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- Jan 11, 2005
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When I first got Sashka and she was extremely impossible, I was looking for anything and everything to train her. I ended up getting Karen Pryor's clicker-training book and it really taught her some great behaviours.
But the results are nothing short of spectacular with a puppy!
Last week I taught Ruby to pay attention to her name and look in my eyes in about five minutes - no matter what she was doing. Now, without any reinforcement at all, whenever I say her name, she stops whatever she is doing and looks at me.
So tonight I tried `sit'. Amazing. The whole idea is to wait until they offer you a behaviour, and then reward it. When she gets bored (ie if you ignore her) she sits. So I started rewarding that and, once again, after about six minutes I was not using the clicker at all, but just saying `Ruby (gets the attention) sit'. EVERY TIME. Unbelievable. I cannot believe something can work so fast so amazingly. So I just got her to sit for her dinner, I'm going to leave it an hour or so and see how she goes again.
It works amazingly well, on cats, too. I just can't recommend it highly enough. And the best thing is it's simple, fun and you feel a real bond with your cat/dog during and after the learning process (not to mention filled with parental pride!!
)
But the results are nothing short of spectacular with a puppy!
Last week I taught Ruby to pay attention to her name and look in my eyes in about five minutes - no matter what she was doing. Now, without any reinforcement at all, whenever I say her name, she stops whatever she is doing and looks at me.
So tonight I tried `sit'. Amazing. The whole idea is to wait until they offer you a behaviour, and then reward it. When she gets bored (ie if you ignore her) she sits. So I started rewarding that and, once again, after about six minutes I was not using the clicker at all, but just saying `Ruby (gets the attention) sit'. EVERY TIME. Unbelievable. I cannot believe something can work so fast so amazingly. So I just got her to sit for her dinner, I'm going to leave it an hour or so and see how she goes again.
It works amazingly well, on cats, too. I just can't recommend it highly enough. And the best thing is it's simple, fun and you feel a real bond with your cat/dog during and after the learning process (not to mention filled with parental pride!!