Hello, everyone! Gail here. I recently became the proud and very pleased owner of an Icelandic Sheepdog. I’m excited to hear that these dogs are great workers and have drive and ability. I’m already seeing a great working relationship with my eight-month-old puppy, Nosi. It appears that several of you are having litters of puppies or are acquiring puppies and are interested in becoming involved in agility. I thought it might be fun to create a blog for people to start some agility training at home with their puppies. I am involved with agility and teach classes. I don’t claim to be a “professional” by any means, but I have experience with my own dogs and my student’s dogs, so I have a good feel for what works and doesn’t work. I also try to keep up on the latest training tips and techniques from magazines, seminars, and publications. My goal is to help my students bring out the best in their dog and their relationship/ teamwork. Not all teams respond to the same training methods, so sometimes one needs to be creative and take a problem-solving approach.
What Kathryn and I propose is that we all share our knowledge and experience from the sport to help others. Not everyone has access to equipment, instructors, or has the time or money to attend seminars, take classes or purchase publications, which can be hard to decipher if you don’t know the agility lingo. So by us sharing, we can all help each other problem-solve and learn. If you have any training tips or maybe a lesson you had in class and would like to share it, please send us the lesson in detail and we can post it to the blog. We are looking for your input. These lessons are meant for everyone, and everyone should feel free to contribute!
Our plan is to make these lessons building blocks, so that one builds on the other. If you were to send us a lesson and it doesn’t get posted right away, it may be that the skills needed for the lesson have not been acquired yet. These lessons are meant to start with itty bitty puppies of any age, so you don’t have to worry about harming your puppy. If there were age restrictions for the lesson we would note them for you. Of course you will always want to take a common- sense approach to anything and ask yourself if this is appropriate for your dog. If you have specific questions please feel free to post a comment!
Tools for Lesson #1: Clicker, Treats, Dog!
Clicker: You can purchase one of these just about anywhere. The average clicker is a small plastic box with a metal strip inside. When you press the metal strip it makes a clicking sound. Some clickers have a button -- those are okay too. I (Gail) don’t use the clicker to teach every behavior, but I do use it to teach specific behaviors. What I like most about the clicker is that it is constant. You may use a marker word in place of the clicker, like the word “yes.” Either one will work. What makes the clicker more defined is that it is non-emotional. Say for example you are slightly discouraged with the behaviors your dog is giving you and your dog finally offers the behavior you want, and you say “yes” with a sigh. The next time your dog gives you the correct behavior immediately and you screech out “yes” with excitement. Did the first "yes" mean the same as the second "yes?" No. The two were not of equal value because of your contrasting emotions and subsequent inflection. The clicker takes out the emotion out of the equation and gives a clear consistent signal every time. That is not to say you cannot use a word. Just be sure to use the same intonation every time you deliver the word. You may hear trainers refer to these particular clicks or words as "markers."
Treats: Since you will be doing this exercise often I would suggest that you start by using part of your dog's dinner as reward. Pieces of kibble are fine. Remember the more you train the more treats your dog gets and the greater potential for your dog to carry extra weight. If you plan on training and using lots of treats, be sure to adjust your dog's daily food as necessary.
Steps:
1. Get your treats and clicker in hand, have your dog (young or old, no age restriction) close.
2. All you are going to do is click, treat, and feed.
Let me stress that we are NOT looking for a behavior of any kind! These are puppies that don’t know anything. All we want to teach them is that when you hear this click or word you get a treat! If they sit that is fine, but don’t wait for it or expect it. Remember to deliver the treat immediately after the click. If you are not prompt with the treat you are going to lose your puppy’s attention, remember it’s not that long. : ) So have your treats ready, puppy close by, you may sit on the floor. Click, treat. That’s it! Click, treat. Do this about 2-3 times a day 10-15 repetitions. Make the entire lesson short and quick. Don’t waste any time in between clicks. Think of rapid fire.
All we want the dogs to do, is expect the treat when they hear the click. Make sure you do this exercise everywhere, not just in one spot. Once your puppy responds to it in one room try another, then another, work yourself to outside. It’s amazing how you think they understand something and you move to another location and they seem to have forgotten everything you taught them. ; )
If they don’t respond to the click, get and show them better treats. If the click isn’t producing something they really want, it won’t mean much to them, so they won’t respond to it. So make sure you have a good motivator.
Good luck and have fun!
