Experiences With Clicker Training (and pictures!)

I made some goals for my current dogs so that they've got basic commands down before I get a new puppy. When I first got them I actually competed in obedience, conformation and agility with them. I just hadn't kept up with their training for reasons that are worth another blog post entirely. They didn't remember any of the commands I taught them back in the day. Basically, I'm going to be retraining them. I'm also trying something different. I am going to be clicker training them.

The goals for both of my dogs are to perform sit, stay, down, come and settle in crate reliably. I also want to continue reinforcing my dachshund's house training. She doesn't do so well with the concept. I want my Norwegian elkhound to relax for an exam and settle for nail trimming.

Today we worked on sit. I had started working with Princess and she was doing well. Laya found out we had food and decided to get up from her nap in order to join us. I used the clicker with Princess and it worked beautifully. I had to use hand signals with Laya because she is sort of deaf. It worked great. I had both of them sitting on command in less than 20 minutes. It was great and the dogs really enjoyed it.

I took some pictures of the dogs today, here are my pups for reference:

 This is Laya...

...and this little cutie is Princess