finish question - Page 2

Blitzen how could you hate a border collie?? They are so cute.  I started the brick work with Nala today.  I don't normally use a clicker, I use the same principle I just norm use my voice and lots of praise, however since I'm going to do agility with Nala I thought a clicker might be a really good way to mark desired behavior while she is learning the obstacles.  Esp because I don't have to be right next to her for her to get the positive reinforcement.  Kinda hard to scratch her ears etc if she's learning to run an agility field.  She really likes the clicker she actually picked up very quickly that she is waiting to hear the clicker and then she gets the treat.  I started her out last night with commands she already knew and then we started working on blieb with it and she did really well, so today when I pulled out the clicker she got all excited .  Today she just worked on getting up on the brick, but she had fun, so thanks so much for this thread and for posting the video, I never would have thought about doing that without the video and Nala is having lots of fun with it.  I always taught the go around finish because I had no idea how people taught the military finish, I read it in books but I'm a more visual person.  Thanks again!!

BC's are just so damned perfect. Don't they ever make mistakes LOL.

The helpers at our training club use clickers in protection training. I've never used one, bought one but never used it.

They are VERY smart dogs.  Yeah this is really the first time I've used a clicker.  Nala was abused before I got her and had no socialization.  When we got her last march she was scared of everybody would just  cower in the corner, esp if it was a man we couldn't let her outside without a long line on bc you couldn't catch her to get her inside.  She had NEVER been inside a house etc.  Now you would never know she was the same dog.  She never meets a stranger is very upbeat and peppy.  Understandably I try to use as little compulsion as possible with her and when I do correct I do it very mildly and that is all it takes.  However she responds beautifully to the motivational, and since I've never trained agility before like I said I figured it would be a great way to mark the behaviors as she is learning the courses.  I could prob get her to bite for bitework, but it isn't something she gravitates to, and I'm just so proud of her for pulling out of it all personality wise I figure I'm not going to ask her to do anything work wise she dosen't find fun.  she loves to run and jump etc so I figure we'll give it a shot and see how she does. She will be my first dog that I do obedience and tracking with in the AKC events, as she does also love to track.  She has come a very long way in 8 months !! As you can see I'm very proud of her!

YW for posting the video. It was very helpful for me as well.

I don't use the clicker for this. I use my voice and a verbal reward marker. "yes"

Works just the same. That way when my forgetful self shows up at a training center or  the training field and forget a clicker I won't be SOL

BC's make everything look so easy, its not fair LOL. I wouldn't be able to handle the handler sensitivity level on them though. Thats why GSD's work so much better for me among the many other things I love about them

lol I agree, I tried a clicker once years ago but I find a sound I make as good job noise works the same. It is always with me to lol he can be rewarded no matter where we are in an instant for anything he does.

I've seen how long it takes a BC to get it. How long do you guys have to do the brick work with the gsds?

I had my showline male at 8 months doing it in one session. I keep training short no longer than 10 minutes. Usually i have a hot dog or a handful of raw ground beef I work with and either when the dog makes a good stride towards understanding it, or when the treats are through we stop.

Which means it couldn't have taken my male longer than 10 minutes to figure out what I wanted.

The part that takes the longest is the person learning understands exactly what they are looking for and marks it at the correct time. Timing and consistency is really everything. Marking small steps towards the big picture is where its at.

I also like using my voice as a reward marker because I can fluctuate how happy I am at their success. A very excited jackpot reward with lots of affection, or a short quick "yes" and reward. I think this makes a big difference in my dogs attitude towards training. They understand the big reward is for exactly what I wanted and they always try that more often. The yes is for the small steps towards what I want and they keep offering that same behavior plus something else.

(I really have come to love shaping. it is such a cool way to teach and the dogs LOVE trying to figure out what you want)

I've read that if you forget the clicker you can make a clicking sound with your tongue. That made me think of that movie with Geena Davis where she trained a corgi by clicking her tongue LOL. Forget the name.

It was Accidental Tourist.

 

I keep my sessions short too, I try to intigrate whatever they are learning into a game of some sort so we work on it durring the training session, but then they get the concept while durring play also.  Yeah like I said this is the first time I've used a clicker, I always marked it with my voice before and did the same thing once the big picture was achieved I just threw a party.  I still throw a party for Nala that is what gets her the most excited, if I use just clicker she seems to get bored.  I had just never trained agility so I figured it would be an easy way to mark what I wanted as she was learning the course and then polishing things up. I haven't tried to move her on the brick yet, just getting on the brick, she knows what I want but she looks at me as if she's thinking "what is the point of this". LOL so today we played chase with my 2 yr old daughter and the brick was base, so when Cassie would chase Nala she would run around then go back to the brick put her front feet on it and stop. Tomorrow we will work on her moving.

dont use bricks or clicker , but teach them to work with rear end

at the beginning I "steer them'with my hand and work from there