Restarting with Clicker training

oranges81

Maze caught on pretty quick that when the clicker came out, it was time to listen and get treats. Which is great BUT once the clicker got put away, she stopped listening. Even with commands she knows really well. Is there a way to counter this behaviour? Like keep the clicker in my pocket at all times so she never see's it. Just hears it?

Yes, or behind your back.  Try having it in your pocket and "capture" a few excellent behaviours per day for a few days.  Almost like you are carrying around a little camera and taking a snapshot of behaviours that you want her to repeat a lot.  You might be surprised at the effect this has.

oranges81

Also. Should I be clicking on commands she knows but needs work on? Like Down and her recall.

Personally I like to 1. charge the clicker and then 2. start teaching a brand new bahviour with it.  If she needed work with recall, I might START OVER with a totally new word plus clicker.  Same with down.  Or I might click-treat her unexpectedly for her very best responses, to encourage her to keep offering those "best responses".

oranges81

One more question! Can the clicker help with her agression towards other dogs? I know she'll never be 100% but I'd like to be able to walk down the street and not have her lunge from across the street to get the dog 4 blocks away.

You need a copy of Emma Parson's "Click to Calm".

The answer to your question is a resounding Yes, provided you train yourself thoroughly and know that your timing is spot on.  Keep as much distance as you can between her and her trigger (in this case, other dogs) and click/treat for her remaining calm.  The distance will gradually decrease.  It will help if you can keep her away from other days completely for several days to allow the stress hormones in her body to dissipate.
 

 I've heard about that book. I keep meaning to order it but always forget when I'm in the bookstore. Lol. I must write that down.

Thanks for the reply. I've got to make a trip to the petstore anyways and I've been playing with the idea of replacing my clicker. And keeping it away from DH so he doesn't break it again. Lol.

No. You don't have to click for anything that she knows and does well. But, if she needs work on it then yes, by all means, click that thing!!! lol

For the agression you could try searching for a post called Advice on Dog-Dog Agression by lastadtfan.

Chuffy

oranges81

One more question! Can the clicker help with her agression towards other dogs? I know she'll never be 100% but I'd like to be able to walk down the street and not have her lunge from across the street to get the dog 4 blocks away.

 

You need a copy of Emma Parson's "Click to Calm".

The answer to your question is a resounding Yes, provided you train yourself thoroughly and know that your timing is spot on.  Keep as much distance as you can between her and her trigger (in this case, other dogs) and click/treat for her remaining calm.  The distance will gradually decrease.  It will help if you can keep her away from other days completely for several days to allow the stress hormones in her body to dissipate.
 

I disagree, it best to use proven methods like C&CC, desensitizing technique, and Constructional Aggression Treatment.  It is always best to Clicker Train when the dog is in one emotional state and not switching back and forth between emotions.  When other emotions come into play there is greater risk that you will reinforce the wrong behavior....so easy to do. 

 C&CC?? What the heck is that??

As for working on her agression. She has gotten better with distracting her at a certain distance and rewarding with a tug toy (her ultimate reward in her eyes) even without the clicker.. I've been doing it that way for a couple weeks with the marker "Good!" and the tug toy as a reward. I was just curious if I could replace the word marker with the click cuz really I get tired say "Good" every 2 minutes. Lol.

I understand it's easy to mark the wrong behaviour but I make sure she's relaxed and focused on me before reward.

 I agree with Chuffy's post, and would have written most of what she did.  In regards to two things specifically:

Chuffy

Or I might click-treat her unexpectedly for her very best responses, to encourage her to keep offering those "best responses".

Also:

Chuffy

oranges81

One more question! Can the clicker help with her agression towards other dogs? I know she'll never be 100% but I'd like to be able to walk down the street and not have her lunge from across the street to get the dog 4 blocks away.

 

You need a copy of Emma Parson's "Click to Calm".

The answer to your question is a resounding Yes, provided you train yourself thoroughly and know that your timing is spot on.  Keep as much distance as you can between her and her trigger (in this case, other dogs) and click/treat for her remaining calm.  The distance will gradually decrease.  It will help if you can keep her away from other days completely for several days to allow the stress hormones in her body to dissipate.

 Thank you for the input. I was hoping I'd get a personal opinion from some who has used the book.

Here's another vote in favor of Click to Calm.  It's very well-written and easy to understand.  If you have Control Unleashed, there's an exercise called Look At That that some owners of dog aggressive dogs in my book group recommend highly.  I just got my copy so I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but was thinking about trying it on Woobie for his kid fear issues.  Good luck! 

BCMixs

If you have Control Unleashed, there's an exercise called Look At That that some owners of dog aggressive dogs in my book group recommend highly. 

Yes, this exercise is wonderful.

oranges81

One more question! Can the clicker help with her agression towards other dogs? I know she'll never be 100% but I'd like to be able to walk down the street and not have her lunge from across the street to get the dog 4 blocks away.

Thanks in advance!

Do try Leslie McDevitt's book, Control Unleashed. Some diligent (but short-term) work with my lunger turned her around. We can pass dogs without a hissy fit taking place.

I'm pretty excited and proud of us.

Absolutely loved the "Look at That" exercise. Went from my shushing and restraining an out-of-control lunging dog who got my other dog all riled up, too,  to her smiling and moving on.

 Control Unleashed is on my list of books to buy at the end of the month. I'm glad to hear that the exercises do work. I'm going to try it then. I was just buying it to read initally. Lol.

You may need to tailor the exercises to fit your paticular need. I had worked with 2 trainers in the past--one who gave leash corrections and voice corrections and the other who wanted me to say "shh" and redirect her focus on me (and use treats for rewards). The problem I had might be similar to what DPU mentioned--I couldn't even get through to her, so clicking could have been a little scary, especially if I was clicking at the wrong time, which can easily happen when they hit their little screaming match session. Nothing that I had ever learned before helped--it all just escalated things. I actually think she was egged on by it all. To be fair, I've stopped leash corrections since she has a tender esophagus and has had major joint surgery. But I stilled gave her the growly "Quiet" like I'd learned. She didn't hear me. (Lovely feeling.) And I tried to physically turn her and have been knocked over by her as she screaming and lunging. (But I kept at it, like a good student.) She couldn't/wouldn't take a treat and things were getting very tense for me and for her. I dreaded walking with her. And the thing is--she just turned into this screaming dog. (I think it's connected to her surgery and recovery and my being tense throughout her rehab because so much was at stake and I needed to be very careful.) She used to be cool with things but over the last 2 years she has worsened and worsened and worsened. Scary.

I know with Parsons the key is to move further back but that's hard to do in an immediate situation. In that situation all I could do was restrain her so she didn't hurt anyone. And those immediate situations were more a way of life for us than the other. (Where we can stage dogs--after all, some of those examples are ones where you either need a class of dogs or a great group of dog friends and their dogs, ones your dog doesn't know. I had neither advantage.)

The "look at that" moved us along quite quickly and I use it over and over, starting with a dog park that had lots of dogs running around, to a regular park that lots of dogs went to, to our neighborhood. 

I just got done using it tonight, as a matter of fact. It's so hot out we walked in the dark and she spotted another dog walking and her hair started to stand up but by the second time I said that, it was down and she had "moved on" and was done worrying over the other dog.  

You'll like it. The book. The lessons. And just flat out trying it.

 Usually I can pull Maze off with a sutble tap on her butt with my knee. When I walk her, I make sure I'm always between her and the other dog.  She hasn't escatled to screaming yet but it's come close..  Yep. I think a trip to the book store is in order tomorrow instead of waiting til the end of the month..

I'm glad to hear you're doing good with your dog. It does give me hope that Maze can be helped.

when the clicker came out, it was time to listen and get treats.

listen to what? in a formal clicker shaping session the dog is supposed to "offering" behaviors not waiting for you to give commands. There are many ways to use a clicker- all of which can be done at different times for different purposes with the same dog-

"capture" in which you carry it always and click whenever the dog "offers" a desirable behavior;

"shaping" in which in a stylized formal session you "shape" the dog to offer a new behavior or behavior chain;

"improvement" in which you click the better tries of the dog in an already learned behavior so the dog gradually moves towards perfection

Note that NONE of these uses directly addresses or bypasses the need to engage in  "proofing" which is where you work on getting the behavior reliable to the three D's: distractions, distance, and different places. Many a dog can perform brilliantly in the kitchen or after being shown the bait bag but anywhere else or under other circumstances seems clueless- because the owner neglected to "proof". You can never "proof" too much.