the sofa and he sits up with us despite my initial no dogs on furniture rule. I'm a primary school teacher but no child has tested me or made me think quite like Homer did as a puppy.
I believe the theory of clicker training is that every time you click, you treat. So if you don't intend to treat, don't click. I personally wouldn't use a clicker for training a negative behaviour i.e. get off the chair, don't eat the plant. I would distract with a toy or ask for an alternative behaviour. They do grow up - I'm sure Ted's going to be a star.
Rather than thinking about interrupting a behaviour you don't like, think about training an incompatible behaviour that you do like. So, rather than just "off" the chair, train "go to mat", and gradually build the duration of that. I would also treat each and every single time you click, otherwise you risk devaluing the clicker. The gambling effect is something separate - it would be that your dog gets a treat 3 out of 4 times he does a sit, for example. But, whilst you're still using the clicker, I'd say you're not at the stage where you want to start using the gambling effect. I don't use it at all - I just make the behaviours more complex before the reward is earned (for example, a sit might turn into a sit-down-stand-hand target-treat), but that's once each element of the chain is well-trained and has a high reward history independently.
What really useful posts. Thank you. I certainly am on a huge learning curve here, and I take on board about the withholding of treats on some clicks. What you say makes sense. I do now interrupt his chair hogging with "go to bed", which is just code for sitting in his crate for a while. He always obeys that one. Interrupting the biting is proving quite a challenge. Ted and I almost had my daughter in tears this morning with him biting her legs and me saying "have a distraction toy with you all the time!" She's refused a conciliatory cup of tea and hour later so I have some work to do there as well as will Ted, who is now asleep under my chair. Still on the use of the clicker and "go to bed". Ted has a large cushiony thing in our sitting room while we watch TV for half an hour. The go to bed/click/treat lasts so long before he just ignores and goes to sit exactly where he likes (which is on the fire hearth, where he lays his head on a large stone). Ted is now snoring like an elderly uncle at a wedding reception.
Well, he's still a young puppy. You can't expect him to stay in the place you want him to be for any length of time at this stage. You need to be setting him up for success, which means building duration slowly. Introduce a release cue so that he knows when he's allowed to move away from the place you've put him - but for now, it's very important that you don't test his limits. The more he gets to practice breaking his stay, the longer it will take to train duration, so only expect him to stay for a few seconds for now, before giving the release (mine is, "OK, then!", but you could use "release" or "go free" or whatever you choose). I know that you want him to be on his bed for a much longer time, so it's frustrating and seems counter-productive to release him from it, but by building up the time slowly, you'll be creating a much stronger behaviour which will last a lifetime. At the same time you're training this, if he chooses to go onto his bed himself, quietly give him a treat (without the clicker), called "capturing", as described in this video:
Not sure what I'd do without this forum at this stage of my puppy ownership. Thanks for the wise words Fiona. You've perfectly encapsulated what I was getting wrong, what behaviour I wanted, and how to achieve it. The video, which I hadnt come across is a real bonuse. Thanks again
Eating my words! Saba has been a royal pain in the b*m lately. Last week at puppy school, he lunged after another dog, wrenched the lead from my hand, breaking the middle finger on my right hand in the process . Last night, he again lunged towards another dog, but this time, bruised the little finger of OH who was holding him! Our lovely new trainer, having observed this lack of impulse control, introduced us (Other Half, me and Saba) to clicker training. Well, what a revelation! The puppy the trainer worked with looked like Saba, answered to Saba, but I'm sure he was a doppelganger 'cos MY Saba has never been so engaged or attentive! Taking OH with me paid dividends, as now he understands how the training should work, and at last we're both on the same page. Saba had a brilliant time, and was thoroughly brain-tired at the end of the session. Today, we've done several short clicker sessions, as much for my benefit as anything else, and I have a calm, settled pooch. Long may it continue!
Yay! Sounds great! Other than the broken finger - ouch! I hope it fixes soon, that must be really painful.
Yeah, playing the sax isn't easy with a broken finger! My husband plays, but had a couple of years off after a spate of injuries - broke his hand fixing a car, had a shelving unit collapse on him, bashing up his mouth really badly, and in two consecutive years, had skiers crash into him breaking his ribs, front and back. It's quite hard to play the sax when you can't use your hand, mouth or lungs!
