If you’re considering clicker training but don’t want to lay out the $$ for the formal class, check out the book I suggested, The Power of Positive Training by Pat Miller. It gives a good overview of why the clicker works (helps the dog pinpoint the exact behavior they’re being rewarded for*) and easy instructions on how to use it. Clickers themselves are super cheap, I think mine was $2. Sorry to get all pushy about CT, but I really am amazed at how well it has simplified training for my dog.
*Instead of “sit! good dog!” treat which can be confusing for the dog (“what am I getting a treat for? crouching? looking at her? standing back up?”) it’s "sit! click the instant butt meets floortreat. The dog learns to associate the click with the desired behavior and a reward, even if the reward comes a few seconds later.
Just thought I’d post a follow-up, in case anyone’s interested.
We’re now 2 weeks in with our little dog (updated pictures!), and looking back I can’t believe how much that first night worried me! Bailey is doing great in almost every respect. What really surprised me was how quickly she picked up on the housetraining: of course she’s not perfect, at just 15 weeks old, but I’d say that 80% of the time she’s a very good dog. I nearly cried the first time she went to the door to be let out. grin
We started puppy classes at PetSmart a week ago – though really the first class was just this past Saturday, because at the “first” class there weren’t enough dogs. Bailey got to spend most of the hour playing with the one other puppy who was there (an adorable Rottweiler who will be twice her size by next week!) while the other dog’s owners and I talked to each other and the trainer about our respective dogs and challenges. On Saturday there were 3 other dogs there, and we had our first proper class. We will be using clickers, which I’ve made peace with, and the trainer gave us each one to take home. I didn’t work with her any yesterday, but today I will take her aside and spend ~10 minutes working on the “watch me” command that we started to learn. The PetSmart training style is positive reinforcement, and I picked up the book that Cisco recommended.
The biggest challenge we still face is crate training, particularly at night, but a) I screwed up last week and have had to effectively start all over again, and b) it’s only been two weeks. It’s easy to focus on this one big negative because of the lack of sleep (e.g., I was so exhausted yesterday afternoon that I actually picked a fight with my SO, for the first time ever with anyone), but on the whole she’s a great little dog and we’re so happy to have her. Cute as anything, loves to play tug-of-war and is starting to learn the concept of fetching, is getting along with the other dog and is mostly on her feeding schedule, is doing well with her housetraining, etc.
We keep wondering just how big she’ll be: the vet thinks she’s mostly Beagle and won’t get to more than ~25 pounds, but more than one person at PetSmart this weekend said, “She’s going to be a big dog!” She’s already nearly as tall as our other Beagle (who was, admittedly, the runt of her litter), so we’re just waiting and seeing.
