To See Next Entry (March 2)

Okay, I was a psychology major in undergrad, I took rat lab, I understood the principles behind operant conditioning. So it wasn't too hard for me to grasp the basic concept of clicker training and its benefit for dogs. When I watched all the cool tricks (as well as therapy, obedience, drafting, and search and rescue work) our friend's Berner Tucker was able to do, thanks to clicker training and his dedicated owner, I thought good for him. But did I really want to bother getting into another regiment of training for my dog.

Panda, my Bernese Mountain Dog, went to puppy kindergarten — not clicker training oriented, just the regular kind. At first, my husband and I alternated in class but slowly, I let him take the lead (no pun intended). Although I successfully trained Panda on bite inhibition as a puppy (a behavior I felt was extremely important), my husband seemed to enjoy the training more and had done a great job teaching Panda to sit prior to class. Panda did okay in class, but relative to the labs and goldens, he was far behind on the learning curve. It wasn't until two weeks after the class had ended that Panda began to understand "come." (Forget stay or heel!) In fact, Panda used to fall asleep in class after the first 20 minutes. Not exactly time well spent. No matter what we used as treats, he'd just lie down against the wall and nap. I used to joke that Panda received his diploma because we paid the $80.

So here I have what seems to be a slow to learn dog with limited energy/motivation, a new form of training that I understand but don't truly appreciate (did I mention that my rat took a week longer to train than everyone else's and used to press the bar with his face?!), and obviously, a trainer (me) who is unconvinced that she has the ability to train effectively using operant conditioning (my poor brain-damaged rat left quite an impression on me) or the motivation to really stick to it. Plus, Panda really isn't that bad! He sits, he lies down, he'll give you his paw, he twirls, he comes when called, he sort of stays. He doesn't beg, he doesn't jump, he doesn't bark, he doesn't wander, he's gentle with kids, he's not aggressive in any way. Other than his constant circling of people when he's excited, he's just fine so why bother? It's easy to overlook stuff like he doesn't heel when he doesn't pull that badly to begin with or that his stays are pretty lousy when he never really goes anywhere anyway!

However, denial and laziness only took me so far and when I'd have him out in public and he wouldn't hold his sit/stays, things got tedious and I expressed a desire to work on his basic obedience some more. We clearly needed to brush up. Tirelessly enthusiastic and supportive, Mary Ann (Tucker's owner and star trainer) tried to convince me that clicker training would be great for Panda. But I thought starting another training regiment half-heartedly would do more harm than good. I didn't think he was up for it and I was very unconvinced that I was up to it. Plus, I didn't see how I was ever going to convince my husband to convert to a technique that requires breaking things down into microsteps (he thinks Panda can get the hard stuff without the baby steps) and treating constantly. The last thing either of us wanted is a treat hound. So I put off the clicker training idea and pledged to work with Panda on my own using the type of training we were both used to.

Simply said, that went nowhere fast. More time went by and more public appearances made it clear that I had to work with Panda on his sit/stays and down/stays. So after more explanation, encouragement, and just sheer relentlessness on Mary Ann's part, I decided to give clicker training a try. I got her to give me some advice (and answer about a thousand questions along the way) on how to get started. I logged on to Karen Pryor's website and ordered the clicker starting kit which includes two clickers and A dog and a dolphin. (I also ordered her book Don't shoot the dog! but yet to read it.) I read the information in the starter book and on the website and thought, "Okay, I can do this." Had it not been for my background in psychology and my experience with Sheldon the rat, I don't think I would have felt prepared enough to move forward on my own. But I was confident, I had the basics, and I had Mary Ann. And Panda already knew the clicker meant treat time from hanging out with his clicker-trained buddies! What could go wrong!?!

Mary Ann suggested I use amazingly tempting treats to really encourage Panda for his food. So off to the grocery store I trotted and bought end rounds of deli meat, chopped them up into tiny pieces and off I went! I decided to start with something fun to serve as encouragement for me and show my husband just how great this clicker training thing really was. Chosen behavior: roll over! Now, Panda is a skittish dog and we knew from the past 2 years that he didn't like rolling onto his back. In fact, he would only do it for my husband and only in our bed. (Yes, there is a lot of dog hair on our sheets.) I thought, if I can get him to do this, I can get him to do anything. I had Mary Ann explain to me body position and how to break it down into incremental steps.

The first session was interesting. The technique I was using meant I had to lean over Panda and bait him around using bits of ham. (Boy does he like ham!) But Panda was really unsure about all this. He doesn't like us hanging over him and he always likes to keep an eye on us when we do, so turning his head around with me hovering was not something he wanted to do. Baby steps I reminded myself. If Panda turned his head a centimeter, click/treat. By the end of the first session, which was only 5 minutes because I was told to keep it short at first, Panda was willing to turn his head almost half way around. He clearly understood if he wanted that food, he had to get his head around until he heard the click and it was all his!

The sessions progressed rapidly. Two sessions and day and he was learning! His suspiciousness lessened and his willingness to crane his neck around 270 degrees was superb. I tried to end each session on a positive note with a big jackpot for a job well done. Any time he saw me pick up that clicker and head to the fridge, Panda was glued to my side waiting to see what was next. He was excited, I was excited, and we were both learning! Mary Ann was a constant wealth of information, advice and support. I probably sent her 3 emails a day with questions or progress reports.

Some elements of the training were very hard for me. For example, you're not supposed to "command your dog around." I'm so used to commanding him around and just generally cooing and encouraging him, keeping my mouth shut was nearly impossible. I debated putting tape over it. But I adapted. As training went on, some days were slower than others. Sometimes I didn't think I'd ever get him to roll over. I remember the best day was when Panda finally went laid down on his side (he sort of tipped himself over while craning his neck)! I was practically doing cartwheels, showing my husband how well Panda was doing, etc.

That's when I hit a wall. I suppose plateau is probably a better description but it felt like crashing into a wall. Panda was willing to lie on his side and pick his head up from the ground a little with his front paw coming up just a little but I couldn't figure out how to get him onto his back. My positioning was probably off but it just wasn't working. Instead of turning around more, Panda would sit back up — square zero! I lost some heart on that one. Mary Ann suggested maybe I started with a behavior that is too hard — requires too many building blocks, Panda's not really comfortable with the behavior, I'm not well practiced at the technique yet. Why not start with something fun and simple?

So with roll over abandoned (hey, I could always use lying on the side as "bang" or "dead dog" if I wanted to), what to choose next? Mary Ann suggested something from Karen Pryor's book, 101 things to do with a box. I read this over and thought, "why do I want to encourage my dog to play with a box?" The last thing I wanted to do is encourage anything that may lead to destructive behavior (probably an overreaction but did I mention my childhood dog was a Samoyed that ate everything?), so I decided it was time to use the clicker on some obedience behaviors. It was time for heel.

Heel, I think, is an amazingly easy behavior to work on using clicker training. You hold food by your side, the dog follows right at your side (it is ham after all!) He follows you for two steps, click/treat. Gradually, the dog must follow you for three paces, then four, etc. until click/treat. How hard can this be?

But here is where my laziness got the best of me. At this point in time, we were in a small apartment that only allowed me to go 4-5 steps before having to turn around again. It was time to venture outside. However, it was also getting colder. October in Massachusetts is cold enough for me to need gloves. How was I to deal with carrying around this clicker and mushy food while wearing leather gloves? For a while, I did work on it outside or at the dog playgroups (yes, my dog has a playgroup) which serve as wonderful distractions for training. Panda would follow me for about 10 paces. But at the playgroup, once a dog realizes you're handing out treats, you're suddenly the pied piper of dogs and you have 5 of them heeling with Panda getting pushed to the outskirts. I know, I know, nothing but a bunch of excuses, but it worked for me!

At that point it got a little colder and we started house hunting. I did keep up with the training sessions fairly well but they slowly started to diminish. The final breaking point was when I had to have surgery and couldn't talk (and didn't want to move much) for at least a couple weeks. This got me completely out of the habit. Clicker training all but disappeared from my dog's life as we began the house buying process, my husband went in for surgery (we're all fine now by the way), the holidays hit, and I started packing the house (leaving even less room for training in this tiny apartment).

While I had given up on the training at least temporarily, I did get to see with my very own eyes, how well clicker training worked for Panda. He was alert and willing to work and able to learn! So after we moved, got settled and invited the dog group over for a dog warming (yup, 21 dogs in one house), Mary Ann put out an announcement that there was going to be a clicker training class not too far from my new house!

Surely, this was the answer. Now I can have an instructor who can watch me, correct me, work with me, give me structured assignments, and I'm accountable every week to work with Panda (and it's indoors in February!) Getting back into the clicker swing would surely get me going again. I recruited another friend from the dog group to take it with me. She's got 4 dogs (2 Berners, 2 Corgis) and picked her youngest Corgi for the class. Nothing like having a friend along for moral support and a carpool companion. Now I'm set.

To See Next Entry (March 2)