Reply To: Best of ?Fancy?

[Alana McGee]

TDC:
Hi Launie!

Fancy looks like she is doing is great, and she will be a step ahead. Word of caution, slow down a bit.

Lesson 1 comes soon.

Work on your clicker timing and rewarding. When you press the clicker Fancy knows she did something ‘right’. HOWEVER she associates that ‘doing something right’ with the exact thing she is doing at that moment that you click it- regardless of what she did 2 seconds before hand- even though that is what you are attempting to reward. She is doing really really great, and so are you. Don’t get me wrong. You just want to be cognizant of the moment you press the clicker and have that actually be the ‘exact moment’ (or as close as possible) to the behavior you are trying to reward.

Practice having her sit. Only ask her once (you are much improved in only a day on that score). As soon as her bum touches the floor CLICK! and the reward. practice practice practice. Another useful drill to work on timing requires a tennis ball, no dog in the room, and goes like this:

Bounce the ball up and down. Practice clicking the moment the ball hits the floor. Practice Practice Practice. It can make a very big difference down the road to have timing down well when using clickers.