Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Shirley Chong ¤
   Title: Getting a Rescue Dog Started ¤

   Sandy Horvai is going to go play with an Am Pit Bull Terrier 
rescue tomorrow and wants to introduce him to click/treat.
   Having done this with a bunch of rescues (define "a bunch" as 
being more than twenty), I've found that the easiest, fastest way to 
teach a dog not to pull on lead is to put them on lead and start off 
for a walk. The dog will usually charge out ahead of me (having been 
thoroughly self-reinforced for pulling in the past by the euphoria of 
slight oxygen deprivation). I stop walking, use my hands to cushion 
the leash--NO JERKING--and turn around to walk the other way. When 
the dog is near my hip, I click and treat. The first time I tried to 
teach a dog to walk nicely on lead with a clicker, I stopped and 
waited for the dog to look back at me, then click/treated. Oooooops--
instead of teaching him to walk nicely on lead at my side, I was 
actually teaching him to charge out, hit the end of the lead and look 
at me. By turning around and walking the other way, it gives me a 
chance to catch the dog when s/he is in position by my left hip. 
Gives me a chance to catch success. I'm not jerking on the leash--I 
use my hands to cushion the jerk on the leash if the dog gets out 
ahead of me.
   In introducing the clicker for the first time, I started out just 
doing "click, treat, move to another location, click, etc." Being the 
impatient sort, I thought why waste good training time? So now I just 
start clicking a new dog for something I want to see. Depending on 
the dog, I might choose to click for:
   all four feet on the floor
   a step backwards
   a sit
   a down
   a turn of the head in one direction (to shape into a circle)
   targeting to my index finger (I just hold out my index finger and 
any dog that is not afraid of human beings will come up and sniff it--
click; once a dog is targeting on anything, it's easy to transfer the 
concept to something else)
   If the dog is afraid of human beings or afraid of me, I click and 
throw them the treat--I try to let the dog maintain their own comfort 
zone from me. At first, I'm just clicking and tossing food (good 
food! this is where the roasted chicken with garlic is definitely 
called for). As I see the dog stop focusing so much on their thoughts 
of whatever horrible thing they are afraid I might do to them, I 
start clicking for movements in my direction. If possible, I try to 
have a chair so that I can be sitting down. I don't look straight at 
the dog--just keep them in my peripheral vision.
   If I KNOW the dog is not dog aggressive and does not have fleas 
(or worse), I'll try to have Bidge with me. I start out ignoring the 
other dog and just working on something with Bidge (something small 
that I can do sitting down). Many times, the presence of another dog 
is reassuring to the frightened dog--and seeing Bidge getting clicked 
and eating is just unbearably tempting. 
   Come to think of it, I've always had a dog I could use in training 
other dogs; first Sheba, then Fergie, and now Bidge (I am very very 
blessed in my dogs--they help me and cover up for my mistakes in 
training, far beyond what I could ever deserve). When the frightened 
dog gets curious enough to approach, Bidge doesn't mind sharing the 
food. Finally, when the other dog is confident, I'll have Bidge 
settle in a corner while I concentrate on the other dog. 
   In dealing with a new dog, I try to keep an eye on how overloaded 
that dog is getting. Many times, they can't handle more than a minute 
or two of an intense training session at a time. Clicking does tend 
to be intense for the dog--if I have a PR they want, they work 
themselves very hard trying to figure it out. So, I get what I can 
out of that minute, then I give the dog some time to process. Some 
dogs like to just be near me (leaning on me, laying on my feet or 
whatever) but some dogs need to get away from me and the situation. 
I've found that I lose a lot more than could ever be gained by trying 
to get the dog's attention back too soon. Letting them go and sniff 
or pace or stare off into space for a few minutes with no pressure 
from me is what I have found most successful. Depending on the dog, 
we might be able to do 5-10 very short training sessions in an hour. 
Combining training sessions with a walk might work very nicely--walk 
for a bit, stop somewhere and train for a minute or two, walk some 
more.
   Keep an eye on how stimulated or overstimulated the dog seems to 
be. He may not have been well socialized or he may have been living 
in a very unstimulating environment. 
   Most of all, just have fun with him.

M. Shirley Chong 
The Well Mannered Dog