by Deborah Wood
Portland, OR
(Click on above image to enlarge)
When Riley hears the words, "Let's go skating!," he takes a running jump at his own personal skateboard. He lands on the board with all four paws, the momentum of his effort carrying him forward several yards. When the skateboard slows down, the Cardigan Welsh corgi reaches down with his short back leg and pushes so he speeds up again.
Believe it or not, your dog can learn to do cool tricks like this one. All you do is catch him doing something right and reward him.
"Riley loves to offer behaviors," says Kristine Gunter of Portland, who competes with her dogs in obedience, agility, rally obedience and canine freestyle events. Riley has learned that those behaviors pay off in fun times and treats.
The joy of clicking: Most of Riley's trick routines were taught with a clicker. This is a little hand-held device that makes a distinct "click" when you squeeze it. Clickers are inexpensive (about $1) and are widely available at pet-supply stores and from dog trainers.
The first step is to teach your dog that the sound of a clicker means he gets a treat. You simply snap the clicker and give the dog a treat. Click, treat. Click, treat. Within a couple of minutes, almost every dog figures out the click means something delicious is on its way.
The next step is to click when your dog is doing something you want him to do. "When Riley's learning something new," Gunter says, "he goes through his entire repertoire. He sits, he lies down, he lifts his paw." The instant he offers a behavior that's close to what she wants, she clicks and rewards him. So, when Gunter wanted Riley to learn to hold up his paw on command, she clicked the moment it happened.
Soon, the dog was figuring out what earned him the click, in this case lifting up his foot. Then Gunter assigned a name to the trick ("paw"). Soon Riley was lifting his paw each time Gunter said "paw."
"Start small," Gunter says. When Riley learned how to skateboard, he first learned to put one paw on the board, and then two, and then three and finally four. Gunter helped Riley build up each behavior separately.
Alternatives: While clicker training is extremely popular, other positive approaches might work better with certain dogs or different situations. "My dog, Teek, is afraid of the sound of a clicker," says Kirsten Nielsen, who teaches dog-obedience classes in Hillsboro, Beaverton and Portland. She uses praise instead of a click. Words like "yes!" and "good!" that are quick and distinctive can let your dog know when he's doing things right.
Rather than waiting for Teek to offer a behavior, Nielsen usually lures her dog into a position, and then rewards her. For example, when Nielsen says "chin" to Teek, the Alaskan malamute puts her chin down on Nielsen's lap.
Reward at the right moment: Whether you reward your dog for something it does naturally or lure it into a behavior and then give the reward, be sure to click or praise when the behavior is the one you want.
"Timing is absolutely essential to getting the right behavior," Nielsen says. "Otherwise you reward the wrong behavior." If you want a dog to sit but reward him when he's sitting and barking, you've just taught him to bark.
Almost any behavior can be taught using these methods, and you'll see that your dog will pay more attention trying to figure out how to do what you want done.
"I get a charge out of watching the dogs' wheels turn and watching them 'get it,' " Nielsen says. "When they make the connection, that's my reward."
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