>>Message Sent by: "Leslie A. Lord, Animal Care Centre" lordla@tupdean1.med.dal.ca >>See http://www.click-l.com/ for faqs, rules, links and other info > >>Message Sent by: miscstock@juno.com (Misc Stock) > Latest Confusion-Several posts have been talking about clicking for > several different behaviors during a training session. I thought that > the idea was to shape a particular behavior each session. Instead do > you sort of go?: That was a good sit click. That was the turn click > That wasn't a good sit don't click. That paw wave was cute click > I seem to be having a problem melding the theory to the actual physical > how to do this. > Back in the theroy tangle You had it right the first time. But be flexible in what you call a training session. My training sessions can be one minute periods during which time I will work on the sit for minute or two, run to another room or area in the yard and work on the touch, play a short ball game and then go to another area to work on spins. That's for the naive/novice dog. At some point you will notice that just by you changing your demeanor/position/cue,   the dog will pick up on the fact that you are looking for something new. If they seem really confused, you might try making the transition more obvious, but most dogs seem to catch on really fast. Especially in the novice dog, I would train only one thing per session, but the session can be extremely short. To see how inventive the dog can get and to encourage him to be flexible and to think on his feet, there's nothing better than Karen Pryor's "101 things to do with a box" (on the keeper page). This is where you are encouraging risk taking and the offering of different behaviours. Here you click for all the new stuff the dog gives you.... he runs the session. Some dogs will get really good at offering may diffeent behaviours... some you can use down the line. I love it when we play this game and my very experienced clicker dog will do something and then look over his shoulder at me as if to say "hey!!! look at this one, click me". But if you are shaping a behaviour "sit", then stick to sits during that session. Just define your sessions. Otherwise it can be frustrating to the dog. Leslie and the poodles Leslie Lord Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia Leslie.Lord@Dal.Ca

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