PTertacks
Jan Jaeger

CLICK FOR SUCCESS Can an old dog learn new tricks? Absolutely! Although they had never met, Ruby proved to be the perfect student for trainer Joyce Jaskula's before-opening hours demonstration of clicker training. This eleven-something Chow-Retriever-Husky cross and two-time loser was rescued by Pam and Bill Rohdenburg from our Shelter. Ruby had been through conventional training several years ago, so she knew basic responses. But the clicker thing was brand new to her.

Clicker training is positive reinforcement training. The click marks desired behavior and the treat is the reward. Any animal will respond to an enjoyable consequence for its actions, so this type of training, without physical force, takes advantage of that instinct. Technically, this is called operant conditioning, and it has been used by trainers for years with dolphins and zoo animals and it is successful with virtually every animal species, whether domestic or wild.

Joyce started out by "charging up the clicker," a small handheld pod that makes a loud click when the button is depressed. Ruby sat in front of Joyce. Joyce would , then give Ruby a small treat. then another small treat, repeating this action 20-30 times. Ruby thought this was great! She was totally focused on Joyce, her tail wagging.

Joyce pointed out that hearing the click is important in identifying the action to the dog. The reward is also important, but it doesn't have to be food. "My dog Pip loves to play tug," Joyce explained. "So sometimes my reward for him will be to play a game of tug. Or I'll let him run in the yard; his freedom is a very special treat. Freedom, such as coming out of the crate, going on a walk or going for a ride in the car is a powerful payoff. It's just that food is faster."

For her food reward this morning, Joyce was using a combination of small cheese cubes, bits of salami and some small commercial treats, but small slices of hotdog, dog biscuits or dry kibble can be used too. Highly food-motivated Ruby loved every nibble.

Next, Joyce demonstrated luring. Luring is enticing the dog into a certain action. In this case, Joyce held out her hand, arm by her side, open palm facing Ruby. When Ruby touched her nose to Joyce's hand, she got a and a treat. After 4-5 repeats, Joyce put out her hand with no food. When Ruby touched her hand with her nose, Joyce , then gave a verbal reward, "Yes!" When Ruby would get frustrated and bark for her treat, Joyce would just ignore that response and wait for the right one. This exercise could be practical for teaching heel, and as with much of this training, requires practice only 4-5 minutes at a time.

Capturing is another way to reinforce a particular behavior. Joyce used the example of Zach, a retired Greyhound racer that is another of the Rohdenburg's rescues. Zach would like to stretch into a play bow position, front feet down, rump high. She would and treat, finally giving the action a verbal cue "Bow!" Zach knows and performs this behavior without a click, although he does enjoy an occasional treat for his efforts.

Joyce rebuts one of the most common misconceptions about this type of training, "People think they have to use the clicker and bag of treats forever. Wrong! Once you are confident the dog will give you the behavior you want about 90% of the time, you can use a verbal cue to get the behavior. When you get the behavior from the verbal cue, stop clicking, then stop rewarding, or reward randomly." The final exercise Joyce demonstrated is called shaping. She placed a low cardboard box on the floor. Her goal was to get Ruby to step into the box. "Right now Ruby has no idea what I want. She has no clue it's about the box," Joyce explained. "You have to be really generous in rewarding shaping, because it's going to take a while for the dog to figure it out. This really gets the dog thinking." When Ruby would touch her foot to the box, she would get a and a treat. This exercise would be helpful in teaching the dog to go into its kennel or to bed, for example.

"Once a dog learns what to do, then vary the location. Move to another room, to the yard, to a public place," Joyce suggests. "Add one new thing at a time."

A committed advocate for this type of training, Joyce adds, "I love working with my dogs on agility. You can't do negatives in agility training; you have to use positive reinforcement. Plus, many dogs don't like to be touched, so this method can train without touching. And, anyone can do it! Even someone disabled, or elderly, can click and toss treats while sitting. Your dog is learning, your dog is mentally engaged, your dog is happy and your bond just gets stronger. You can't get any better than that."

Joyce and her training partner, Lynn Wolff, offer private lessons and clicker training through their company, Tails of Success. They're in the book.

Jan Jaeger is owner of Geronimo's, Ltd., Nantucket's pet supply and gift shop, and is a member of DWAA and CWA (Dog and Cat Writer's Associations of America). Her pets at home are Junior, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and three cats. At the shop are the cats, Messrs. Fish and Chips, Flower bunny, Willie guinea pig and two budgies. Send e-mail to jan@geronimos.com.