Dog Clicker Games: Advanced Clicker Training

April 29, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Advanced Clicker Training Game for Dogs

Once you’ve mastered beginner and intermediate clicker timing games, it’s time to focus on improving your timing when clicking small movements for complex behaviors. Yes, it’s time to push your clicker training skills even further.

Touch Your Arm (You’ll Need a Partner)

You’ll need a friend to help with this game. Ask your friend to touch your forearm with one finger. As her finger touches your arm, click. Basically, you’re teaching your friend “touch with one finger.”

Now, I’ve watched people try to cheat during this game, but they were actually learning to click too late. Instead of watching their partner’s finger, people have clicked once they felt the touch on their arm. Well, that’s clicking too late. If you click after “feeling” a touch, you’re probably clicking your friend for moving her finger away from your arm. Don’t believe me? Spin around and watch. 🙂

VIDEO: Improving Your Clicker Training Skills – Advanced Game

RELATED: Clicker Training for Dogs

Pause Button on DVR

By far, this is my favorite game to improve clicker timing! When watching TV, choose a specific behavior you want to “click” for, such as the below examples. Press your DVR pause button to freeze during a specific moment. Basically, you’re using the DVR pause button as a clicker. You’re clicking the pause button to capture a specific dog behavior.

Person drinking: Placing glass against her lips or setting glass down on counter.
Animal running: Pause when an animal’s four feet are off the ground (fully extended).
Person talking: Pause when mouth is open.

You can choose anything to pause (click) with a DVR–use your imagination! Shoot, you can even pause blinking, pausing when a person’s eyes are closed.

VIDEO: Using a DVR to Practice Your Clicker Timing

Intermediate Games for Improving Clicker Training Skills

April 28, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Clicker Training Games for Improving Skills

While perfect clicker timing seems natural to a few, it’s a struggle for most of us (me included). Sometimes I click a nanosecond after a behavior happens, especially with a fast moving dog, but my mistakes are mine to own. I always give a treat even when I click at the wrong time.

It’s important to improve your clicker training skills often and timing is an important one to sharpen before teaching your dog a new skill. Before starting a training session, warm up with a few practice games, such as these intermediate games.

RELATED: Teaching Your Dog Focus

Clicker Games

Bouncing Ball

Oi, this game is tough. Bounce a tennis ball on a hard surface and click as the ball touches the ground. Seems easy–um, yeah right! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Want to make it harder? Bounce the tennis ball on a hard surface again and click when tennis ball reaches its highest point in between bounces. 🙂

Bending Finger

Instead of clicking a fully extended hand, you’ll click a fully extended index finger so you’ll need a partner for this game. Ask him to bend his index finger up and down. You’ll click for a fully extended index finger (finger pointed up). Trust me, there is a huge difference. A single finger is smaller and moves much quicker. 🙂

If you want to make it harder, ask your friend to move his finger quickly and move further away from you, or better yet place hand on ground and move index finger.

VIDEO: Intermediate Games for Improving Clicker Training

Clicker Training Game for Beginners

April 27, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Improve Your Clicker Training Skills

Dog Clicker Game

Practice does make perfect or pretty close to it. Using a clicker to teach your dog new skills is easy and super quick, but your clicker timing (yes, you :)) must be spot on. Now, mistakes happen. I’ve made them many times and you’ve probably noticed them on our videos, but mistakes are a valuable part of learning. To improve my clicker timing, I play a few games, which I’ll share with you. I recommend practicing these games before a dog training session–think of it as stretching before a run. 🙂

RELATED: Crate Rest Games for Dogs

Hand Game

Check out this easy game that improves your clicker timing. This is perfect for beginners! We play this game during class usually during week one of puppy or basic class, and repeat when needed.

In this video, you’ll click when I fully extend my hand. We’ll move slowly and then pick up speed so watch carefully. At home, you can practice with a friend.

VIDEO: Improving Your Clicker Training Skills – Beginner Game

Make the Game Harder

Once you get the hang of it, ask a friend to make it harder by moving her hand faster. Also, when playing the game, drop a treat into a cup every time you click. This makes it very realistic because you always give your dog a treat after clicking.

You may also like: Clicker Training for Dogs

Zak George’s Dog Training Contributions

February 2, 2015 by Fanna Easter

Zak George Promotes Positive Training Methods

Zak George Dog Training — Courtesy of Zak George’s YouTube Channel

Who is Zak George?

Zak George may be a newcomer to the dog training world, but he’s been widely popular with pet parents since he began creating free dog training videos on his YouTube channel.

In the videos, he shows pet owners how to teach their dog’s polite behaviors. With his charismatic charm sprinkled in each video, it’s no wonder he starred in TV shows, such as SuperFetch on Animal Planet and CBBC’s “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

Despite his growing popularity, you can find Zak George creating videos for his website and YouTube. His most recent video for Grouchy Puppy, a fabulous website by Sharon Castellanos, shows an uncut version of the dog trainer. The authenticity of his character is much admired.

WATCH: Grouchy Puppy’s Interview

Zak George’s Training Philosophy

Zak’s contribution to the dog training world started on social media, and he has since been taking the power of positive reinforcement to the masses one video and blog at a time. His philosophy is to make training your dog fun and rewarding. He is fondest of Pitties (American Pit Bull Terriers) and has the most positive energy ever, so what’s not to love?

RELATED: Dog Obedience Training

Thank You, Zak George

I want to thank Zak George for his contribution to the dog training industry. His fun, creative, energetic and informative videos are a must for dog owners to view. Given the easy accessibility of the Internet, there’s no reason not to tune into Zak George’s YouTube channel.

Remember spending hours looking for one answer among your childhood encyclopedias back in the 1980s—or is that just me? Anyways, I subscribe to Zak’s YouTube channel and recommend my group class clients pop in and watch as a refresher or just to get a breath of fresh air about dog training.

Go, Zak, go! Tell us what you think about Zak George in the comments section below!

You may also like: Dog Trainer Fanna Easter

How to Stop a Puppy From Biting

November 14, 2014 by Fanna Easter

Puppy Biting

Pet Parent Question:

I have a question on a new puppy. I’ve always had dogs, and currently have two Yorkies, a Rottie and a new pup. The new pup is a Beagle and Dotsy mix, extremely smart at 12 weeks, completely house and kennel trained — I’ve never had a dog that young be so quick to house train. Though she is a huge biter! By that I mean she brings blood, nothing is off limits — arms, legs, hands, face if she gets close enough. I’ve tried scolding her, stop showing attention, giving chew toys when she bites, and I’m lost. Nothing has worked. I’ve even used a fly swatter, which she will turn and attack. She is very, very active and has a doggie door she can go through and run around, which she definitely does for hours. Any advice that I haven’t tried?

Dog Trainer’s Answer:

Congrats on your new family member and huge congrats on potty/kennel training your new puppy! A high five to a fellow Rottie pet parent! Do know the secret to potty training is providing clear boundaries and rewarding good behavior often, which you did so pat yourself on the back. 🙂

Ah, puppy nipping, or as we say in the dog training world bite inhibition. It’s pretty important to teach your puppy that teeth on skin does not pay. Now, your puppy is probably beginning the teething process and it takes a few times to teach your puppy what he can chew on so hang in there. 🙂

A couple of things to try:

Teach boundaries. If you’re rude when playing, the game is over: The moment you feel teeth on your skin squeak loudly, freeze for a moment, then walk away from your puppy. If your puppy chases you or tries to pull on your pant leg, repeat the squeak and freeze. Then walk away.
Redirect to a toy. Wiggle a toy in front of your puppy and play a quick game of tug. This redirects your puppy from you and onto the toy — works like a charm.
Lastly, spray bitter apple on your arms. Careful though, as some dogs love the taste of bitter apple. When polling my students, over half the puppies love the stuff.

Puppy nipping will pass. This is a normal part of puppyhood. 🙂 Punishment usually makes it worse, as any fast movement is play behavior. Hence, chasing the fly swatter. Just as you did with potty training, set boundaries early and follow them. Soon your new puppy will learn to control those little shark teeth!

Check out my article on puppy nipping. There’s some really good tips on helping your puppy through the teething process to puppy biting.

Happy training!

Do you have a dog or puppy training question? Ask the dog trainer!