Category: Getting Started ¤
  Author: Ellen ? ¤
   Title: How Much Easier to Train Someone *Else's* Dog! ¤

Our back-door neighbor has a new puppy, a Golden, about 11 weeks old.
We have, of course, been showering her with clickers, books, videos,
and reprints of assorted net wisdom.  But Marge has "had dogs for
years" (unneutered male Airedales, mind you) and has a personal
relationship with a local Koehlerite trainer who is going to help her
train Gunna, so we really didn't have much hope.

Then today I got a phone call.  It seems that Gunna is making a
terrible fuss about going into her crate.  Do I know any "tricks of
the trade" that might help?  Well, Ken and I were across the alley
with a bucket of diced Rollover before Marge had time to hang up
the phone.  I sat on the floor beside the crate with my trusty
clicker and chatted with Marge about OC while I played with the
puppy.  I'm sure you can guess the rest, but it was so much fun
that I just gotta tell it.

In five minutes, Gunna was giving herself whiplash to turn and face me
when she heard the click.  In another five minutes she was beginning
to suspect that the C/T had something to do with what *she* was doing,
but she hadn't quite figured it all out yet.  Brief intermission while
we take the puppy outside to empty and zoom around the yard a few
times.  Back in the house, Gunna notices that C/T only occurs when she's
near the crate.  Sits down and stares thoughtfully at me for a while
(isn't it a shame that "dogs can't reason"?).  Tiptoes over and sticks
her nose in the crate (C/T).  Repeat several times.  When this stops
working she is briefly puzzled, then puts head and one front foot in
(C/T).  This continues for a few minutes, varying # of feet inside
from 0 to 2.

Meanwhile, Marge is concerned that I'm not saying anything to the
puppy ("How will she ever learn the command?").  Since I've memorized
most of Gary's words of wisdom on this subject, I actually have an
explanation for her!  Marge is wanting to do all of the fussy,
impatient, "helping" things that *I* always want to do when training
my own dogs; I am feeling like a hypocrite as I explain why this way
works better.  While we're chatting, puppy is now *leaning* into the
crate with back end still outside, watching me out of one eye.  I toss
a cookie into the back of the crate, puppy launches herself inside.
Jackpot!

Puppy spends the next few minutes hurling herself in and out of the
crate ("What a great game!", she says), then begins to experiment.  Do
I still get the C/T if I *back* into the crate?  How about if I back
in only halfway?  Is one foot enough?  How about standing on top of
the crate?  Is there a way to get in here from the other end?  Marge
is visibly astonished, and we are all laughing so hard that I keep
dropping the Rollover ("No problem, I can find it on the floor!").
Gunna then offers 20 or so repetitions of bounding into the crate,
sitting while I close the door (a little, half, all the way), and
*waiting* for the click; we worked her up to almost 30 seconds of
quiet crate behavior before we called it a day.

We left Marge with a few more books ;-), a very full puppy, and, I
think, a real interest in this training method.

Film at 11....

ellen & the Not Ready For Prime Time Terrorists