Category: Success Stories ¤
  Author: Carol McCauley ¤
   Title: First Time Trainer has Quick Success ¤
 
 I just had a fantastic experience and wanted to share with you
 all...since you will understand why it was so great...thanks for letting
 me share!
 
 
 Now Tuesday when I was at the doc's, he asked if I would help train his
 dog to come.  Seems it goes out the door like a tornado and doesn't come
 back, doesn't even seem to know it's name.  Male, neutered, mutt.
 (Possible beagle/springer spaniel mix)  Mostly white with a large brown
 patch around one eye and hound face and ears.  Really cute.
 
 Got there and the dog was gone.  In about 15 minutes he came home and
 Mom (Flo) left to run some errands that popped up unexpectedly.  Sons
 Mark and Dan were there so we just went into the garage and since it is
 a 3 car with open 2 car area it was just right.  Lots of distractions
 but still enclosed enough to work.  They had to use a prong collar to
 catch the dog and bring it inside.  First order of business, explained
 clicker and treat method to them then dumped the prong collar and add my
 20 foot leash to the clip on the dog's collar and hooked the other end
 to my belt loop.  For the first five minutes I let them watch me walk
 away from the dog (not pulling on leash) and stopping so the dog came
 around to look at me (C_T) then shaped it until he was looking right at
 me standing in front of me.  He was doing it pretty regularily when I
 gave my end of the leash to Mark (19).  We are working on attention.  I
 gave him clicker and treats and he started out doing just great.  Within
 a few minutes he and the dog were working it out great.  So we ''added''
 the  'come' cue as the dog arrived.  Dan (approx 9) was sort of moseying
 around the outside providing a distraction and looking depressed.  Boy
 am I glad I grabbed my clicker just before I left and one of them didn't
 work.  So now both boys have clickers and access to treats.  A few
 attention run throughs for Dan and then we started playing ''pig in the
 middle''.  I provided a distraction by calling the dogs over to me with
 kisses and pets and then the boys would call them away from me just as I
 lifted my hand from them.  Click and treat when the dog arrived.  Now, I
 know that the click should really be at the first glance at whichever
 kid called, but this is a year old dog and was not responding to his
 name or commands and this was so great I couldn't see dampening the
 enthusiasm of the kids or the dog.  He was really going back and forth
 and getting faster at response every time.  Just about then we decided
 to let the dog 'rest' while on leash (now little brother has the dog
 attached) and they played and the boy generally handed out treats only
 occassionally getting the click in, but they were having fun.  About
 then Momma returns.  The boys showed off their stuff and Domino the dog
 did just fantastic.  She couldn't believe it.  Session over so we took
 the dog in the house and just talked about operant conditioning and she
 and the boys are going to work on attention and come on leash for the
 next week and then add the ''border guard'' game for the next week and I
 go out to hopefully teach the next technique/behavior on the 27th.  Boy
 is this fun.  What luck for me that the dog was responsive so fast.  It
 really made a difference when they can ''see'' results even if I do
 explain that if we go outside or take off the leash the dog will act
 like he never heard any of this.  Flo says that they will take the dog
 all over the place on leash and continue doing the click and treat and
 training.  Everyone was happy with what they had accomplished and it was
 so great to leave with happy folks liking the clicker.  I also showed
 them some massage circles for around the base of the dog's neck when he
 seemed really tense (in the house when the other dog came over) and got
 that head hanging please don't stop attitude and they just stood there
 in shock.  Said he usually just bounces off the walls when he is brought
 inside.  After a few minutes of massage, he lay down and took a nap.  We
 all laughed together that he was tired from all the thinking he'd been
 doing...  So my first day of being a ''trainer'' has had wonderful
 results and I am looking forward to more.  Thanks for sharing with me my
 ''little success''.  It feels so good....click.

 Carol McCauley in  Illinois.