Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Who's training whom?

Dog training. Shannon found the clicker again. She loves the clicker, and of course, so does the dog. Click means treats.

Unfortunately, with Shannon using the clicker, it usually means random treats at random times. I know she's confusing the dog more than anything else, but I'm tired of always saying 'no, you're doing it wrong.' I know she doesn't want to hear that either. But I can hear her in the living room trying to teach a new trick... explaining to the dog what he did wrong, and then clicking. I want to scream. We've gone over and over in the past how to use the clicker correctly. I've asked her repeatedly NOT to train a few specific things such as what she's doing right now. She's calling him to 'come' from across the room directly from a 'stay' ... when he doesn't 'stay' reliably yet, the obedience trainer I used to work with back when we did the school thing said that until dogs can reliably 'stay' through all kinds of distraction, they should only be released from it when you're next to them.

But... today is about picking battles. I just can't have a negative day with her right now. The truth is, I haven't been working with the dog either, so I have to believe that any kind of mental stimulation is better for him than nothing.

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