The president might do clicker training?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2VH_r_-C4

HOOPS! PART I

SO after, you have MASTERED Part 1, Part 2 is next!

1. Now transition to waving your arm in front of the hoop, when your dog is in front of the hoop waiting in the doorway.
2.When your dog is jumping through the hoop say "Jump!" And soon your dog will catch on as to what the meaning of "Jump!" is.
3. Practice =) Until all you need to do is wave your arm in front of the hoop and your dog knows what to do i the doorway.

Step 3 involves taking the doorway out of the picture, so keep up the good work!

Haiti

The ultimate "trick" for a dog is to find a human who is clinging to life under the rubble.
Here is more on the search dogs used in haiti and practice exercises search and rescue teams use.

http://dogblog.dogster.com/2010/01/17/amazing-canine-search-teams-still-finding-people-trapped-alive-in-haiti/

101 Dog Tricks

http://101dogtricks.blogspot.com/

Check out this interesting blog, she is slowly working her way thought he book 101 Dog Tricks and it's great to see her progress! Check it out!

HOOPS! PART I

Your dog should be very healthy (i.e. no arthritis, limping, etc.) before trying this trick. You won't want to further hurt your dog by asker her to jump. For older dogs, don't ask your dog to jump very high. You won't need your clicker for this trick beacuse you will holding a hoop and rewarding your dog with food.
1. You need a door way. Alternately you can sandwich the hoop inbetween a couch/lazy boy and a cofee table. The idea is to restrict ways around the hoop so your dog has no choice but to go through the hoop but voluntarily go through on her own to get food.
2. Put hoop in doorway with the bottom part on the floor.
3. Through a treat through the hoop and reward your dog for going through. Repeat several times, by putting food down on the ground on the other side of the hoop. Praise your dog each time she goes through.
4. Try raising the hoop ever so slightly- about 2 inches off the ground and repeat. This time when your dog has to do a little bunny hop to go through the hoop to get the food, say "jump" and then praise your dog immediately. Repeat this several times, while raising the hop slightly higher each time. The key is to keep it low- low enough so that your dog can't climb under to go get the food.

Dog Whistle App

An interesting and FREE dog whistle app offered for the iPhone.

http://appshopper.com/utilities/dog-whistler

Play Dead

How to teach "play dead"

Shoot your dog and see her come back to life!
1. Put your dog in a down position.
2. Tell your dog to lay down. CLICK! and REWARD!
3. Now, with your dog relaxed rub her belly and try and get her to lay on her side. If your dog is getting up right after laying down, put some peanut butter in the ground after they lay down and then start rubbing (provided your dog is NOT food possessive) and then try rubbing her belly. The idea is to get her laying on her side and enjoy a belly rub. Praise your dog when she is laying on her side. Practice this several times to get your dog used to being on her side and comfortable with the idea. When she is laying on her side say "good bang god yes you are soo good yes bang yes good". Say bang multiple times when your dog is on her side- so she associates it with something positive- food and a belly rub.
When your dog does this step (it make take several days and practice sessions) you may move to the next step.
4. When your dog is laying down and you go to try and scratch your dog's belly start saying bang as you gently push her into the side position. *CLICK* and REWARD.
5. Soon your dog will catch on and realize bang means a belly scratch. Now, when you start to go in and scratch your dog's belly say "bang" when you are leaning down and use a pointer finger outstretched to cue your dog when you do a belly scratch. So in one motion, go in with a pointer finger, say bang and then instantly immediatley turn your pointing gesture into a hand to rub your dog's belly.
6. Now adjust it so that you say "bang" and point at your dog as your dog is in the down position. Your dog will immediatley roll over for a belly scratch. For each successful attempt.
7. Practice Practice Practice

Target Practice

In lessons 1-3 your dog became aquatinted with targeting different part of their body to places that you want your dog to move to or touch. This will be useful later on when trying to learn more advanced tricks =) Also, targeting is an easy way to get you (your timing with the clicker) and your dog used to clicker training, since it is very basic.

Lesson 3: Target Stick

First, Construct a target stick.

Use a bamboo branch or old broom handle to make a target stick. You may choose to put something like a tennis ball on the end to make it softer. Or you can paint the end white. The idea is to have an area for your dog to aim for.

Why is a target stick useful?
A target stick can be used to teach your dog to aim for a set point (much how you taught to target your hand in lesson) and will be useful for getting your dog to learn other behaviors. For example you can raise the stick above your dog's head and teach her to beg.

1. Put some peanut butter on the very end of the stick and hold the other end. When your dog sniffs the stick, say "target", click and reward your dog.
2. Repeat several times. Now come back later and reward your dog for nudging the stick, most dogs catch on in two or three lessons.
3. Practice!

Follow me on Twitter!

https://twitter.com/clickatrick

Nose Targeting

Roxy is trained to touch her nose to my hand so I can get her to move where I want her too. You can also train your dog to target a stick.

Some clickers even come with built in target sticks, like this one:

Marker Training

Clicker training? There's an app for that!

Free dog clicker application for your iPhone or iPod touch 2.o

http://izen.me/blog/applications/good-dog-iphone-app/

Lesson 2: Stand here

For this next exercise you need a door mat. When your dog is standing on the doormat,say "mat" and CLICK and reward. Most door mats have a different surface (rougher texture) which will also clue your dog into the difference between the floor and the mat, and the mat being the place you want him to be. Your dog will pick up on this quickly, after you repeat it several times. Try practicing with your dog a few steps away away from the mat, point to the mat and when your dog goes to the mat from a few steps away, click and reward.

Why is this useful?

It's a useful way to put your dog where you want him. You can later graduate to smaller mats, like a placemat. The idea with the doormat is it's making it easy for your dog to figure out what you want since he does not speak English.

You can put this mat somewhere you want your dog to be when you are in a room and you don't want your dog underfoot. You can later build to your dog going to the mat when your door bell is rung. This is called a marker in the film industry and is how dogs are taught to go to a certain part of the set. This is also easy to teach cats.

Lesson 1: Nose Targeting

If you have already read "Your first time." and have practiced the exercise mentioned several times now you are ready for your first lesson. *CONFETTI AND PARTY BALLOONS!*

Learning this behavior will be helpful for future training exercises and is helpful for guiding your dog into the desired position during training other behaviors later. Targeting is giving your dog a desired area to shoot for and touch with something (her nose or paw). In this exercise your dog will touch your hand with their nose.

This is an easy exercise for you to teach your dog, especially since the both of you are just starting out clicker training. Remember, click just once, always reward, end on a positive note and use a special food reward!

Start with your dog in the sit position.

1. Hold your hand out. Say "target".

2. If your dog sniffs it or touches CLICK and reward. If your dog will not sniff your hand, put some peanut butter or rub some lunch meat juice/ hot dog juice on your hand to get them to sniff it. the idea is just for your dog to use their nose to touch your hand.

3. Repeat, for several short sessions until your dog will respond to the command target and touch your hand.

4. Gradually move your hand slightly away from your dogs nose, so your dog will have to stretch their neck to reach your hand.

5. Try this with your dog standing.

Tricks!

Clicker training for cats.

Can clicker training be used for cats? Absolutely! I will cover some specific clicker training methods with cats in a future blog post. The methods you use for a cat are much the same you would use as for a dog. For food rewards, try some tuna or wet food on a spoon so that your cat will remain interested and the reward will be ready.

Your first time.

There is a first time for everything. Including clicking your clicker. So click it as many times as you want when you first get it. Away from your dog in another area of your house. If you are like me, you may like to fiddle with buttons. Click it as many times as you want and get your fix, because after this, the click sound will have a meaning to your dog and mean a reward is coming every time you use it.

Start with a command your dog already knows and has been taught without the clicker. Im going to assume your dog has been taught to sit already, without the use of a clicker.

Thats right, put your shiny new clicker away, but just for a second. Ask your dog to sit. If it helps your dog obey, but a leash on their collar so they will pay more attention to you. (Most of the time just a well fitted buckle collar or martingale collar is fine.) CLICK once and reward with a treat. We are getting your dog used to the idea of the the click cuing the desired behavior.

A dog will know they are doing the desired behavior right, because she already knows how to sit. She will soon start to associate the click with the food coming next.

A note about the food you use- use something special that your dog will want to work for.

Where do I get a clicker?

There are two simple kinds of clickers.

I-Click - Easier for people new to clicker training to use and better for dogs sensitive to loud noises. Less force is needed to push the button and make a clicking sound, making it easier for people with arthritis to use.

Box Style - The original clicker, makes a very loud noise. The disadvantage is that is may scare very sound sensitive dogs and that it has to pushed at exactly the right spot to make the noise. This could be a disadvantage if your dog does the desired behavior and you miss the opportunity by not having your finger on the correct part of the clicker. These are widely available and easily found at Petco and Petsmart.

Optional but very reccomended:

Treat Pouch - Keeps your pockets from getting greasy and full of crumbs. Can be stored with your clicker so you can instantly start training. Keeps your reward food instantly available, so you don't lose valuable seconds not reinforcing the behavior while you try to find that food in your greasy, oily, crummy pocket. Can be put on carbineer so it is instantly ready.

Why clicker train?

Clicker training is simple and easy, almost anyone can do it provided you have a dog that hears and is motivated by food. If your dog is deaf a vibrating collar can be used instead. All breeds, sizes, temperaments and ages of dogs can be trained with the clicker method.

The San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Los Angeles Zoo and Sea World use clicker training (or variants of it, using whistles instead of clickers for example) to train their animals for desired behaviors and behaviors that make examination by a vet easier.

What is a clicker?

A clicker is an inexpensive device with a small piece of metal enclosed in a case with a button on top. When this button is pushed a satisfying "pop" sound is made. When training your dog is serves as an instant marker or cue.

Rather then saying "GOOD GIRL!" , then searching through your pocket for a treat then rewarding your dog, it tells your dog they did it right (or are close, when you first begin teaching them the behavior). The "pop" cue is an instant marker to your dog that she did it right. When you click, your dog is thinking "Woo hoo! I got it right! Let's party like it's 1999! I get FOOD!"

Training your dog with a clicker is simple, the dog is encouraged to do the dog desired behavior, a click sound is made and a small piece of food that is quickly eaten is given, so that the both of you can get back to training. The clicker eliminates much of the geusswork for the dog by telling her she did it right.

A clicker is much like James Bond device. It's small device that can be taken with you anywhere and that can be used to communicate. Most importantly, it has a leeeeeeever (pronounce that with an English accent) that gives you the power to instantly cue your dog in that they are doing something right.