The Power of a Click

"Hi, human! Look at me walking here! Just checking in to get a treat!"

The clicker is a powerful thing.

For those of you who are new to my blog, Susquehanna Service Dogs uses clicker training to train all their dogs. It’s based on positive reinforcement. Every time the dog does something you want, you click and give the dog a treat. What dog wouldn’t love that? The clicker is also a very precise way to communicate with your dog. It marks a specific behavior or moment in time.

And it’s powerful. Let’s take loose leash walking. Well-timed clicks can transform a dog from one who pulls on the end of the leash into one who walks right next to you on a loose leash.

Of course, poorly timed clicks can turn your dog, who used to walk perfectly on a loose leash, into a dog who continually pulls to the end of her leash.

Now let’s take Dakota. When Dakota was a puppy, she used to walk beautifully on a loose leash. She’d stay right next to me, and the leash would be in a perfect, loose J shape. I was pretty proud of how nicely she walked. As she grew older, however, her perfect loose leash walking started to fall apart. She’d take a few steps right next to me, and I'd click and treat, but then she’d trot quickly ahead until she was at the end of her leash. And after that initial click, she'd keep pulling to the end of her leash.

SSD teaches puppy raisers to use penalty yards when dogs pull on the leash. Basically, when the dog starts getting too far ahead, you simply walk backward—the penalty yards—until the dog is back by your side. Then you walk forward again, clicking and treating after a few steps.

Well, penalty yards weren’t working with Dakota. Oh, she’d come back and stay right beside me for a few steps, but as soon as I clicked and treated her, she’s trot ahead again. We’d do more penalty yards, she’d take a few perfect loose-leash steps, I’d click, and she’s zip ahead again. More penalty yards, and well, you get the picture. We were getting nowhere. In fact, we were literally moving backward.

I chalked up her poor loose leash walking to being a teenager. When dogs hit those teenage years, at least half of what they learned goes flying out of their head. I figured little teenage Dakota thought the world was too interesting, so I tried what I did with teenage Doppler—I clicked and treated much more often. As soon as I gave ‘Kota a treat, I’d click again while she was still walking next to me.

Her loose leash walking got WORSE the more I clicked. So frustrating, because I thought I was doing everything right! I was doing the penalty yards. I was clicking while she was next to me. Why wasn’t it working?

That’s when I realized the problem wasn’t a teenage Dakota. The problem was ME. I was inadvertently clicking Dakota for walking quickly to the end of her leash.

See, I discovered that immediately after ‘Kota got her treat, she’d take 3-4 really fast steps. When I clicked right after giving her a treat, I was actually clicking her for walking really fast. Because the clicker marks an exact behavior, Dakota thought I was clicking her for walking fast. Of course, she kept walking fast which quickly put her at the end of her leash. After all, she’d been trained all her life to continue doing the thing she’d been clicked for. Walking fast became the behavior instead of loose leash walking.

Once I figured that out, I took a moment with her to simply click and treat for attention. I wanted to give both of us a chance to reset and focus. When we started walking again, I began delaying my clicks. Instead of clicking immediately after giving her a treat, I let her take those 3-4 fast “yay, I got a treat!” steps while I kept a steady pace. And what do you know, after her four fast steps, she slowed down, looked at me, and readjusted her pace to mine.

After a few nice steps—click, treat! I kept walking at a steady pace and waited for her to finish her fast “yay, treat!” steps and again, she readjusted her pace to mine and checked in with me. Once she had walked a few steps nicely with me, I clicked again.

Within five clicks, she stopped going anywhere near the end of her leash. She still took a few fast steps but she never went farther than a head and shoulders ahead of me before she re-matched her pace with mine. And she continually checked in with me instead of focusing only on the environment around her.

My loose leash walking puppy was back, thanks to the power of the clicker!

There are still times when Dakota sees the most interesting thing in the world and goes to the end of her leash. When that happens, I still give her penalty yards until she comes back to me. But now I know that when we start walking forward again, I need to be very precise with my click. 

A Study in Self Control

My kitchen supervisors

If Doppler’s day today had a theme, it would be self control. It started first thing at breakfast. Doppler has to sit, un-cued, and wait for me to put his food dish down and tell him “okay.” Only then can he eat. As usual, I had to pick his food dish up several times when he dove for it before the “okay.” But when he did finally hold his sit and I told him “okay,” he stayed put and just looked at me as if to say, “You’re just kidding, right? Nope, I’m not falling for it.” I had to say “okay” several times and point to his food dish before he decided it was okay to eat.

At work, per usual, he alternated between sleeping in the crate and hanging out under my desk. However, today he started putting himself under my desk. I think he’s starting to realize that’s where he’s supposed to be. Now, if only he would stop chewing on my desk chair… (The bacon-flavored bone has been a huge help in deterring his chewing on inappropriate things.)

Hanging out under my desk

And then, a few hours ago, came his biggest test of self control. We joined the big dogs for their puppy class outing to Giant. So many distractions for the little puppy! We spent about 10 minutes right inside the door, just taking it all in. Doppler got lots of clicks and treats for looking at me. At first, loose leash walking was nonexistent. When SSD dogs walk on leash, they’re supposed to stay right next to their handlers, with the leash in a loose J shape. Doppler was pulling all over the place. He was like “Ooo, another dog! Ooo, person! Oooo, smudge on the floor! This place is so awesome!” Finally, after lots of stops and starts, I got him to a quiet aisle to really get him focused. Pretty soon, he was walking on a loose leash like a champ. Sure, I was clicking and treating every three steps, but still, it was great.

I love taking Doppler in public. We’ve only gone one other place, a different Giant, but both times, he was surrounded by smiles. How can you not smile when you see a little wrinkly-faced puppy trotting along on his chubby little legs? Even the people who had that stressed out, long-day-at-work, don’t-wanna-be-grocery-shopping look cracked a smile when they saw him.

We spent an hour walking around Giant, practicing loose leash walking, greetings, and a few sits on a verbal cue. He was very interested in the other, older dogs who were there, but whenever we had to pass one, I made sure to click before he started to pull and then held the treat in his mouth as we walked past the other dog. That way, he didn’t pull and kept his focus.

Of course, since I was so focused on training Doppler, I didn’t even think to take any photos while we were there. I will do my best to get better at that.

All in all, I call today a successful day of self control.

Last night, we had our first puppy class with his siblings and two other puppies who recently joined SSD from Pacific Assistance Dogs Society. These classes, known as early socialization classes (ESC), are where the little puppies learn many of the basic cues, like sit, down, stay, come, and my personal favorite of the early cues: go to bed. Doppler will be in ESC until May, and then he’ll join the regular puppy classes with the rest of SSD’s dogs in training.

At this first puppy class, we worked on attention and started capturing the “sit” behavior. I have to admit, I had already put “sit” on a verbal cue, so Doppler was a champ at that one. Shaping, on the other hand, turned out to be his Achilles heel, at least for right now. Shaping is a training method where you break a behavior down into tiny steps. The dog must master each step before you move on to the next one (increasing your criteria for a click).  For this first shaping exercise, we had to get the dogs to touch their nose to an orange cone.

Okay, sure, we can handle that. I started by clicking and treating Doppler for just looking at the cone. Once he had that down, I clicked and treated him for walking toward it. Okay, great, he walked right over to it. Click, treat. Next thing I know, Doppler is trying to bite and play with the cone. He was absolutely convinced that the cone was a toy. Clearly, we were going to have to work on shaping a lot, because he certainly wasn’t getting it with the orange cone.

So, today at work, I snagged an old coffee mug and put it on the ground upside down. I figured with the extra weight, the mug wouldn’t move if he bumped it and maybe he wouldn’t think it was a toy.

It worked! Doppler was much calmer this time (probably because there were no other dogs around and it was a familiar place). I clicked and treated him for looking at the mug, then for taking one step toward it, then for several steps, and finally for touching his nose to it. Every time I clicked, he looked right at me. I treated him away from the mug so he would have to move back toward it each time. We did this shaping exercise twice while we were at work, and both times he was successful. I think I’ll bring the mug with me to ESC and use it instead of the orange cone. Set Doppler up for success with something familiar.

I’m all about setting him up for success. He’s happier, I’m happier, everyone’s happier. 

"Another photo? Can't you see I'm busy?"

Who's Training Who?

The famous bacon-flavored chew toy

 Today, we’re celebrating. I’ve had Doppler for three days now, and he has gone the last two days without an accident inside. Woo hoo!

When you have a puppy, you start to measure time differently. It’s no longer “3 o’clock.” It’s “one hour since Doppler peed.” Four-thirty is no longer just 4:30 p.m. It’s “quick take Doppler outside because he just ate dinner and he’s going to poop.” Now that I know Doppler’s schedule, I’m hoping he catches on to the concept of housetraining soon. He’ll be two months old on Thursday, and I’m determined to get him housetrained as soon as possible.

Training this puppy is ridiculously fun, and training opportunities are everywhere. Even something as simple as a short walk is a powerhouse of training opportunities. (And it has the added bonus of tiring him out! Yes!) Yesterday, I took Doppler for a short walk around the City of Harrisburg on my lunch break. He walked on all the surfaces, and I mean ALL. Snow, cinder-covered ice, large and small storm grates, brick sidewalks, nubbly handicap access ramps. He didn’t hesitate once, the little champ.

As a service dog, he’ll go pretty much everywhere with his human partner. (SSD calls a person who uses a service dog a “partner.”) He’ll have to be comfortable walking over any surface without hesitating or pulling. My job is to help him experience everything, especially while he’s a little puppy sponge.

While I was typing this post, Doppler came over and sat at my feet. Okay, so technically he tried to hop up on the couch next to me, but after I guided him off, he sat at my feet. I decided to start capturing the “sit” behavior.

In case you’re not familiar with SSD’s training methods, we use clicker training. It’s a positive reinforcement method of training that uses a clicker to mark a behavior, which is then immediately rewarded with a treat, usually a piece of kibble. The dog will then continue to offer the behavior that earned him the click and treat. I love it because it’s easy. Actually, it’s the only way I know how to train a dog, since SSD taught me everything I know about dogs.

Anyway, as soon as Doppler sat, I clicked and tossed his treat a few feet away so he would stand up and have to sit again, so that I could click and treat him again. That repetition would help him figure out that I wanted him to sit, and eventually I could put it on cue.

Or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. I discovered, however, that Doppler doesn’t chase treats if they’re tossed away from him. He just kept looking at me. Fire, on the other hand, had no problem finding Doppler’s treats. In fact, he tried to horn in on Doppler’s training session, and since his big head is capable of blocking out the sun, I had to send him off for an extended down-stay across the room.

Oh, well. When one thing doesn’t work, try something else, right? Instead of tossing Doppler’s treats to get him to stand up, I simply held his treats out to the side so he had to stand to reach them. Bingo! He sat again, I clicked, he stood to get his treat, he sat again, I clicked and treated—it was great. A few more sessions like that and he’ll be ready for a cue.

(In case you’re wondering, SSD only adds a verbal cue or hand signal after the dog is offering the finished behavior.)

Doppler’s learning things, and I’m learning things.

And now, I’m off to stock up on bacon-flavored chew toys. It’s the only toy that successfully diverts Doppler’s attention when he’s hell-bent on playing tug-of-war with my pants and shoes. 

Om nom nom BACON!