# Clicker Training Guide



## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Thanks LittleAussiePoodle for starting this. I'll be curious to read more about this subject from others' experiences as well.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I would have liked to talk more about it, but I wanted to keep it brief. Other's thoughts on the topic are welcome. I see a lack of understanding the clicker as a common trend and would like to make it very clear how and why it is used.
I see a lot of people talking about early clicker use, or the benefits of the clicker, ect, and rarely speaking on the methods involved. It was difficult for me to find good information early on and I'd hate for people to be discouraged by that. I am a more determined trainer than most and cared enough to spend hours researching. Others are not as interested, or just don't have the time.
That being said, I did leave out a lot of important information, and would like to see more discussion on methods and dos and don'ts of the clicker later on. I was mostly trying to get across the four quadrants, along with the main points of training behaviour.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

excellent post.

On a more practical note, I have discovered using clickers attached to wrist bands to be more comfortable than just holding a clicker. I bought some that look like these on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/BusyBee-Training-Clicker-Practical-Pouches/dp/B01CGVZYN8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1484655595&sr=8-4&keywords=wrist+band+clicker

In one of my classes, one of the students asked how does the dog discriminate who's clicking. The teacher said that the dog recognizes their owners click and disregards clicks from others. I'm not quite sure how that works but I assume that we all press down a little differently on the clicker and perhaps the dog is sensitive and responds to those differences?


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I think the dogs probably discriminate clicks from their handlers based on four things:
Whether the handler is looking at them.
Clicking sound (some clickers are loud, some are soft).
Where it's coming from (I know my dog doesn't react if somebody else clicks my clicker. Found that out when somebody wanted to know what it sounded like and I had a treat ready - Hendrix didn't even notice the click).
What they were doing at the time.
The speed of the click could play some role, but I think the timing is probably also a big factor. That sort of goes on both the clicking sound and what the dog was doing at the time. I can see potential for confusion if the students are placed too closely together, but the dogs usually work it out pretty fast and start to pay more attention.

I didn't ever use a clicker with more than one dog in the room up until recently, when I did a session with three dogs all laying/sitting around me, and found that the dogs who weren't being looked at seemed to show little to no reaction when I clicked another dog, and did not break their sits/downs. I think as long as you are looking at the right dog, you shouldn't have an issue.
Here's the video of the three dogs. All are very different dogs, haha! The only one who seemed ready to burst was Pickles, the little brown one: https://youtu.be/uw0Dh8K39aI


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I am one of those people who is a klutz with the clicker. I have horrible timing with it, even though I understand very well what is supposed to happen with it. Therefore I am one of those who uses verbal markers. I am much more consistent in my timing. I also use a set of three verbal feedbacks: YES is like a click for me, a bridge to a treat reward; GOOD is feedback that I like what I am seeing, but we will keep going before the treat or a release from the behavior (like on a heeling leg); and UH OH or OOPSIE is a marker that we have to restart and correct what is happening.

The key is to be consistent and that is the great thing about clickers. They always sound the same. I will say that I generally don't encourage people to click in my classes though. Some dogs that aren't clicker trained actually are pretty distracted by them. Also the people who use them tend to abuse them, clicking so constantly that it loses meaning. If a person comes to a beginner class and is interested I do explain to them everything that you put in the guide at the start of this thread so that they click to advantage.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I personally don't use NRMs because I know a lot of dogs see them as an adversive, and feel that the click is enough communication. However, I do also use good, much like yourself. I use yes as a marker word and also use it as a sign that he's getting a jackpot.
I think the timing is something that takes a really long time to get used to. It took me probably two weeks to get any kind of good with it, and a lot longer for it to become an instant reaction (I actually sometimes find myself moving my hand when I'm holding something else and see Hendrix doing something good. I have to actually take the clicker OUT OF MY HAND if I'm not using it, because I start clicking behaviours without thinking). In terms of using them too much, I think the only way that's possible is if they are never raising their criteria, and/or clicking more than once for the same behaviour.
Often with a new dog, especially if I am modifying behaviour, it'll be almost constant clicking at first. I do see a lot of professionals using the click a bit too much for my liking, though. Some people who haven't been clicking long also start clicking their dog for doing non-behaviours, which isn't a problem, except that they do it when there is no need to.
For instance, I saw a video of someone using a clicker in the vet's office, and they were clicking when the dog was looking back at the handler, and while it wasn't, and while it was distracted. The dog was being clicked without being given the chance to offer any of the clicked behaviours.

I can understand if you are using a class of mixed clicker dogs and non-clicker dogs, you may wish to have your students use a marker word instead. I prefer to use a clicker when I'm around a lot of people, because if I am talking to someone, I don't want my dog to think I was marking him for something. Yes is such a common word, and so many people say their marker word in a normal tone of voice, so it all gets lost in conversation.
Of course, I can see dogs getting distracted by it in a class. I know even some clicker dogs get a bit startled by it at first.

I use a clicker for training all behaviours. It only looses meaning if they click and don't reward. I don't think you can never really click too much, except, as I previously mentioned, if the dog is not really getting it, you are clicking many behaviours at once, or if you are clicking more than once for a behaviour.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

A clicker is just a tool to help accurately mark correct behavior. 

A variety of different types of trainers use clickers, from balanced trainers to strictly +R trainers. You can also use marker words, like "yes". I personally find that a clicker is more effective than a verbal marker simply because I have MUCH better timing with a clicker. However, I know some very accomplished shaping trainers who use verbal makers. I know that *my* dogs just totally light up when I click in a way they don't when I use a verbal marker. 

Anyway, great summary, thanks for starting this!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

And therein lies the key to success everybody. Charismatic Millie, you know you are better with a click and I know I am better with a verbal. The essential core points being: knowing why you are doing what you are doing and practicing to be truly effective doing it. LittleAussiePoodle I think it has been a very long time since someone posted such a clearly articulated explanation of the issues and practices of clicker training, so brava for putting it up in a great primer.

I know what you mean about "yes" being able to be contaminated, so I make sure that I (and I teach my students) to say it in an exaggerated way when marking the dog's behavior. I recently switched Javelin's release from working marker to "free dog" from "okay" since I so often say okay to reply to my coaches.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

I really like this thread. It is really well done! I use both clicker and verbal command i.e. Usually a "yes". This is mostly because I don't always have the clicker on hand. 
I use clicker training when teaching Lucky a new task i.e. Fetch shoes. Then the clicker becomes useful with shaping. 

I also use a target stick that came with Sophia Yin's Manners Minder treat dispenser. Finally I use a ball because we can play fetch all day. Training poodles is such a pleasure because they have the perfect reactivity. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

LittleAussiePoodle said:


> For instance, I saw a video of someone using a clicker in the vet's office, and they were clicking when the dog was looking back at the handler, and while it wasn't, and while it was distracted. The dog was being clicked without being given the chance to offer any of the clicked behaviours.


I had one person in my AKC CGC class who was constantly clicking his clicker - I'm not even sure what he was doing. It was so distracting - click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. No one else in the class was using a clicker and I can't remember what we were doing - might have been sit stay or laydown stay - didn't make any sense to be constantly clicking. It was annoying and distracting. I was thrilled when they stopped coming to that class. Like any good tool, you have to use it correctly for it to be effective.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Skylar I have someone who uses the clicker as your describe that person in your CGC class, clicking as fast as they could. I have asked her not to use it in my novice class (and she happily agreed) since no one else in that class uses one. She was using it for sits and downs and it was making other dogs so nervous that they were breaking their stays and she wasn't really marking any duration of her dog for the stay (plus it gave me a headache).


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

I've purchased a few clickers and discovered that different clickers produce different levels of sounds. I know this seems anal retentive but the ones that are buttons do not make annoying sounds and I use that one the most. The old school square ones can be very loud. I was given one from agility class years ago and never used it.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Personally when training I stay, I do not add duration myself in the old method of clicking for clicking for a bit longer each time. I believe the dog should be offering the behaviour. Hendrix was never rewarded for staying, only for getting up on cue.
People who click constantly for the dog not moving are one of my BIGGEST pet peeves, because the dog doesn't have to do anything at all. He does not have to understand. To the dog, he's just getting treats constantly, he's not learning to stay.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

LittleAussiePoodle said:


> Personally when training I stay, I do not add duration myself in the old method of clicking for clicking for a bit longer each time. I believe the dog should be offering the behaviour. Hendrix was never rewarded for staying, only for getting up on cue.
> People who click constantly for the dog not moving are one of my BIGGEST pet peeves, because the dog doesn't have to do anything at all. He does not have to understand. To the dog, he's just getting treats constantly, he's not learning to stay.



Agreed, many, many times over!

They even make clickers now that have two different sounds in one clicker to either work two dogs at once or use the two different sounds to mean something different to the dog I suppose, but you would have to load the two different sounds to have those different meanings.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I have seen them for using one click for food and one for toys, but if your dog sees both as a primary reinforcer, one clicker works. In rare cases, I use the clicker for anything my dog wants. The click ends the behaviour, so you can use it to release the dog in certain situations. I usually use my marker word for toys rewards, but when I use the clicker, he doesn't get confused.
As long as there is always a primary reinforcer for every click, the dog will be fine.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Clicking constantly for no reason is why i took the clicker away from my husband. He clicked as a way to get the dog's attention. Facepalm. I can't imagine how loud that would be in class. How irritating. 

When I tried training Noelle to stay by rewarding her for being finished with staying, I ended up with a self-releasing dog. Double facepalm. I ended up having to reward Noelle while she stayed, and not reward her for getting up. Treats rain down during a stay and vanish when she gets up. I don't click during stay because it gets my dog excited and that's the last thing I want when she's staying.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

I don't understand the point of clicking nonstop. Don't you only click when they did something you want otherwise you just wait. 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Yes. The clicker is a training tool. You only need to click when altering an old or setting a new behaviour. You can of course click for non-behaviours, but clicking constantly teaches the dog nothing. Ideally, you should be having the dog offer the behaviour. 
If the dog doesn't do the behaviour you wanted, you either wait for it to happen again, or change something to once again make the behaviour achievable.

And for the self-releasing dog, as long as the dog is offering a stay, you should be fine. I much, much prefer to make a release cue a secondary reinforcer than to train a dog not to move, because if you can do that, they never want to move until given the release cue. If there is no reward for getting up without the cue but is for the cue, they will love waiting for the cue.
I started out by making "Stay, okay" one word and just slowly moving the two parts away from each other. He learned to wait for the release cue because that got him amazing rewards. I have a video of Hendrix staying on my channel, and you can see his total joy when given the release cue.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

snow0160 said:


> I don't understand the point of clicking nonstop. Don't you only click when they did something you want otherwise you just wait.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


There is no constructive point to non-stop clicking. It is an utterly useless and meaningless activity done by people who don't really understand what their clicker is for.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Yeah, nonstop clicking would be the first sign that someone has no clue what they are doing with the tool! A click, ONE click, is used to mark a behavior so that it can be rewarded.

The only real time you might hear someone rapid fire clicking for good reason is to load the clicker. Click treat click treat click treat click treat. Teaching the dog that click = treat. That's one of the first things you do with a dog new to a clicker and with my last litter I did it with puppies starting at 3 weeks.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Clicker litters are an amazing idea and I think because puppies are so completely and utterly green, if a breeder puts in even just a small amount of effort charging the clicker, maybe training four paws on the ground, a sit, and/or a basic recall, that sort of thing can really prepare a puppy for training later on.
I spoke to a breeder not to long ago who told me she always trained her pups to lift one paw in the air. She said that it was a good way of showing new owners what clicker training can do. Everyone loves a 7 - 8 week old pup who can do a cute trick!

One of the things I love about clicker training is that anyone can do it with a dog of any age. With punishment based training, you can't do anything with a little pup without hurting it. I'm always amazed to see these little 4 week old pups learning tricks, or 12 week old pups becoming service dogs in training. The power of well timed clicking and good management is truly something else.

One thing that does always surprise me is the amount of people who don't understand that One click = One reward, and that the click should end the behaviour. If you click, but then continue to ask for several more repetitions, the click looses a lot of the meaning it's supposed to have. The dog should be learning that the click means to stop and then repeat the last behaviour, not that the click means to keep going.
Similarly, if you click, then don't reward, the dog begins to display an extinction of the secondary reinforcer (the click). I see a lot of balance trainers who will use a clicker totally incorrectly. They click and then offer a non-primary reinforcer like praise, or they'll click several times before rewarding, often times still only rewarding with a non-primary.

A click = One primary reinforcer (unless it's a jackpot, in which case you may feed more treats, play tug for longer, ect).


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Just a nit picky side note not directed at anyone but just popping in my mind from something I read above. I just want to mention that I don't know anyone who uses "punishment based training". Incorporating the use of punishment in their training, yes, but not punishment BASED training which would seem to imply that they rely more heavily on punishing than rewarding. 

I believe that most people use reward based training. Some also use punishment, others do not. I mean, maybe some pet owners who aren't really sure how to train at all use punishment based training. Bad dog! Bad dog! Bad dog! But I believe that most effective trainers, whether balanced or force free, are *reward based* trainers. 

Or maybe I am just living in some weird fantasy bubble.

Clicker training and the use of a clicker is not synonymous with force free +R, reward based, balanced training, punishment based, etc. 

Clicker training literally means that you use the clicker as a tool to mark correct behavior. Anyone can do this.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

To clarify (I believe I did try to mention this in my first post, but I may have glossed over it), I use the same training vocabulary as Karen Pryor, because she is the one I learn from, and because I think many learnt from her, therefore most of us can understand that vocabulary.
When I say, "Clicker trainer," I mean somebody who is force-free, and uses a marker sound of any sort. When I say, "Use of clicker," or "Somebody who uses a clicker," or similar, I am talking about someone who uses a clicker, but is not force-free or uses a clicker incorrectly. I talk in this manner because I am one of those hippies who think clicker training is more of a lifestyle than a method 

By "punishment based," I mean someone who uses punishment before using reinforcement. Ie: Sit. Pushes bum down (instead of: Sit. Lures into sit). I am talking about someone who either does not use rewards in the form of anything other than praise, or someone who resorts to punishment as the first choice.
Finally, when I talk about balance trainers, I am talking about someone who mixes food/toy/release rewards and/or the use of a clicker with punishment in everyday training. A "Punishment based trainer" who uses food could fall under balance training. You have probably already noticed, but I generally speak of balance trainers in a poor light. I actually don't really mean to do that. I used to be one and I find the whole thing to be even worse than punishment alone because of the sheer confusion it can cause. I sort of have a bit of a personal grudge there, so apologies for anything I say that comes across ruder than I intended.

I do agree that I should be more clear about what I say and refer to the specific groups better, such as, "Force-free," "Reward-based," ect. I usually see clicker training as more of an idea than just the use of the clicker, but see how this language of mine could be rather confusing, so I will have to try and fix that.
In any case, all training must incorporate punishment of some form into training, as I'm sure you are aware. I just never use positive punishment, only negative. I do however see an alarming amount of people training using punishment as the first choice. Never on this forum, but I am in a lot of dog training groups and forums, often as a lurker, and see a lot of this sort of thing happening. Not too long ago I mentioned (in a passing comment, mind) clicker training in a kelpie group and had five different people tell me I was stupid and all the rest of it.
Not to mention all the new dog owners who get told to snap a shock collar on their growling dog, or whatever. I think it's easy to miss these people, for they are becoming a small minority. That said, take those dog training groups who put a shock collar on dogs for training a sit as an example. Again, this forum is very clear of it - I don't think I've seen one trainer like that here - but it does exist, and I speak of it because I see a lot of it, and it rather disturbs me on some days.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Notes on Behaviour Modification*

It is a common misconception that force-free trainers just ignore bad behaviour. There are lots of ways one can change behaviour without using positive punishment and negative reinforcement,* which are as follows:*

Totally ignoring behaviour: Some of this misconception is set in truth. One way of altering behaviour is through ignoring the incorrect or unwanted behaviour. This only works if the behaviour is an attention seeking behaviour. Jumping on people is one example of a behaviour which can either be self-reinforcing or attention seeking. 
Ignoring attention seeking behaviour is negative punishment, but I call it ignoring because instead of taking away/not giving a primary reinforcer, you are withholding attention. That means that unless the behaviour is attention seeking, simply ignoring it won't work, because unless the dog is actively seeking attention, you ignoring him will have no effect. Ignoring only works if you give attention for the correct behaviour. Otherwise the dog won't know what you want.

Negative Punishment: This is the same as ignoring behaviour, except you are taking away/not giving a primary reinforcer, not attention. In training sessions, negative punishment used alongside positive reinforcement is a very effective method of showing the dog exactly which behaviour you want. Examples include: Lifting up food bowl when dog tries to lunge at it, closing door when dog tries to rush it, not rewarding poor or incorrect attempts at during shaping (looks like ignoring attempts).

Positive interrupter: A positive interrupter like an eye contact signal or the dog's name can be used to stop a dog from doing something it shouldn't, at which point the handler can redirect the dog into doing something else.

Redirection: Stopping a dog from doing something you don't want it to do then (or by) giving it something else to do. Examples: Dog jumps up, dog is told to sit. Dog bites hands, dog is told to "Give" then a toy is tossed. Dog goes into off-limits area, dog is called out and rewarded. Redirection can be either by giving the dog a cue and rewarding a response to the cue, or distracting the dog and rewarding the distracted dog. 
Redirection should only be done a few times, because dogs can learn to perform the unwanted behaviour in order to be told to do something else and rewarded. Best used in conjunction with negative reinforcement or ignoring bad behaviour, such as: Dog jumps up, told to sit, rewarded. Dog jumps up, handler waits (negative reinforcement/ignoring), dog sits, rewarded. The point should be to inform the dog which alternate behaviour is the right one.

Counter Conditioning: Giving a fearful dog good things (or, in theory, a calm dog feared things). Examples: Dog afraid of leather shoes is given a hotdog by a man in leather shoes everyday until he is no longer afraid of leather shoes. Dog afraid of prams is given a bowl of food right next to the pram.
It is important to stay beyond the dog's threshold where possible. A dog who is afraid will not eat, so one must start by having the man drop a hotdog a few feet away, for example, and the bowl of food next to the pram would have to start out far enough away that the dog was not too scared to put it's head down into the bowl and eat.

Buddy behaviours: Buddy behaviours are two or more behaviours that you train so that you can un-train or control one of them. Example: Barking. You train the dog to bark and be quiet on cue so you can _control _the behaviour of barking. You cannot train a dog not to bark, but you can train a dog to stop barking on cue.
For this particular behaviour, we train both because training quiet without training speak can be near impossible What are you rewarding? Don't move? Sit there? The dog doesn't know what he is_ not doing_. If you reward him ceasing the behaviour of barking on cue, he understands because he is _doing _it.

*
Important factors:*
Threshold: Your dog's threshold is the distance/level of arousal in which is can no longer control itself. A fearful dog may be no more than mildly uneasy until what it is afraid of gets to 20 feet away. A dog who likes to chase birds may not want to chase them unless they take off within 10 feet. A dog learning to stay may not be able to stay if you start dropping hotdogs on the floor.
*Because dogs cannot learn over their threshold (they become too fearful/aroused), it is important to stay BELOW their threshold. You never, ever need to induce a behaviour to stop it, especially if it's something as serious as a fear response becoming dangerous.*

Alternate behaviour: To get a dog to stop jumping, you must train it to do something else instead. Whether that be sit, go to bed, stand but not jump, or another behaviour is up to you. If you don't train your dog an alternate behaviour, he may make one up for himself. A dog who gets kneed when he jumps sometimes chooses to avoid visitors altogether, with the side-effect of the alternate behaviour (avoiding) being that he does not jump anymore.
If you train an alternate behaviour then make the behaviour you don't want totally non-reinforcing until the alternate behaviour is strong, you will never need to punish the bad behaviour. Examples include: Training a leave it - Putting food in hand where dog cannot reach it and clicking for the dog leaving it. Behaviour of not ignoring it in totally un-reinforcing. Training a dog to stay out of a bin: Clicking dog for leaving bin alone. Behaviour of looking in bin is totally un-reinforcing.
When adding reinforcement back into the unwanted behaviour, you must go slowly and make sure the dog fully understands the alternate behaviour.

What are you training: This applies to all aspects of training using a clicker. Understand exactly what you want. Training a stay, for example. What are you teaching? Sit there? Don't move? If you stay there, I'll feed you? Wait until given another cue?

Anything to add? Questions?


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I will add this:
Negative punishment can sometimes be taken by a dog as positive punishment. Putting your foot on food to train leave it, or closing a door as the dog runs at it can both be mildly traumatizing in the same way as positive punishment. There is no clean line between the two sometimes, so for that reason, I usually try to avoid using negative punishment as a crutch for training behaviours IN THIS WAY. Using it during shaping can also be upsetting to a dog, which is why it must be done carefully.
Remember that this is PUNISHMENT, and that most dogs will find this aspect of shaping to be frustrating at first. That's why getting a dog to be good at shaping takes a long time and must be done very carefully.

Extinction can be achieved in many ways. When I talk about teaching an alternate behaviour, I am talking about making the unwanted behaviour go extinct. If a behaviour becomes totally un-reinforcing, it will eventually go extinct. Dogs will perform whatever behaviours they think are the most rewarding, so if you jump to having chicken bones in the bin and stop giving your dog rewards for leaving the bin alone, going completely cold turkey, the behaviour of ignoring the bin may go extinct and the dog may go back to bin-diving.
This is a common reason for behaviour breaking down. People often stop rewarding a behaviour entirely. The very best way to maintain behaviour is through a variable schedule of reinforcement, and by rewarding behaviour through life-rewards and praise where ever possible.

I would like to share the following, taken from the book, 100 Silliest Things People Say About Dogs, by Alexandra Semyonova:
"We teach a caged rat to press a lever for a grain of food. Once he’s learned to do that, we shock him each time he presses the lever. We also turn the lever off so it stops giving him the grain of food. After the first two shocks, the rat turns out to hesitate before pressing the lever again. Each time he’s shocked for pressing the lever, he hesitates yet longer before doing it again. Nevertheless, he does press the lever an average of twenty-six times before giving up altogether and trying something else. By this time, the rat has become somewhat fearful of his surroundings, so he hesitates constantly as he searches for new behaviour that might get him food. All the same, he does eventually discover that pulling a chain now gets him a grain of food. He is still hesitant — after all, you never know when you will suddenly get a shock from a thing that was previously harmless. But eventually he seems to forget his fear and go to the chain whenever he’s hungry. It looks like punishment worked, because now he never presses the lever but always pulls the chain. But we can’t draw any conclusions until we’ve done step two of this experiment.
Step 2: We teach a different caged rat to press a lever for a grain of food. Once he’s learned to do that, we turn the lever off so he no longer gets food when he presses it, but we don’t add the electric shock. The rat turns out to press the lever more and more quickly and intensively, until — after the same average of twenty-six tries — he decides it doesn’t work anymore and goes to look for an alternative. He doesn’t hesitate to explore his surroundings or what happens when he pushes or pulls on things, so very quickly discovers that he can now pull on a chain for food.
He immediately proceeds to do so without hesitation whenever he’s hungry.
Conclusion: Both groups of rats tried the lever an average of twenty-six times before giving up. Because the non-punished rats didn’t hesitate, they went through their twenty-six attempts quicker than the punished rats. They then explored their surroundings faster and learned the new trick faster. It turns out that behaviour doesn’t die out because of punishment, but because the reward is removed. It also turns out that punishment slows down the process by causing anxiety and hesitation. We now know that this applies to mammals in general, including humans and dogs. Punishment causes distress, and distress always slows learning.
Fact: The less you punish the dog, the quicker this switch will take place."

I share this not to ruffle any feathers of those who may use positive punishment, but because I found it dangerously interesting. I spent several days re-reading this particular part of her book, and I really suggest taking a look at the full version. I found this example she gave to prove what I found out not too long into using a clicker.
Shaping was, once the dog figured it out, an incredibly fast way of training, because the dog knew that the absence of the reward meant what he tried did not work. At first, a dog being shaped may take 26 times to change his behaviour. However, a clicker-savvy dog may only take 1, 2, or 3 tries to figure it out. Add to this the fact that we begin to reward steps towards the final behaviour and you get a method of teaching that can train new behaviours at a surprising speed.
Because the old behaviours - or steps towards the final behaviour - are no longer rewarded, they go extinct until rewarded again. You can, for instance, train a dog to mouth target, nose target, and paw target a certain object, then train him to do just one of those with that object. Upon seeing a similar object, he may try the three targets again. You trained him to perform only one on the first object, but because all three have at one point been rewarded, he may try them again at a later date.
Training a dog to generalize many ways of targeting an object, you can train him to try all of them with every object you have him interact with. To have him perform only the one on EVERY object you have him interact with, you would have to generalize that one behaviour heavily, because you have previously rewarded the other two.
I found this through shaping games with Hendrix. Seeing a new object, he will sniff, nose, bite, paw, chin target, flip and curl his paw around, whatever I click. Once it's clicked twice or three times, he will continue to offer that behaviour until I change criteria and it no longer works.

This is what makes management the most important part of altering behaviour and raising a well behaved dog. Prevention is better than cure. If your dog never bin-dives and finds a chicken bone, he'll never look for chicken ones in the bin.

Sorry for the really long posts! I find this all to be very interesting and have done much research on the topic, so I love to share my two cents. Be sure to give whatever input you have, I'm sure there are many people who can benefit from it.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Thank you for the detailed description. I really appreciate that. Your posts are very perceptive but then again I see you've owned 21 dogs. Wow! I am a big fan of clicker training simply because I find it extremely useful in shaping very specific behaviors....especially for service dog training. I know that some people use clicker training to train their service dogs to help put on their clothes. I've read through a ton of service dog books almost every single one of them recommend clickers


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

LittleAussiePoodle I am really curious what breeds have you owned? What is your favorite breed? I assume the poodle but maybe you have a few favorite breeds :wink:


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Shaping is my favourite thing to do. Not just in dog training, it's just my favourite thing to do. Hendrix is so perceptive and knows so many different ways of targeting that he can learn almost anything I can think of. Shaping is one of those things where when you start out, the dog is awful at it, but after a while, they seem almost psychic. 
Hendrix is very clicker-savvy, which is great.

Not my words, but a good line, "All punishers are adversives, but not all adversives are punishers." 
I know with Hendrix, I can step on his foot without meaning to and it's like he doesn't notice. If I did that to my other dog, he'd probably run away from me and avoid me for the rest of the day. My point being that all dogs take to adversives differently. If it's a punisher, the behaviour will die out. If not, it won't. My skittish dog steers clear of feet. Hendrix doesn't. In terms of using negative punishment in the form of putting my foot on food, I avoid it. I see that sometimes dogs may take it as harsh punishment and I don't like doing that to a dog.
Having used the putting my foot on the food method in the past, I've come to the conclusion that it is not nearly as effective as training a leave it in other ways. It's not teaching the dog not to touch the food. It's more likely teaching the dog that if it goes for the food, it's not going to get it.
Hendrix's leave it: 




I think I am rambling at this point, but it's an interesting conversation and it's one that I have yet to properly develop an argument for. I'll probably look back on what I just wrote and disagree with some things I said, so take it with a grain of salt. It's just food for thought, not facts or strong opinions of mine.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I have owned almost exclusively kelpies, and Labrador x kelpies, 10 in fact (not really by choice, me and kelpies have a love/hate relationship). I've also had a rottie x dogue de bordeaux, a greyhound x mastiff, a full lab, and two shi zhus. For small dogs, I had a Jack Russell, a Maltese, a pom x (Pickles), and Hendrix, of course.
My favourite breed is 100% poodles. I also really love Collies, smooth and rough. Lagotto Romagnolo, Great Danes, Airedale Terriers, Old English Sheepdogs and German Shorthaired Pointers are all also breeds I admire. I may consider a Lagotto or Airedale in the future, but I am most likely going to get another poodle or a Collie next.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*The Importance of Default Behaviours*

*Before I start, this article may interest those first starting to clicker train, as it's much better than what I myself said about how to begin: Fifteen Tips for Getting Started with the Clicker | Karen Pryor Clicker Training

I thought that I would quickly go over something that I didn't understand in the beginning, which is which behaviours I should teach first. I can't fully remember exactly what I first did, but I know I didn't do the sorts of things I would do now with a totally green dog.
One thing that made a lot of sense later on was that the first behaviours you teach, and the ones that are repeated most often with the highest reward rate are the ones that become default behaviours. When I first tried clicker training out years ago (incorrectly, thinking it wouldn't work and not really giving it a chance), I trained my old dog to roll onto his side and scratch the floor.
Ignoring the fact that I pushed him into the position and then clicked - with terrible timing - for floor scratching, it did become a default behaviour. Because that's the only thing I taught him with a clicker up until two months ago when I decided to see if he'd pick it up, when I started to click for other behaviours, he'd roll onto his side and scratch the floor whenever he became even just slightly confused.

This was a great learning curve for me, because it showed me the importance of training good default behaviours. Things like eye contact, leaving it, and sitting are all brilliant default behaviours, because they are unobtrusive behaviours that won't disrupt a training session (and you most likely want to have your dog perform those behaviours anyway). My dog's rolling onto his side and scratching the floor is much more obvious than eye contact.
On the other hand, if you want to use clicker training for agility or herding, maybe your default behaviour should be orienting, not eye contact. You don't want an agility dog watching you, after all.

For me, some of the most important behaviour are nose, paw, mouth and chin targets. Nose and paw targets are great first tricks to learn with the clicker, but don't make good default behaviours. Things I want my dog to default to include a settle, following me, eye contact, and leaving it (not mugging or stealing. At the same time, maybe, because I have hopes of competing, a settle isn't exactly what I want.
That's why Hendrix knows how to LOOK like he's settling, but not to go to sleep. He defaults to sitting or laying with his head down when we are in public, but he doesn't fall asleep. I could have tried an actual settle, but he is already a calm dog and I like to have him fairly energetic all the time. For a hyper dog, I might have done things differently.

Now, with a new dog, my first few sessions would just be working on eye contact, following me, not mugging my hand or a food pouch, waiting patiently, and other behaviours that would be good defaults later on in the dog's life. Then, I would move onto nose, paw and chin targeting. I probably wouldn't even touch sit for several days, but once I did, I would have the dog do it for everything, so it becomes a default behaviour.

Hendrix knows to put his head on the bed when he wants to get up. That is a default behaviour that I only recently trained, and it was done by asking for a chin target to the top of the bed, then letting him up. That is one way of training a new default - operant conditioning the behaviour to have a desirable consequence. If the consequence cannot be achieved in any other way, the behaviour will become a default every time the dog wants the consequence.
A default behaviour is, after all, just a behaviour or emotion that is performed as a response to certain stimuli. That might be that when your dog doesn't understand a cue, he sits, or when he wants a treat, he whines at you. The default settle is just teaching a dog to relax and be calm in down time. It's a habitual behaviour or emotion that occurs when certain criteria are met.
Dog training is surprising simple at times. I feel that once you understand how they learn, it all sort of comes into focus. Food for thought.
*Anything to add? Questions?*


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Short message I wrote to somebody on Facebook about training a chin target, and, if I remember to put it in, a list of all the targets I've seen dogs perform. 
Goes over the pros/cons of reinforcers and methods of teaching behaviour. Specifically a chin target, but can be applied to other behaviours.*

First, figure out what motivates your dog the most. Food? Toys? Release to something he wants? Then, look at what you want from the reinforcer you are using and which will be best for the behaviour you are training.
*Food:* Can get in lots of repetitions. Can create a calmer response to a cue than other reinforcers (but depends on what food you choose and how food motivated the dog is).
*Toys:* Not as many repetitions. Enthusiastic response to cue. Best with a dog who is trained to bring the toy back and let go on cue.
*Release:* Best for training default behaviours like ringing a bell to go outside or putting head on furniture to ask permission. Few chances to practice. Ineffective for training new behaviour, better for practicing or applying new uses to old cues. Enthusiastic response to cue. Takes longer to sink in.

Next, look at what the best way to teach the new behaviour will be for your dog, based on which you think your dog will understand the easiest, and which you are most comfortable using.
*Luring:* A chin target can be lured by holding a treat against the floor while a dog is laying down, by luring the dog's chin forwards onto an eye-level surface like a bed, or your second hand. Will create a hand signal by itself. Will be learnt quickly. May cause a dog to learn it in a different way to other methods.
*Targeting:* A chin target can also be target trained by using the same method as the one above, but with a target, or by combining a nose target to your hand, bed or floor with shaping. Will be harder to fade into hand signal than luring. Basic behaviour will be taught quickly, if using second method may take a long time. Dog will not be thinking about the lure while offering the behaviour.
*Capturing:* A chin target may be captured in one of two ways: Holding a treat on the top of an eye-level surface like a bed and clicking for the dog's chin touching the surface to sniff at it, or by simply capturing the dog putting his head on the floor (the first may be considered a combination of luring and capturing). May be slow to catch on at first, and before it gets it, dog may become frustrated. Once the dog figures it out, will be offered repeatedly for easy cueing/shaping.
*Shaping:* A chin target may be shaped by clicking for small movements towards the final behaviour. This is best done with an eye-level surface like a bed, or your hand, as opposed to the floor. May take a very long time if the dog does not already readily offer a nose target and even longer if the dog does not offer interaction with your hand or the surface you are using. Will be harder to put on cue/signal. Will be easy to alter into the perfect chin target. Will be become another behaviour that the dog offers during prop shaping.

Once you choose your reinforcer and teaching method of choice, go right ahead. The chin target is a great behaviour for tricks, teaching a dog to come when called or stand still, grooming purposes, and photography.

*Known body target areas:*
Nose - following, touching, or pushing a target with nose
Paws - putting any of the four paws onto a target, or lifting them towards a target
Chin - placing chin or bottom jaw area (and usually full weight of head) onto a target
Mouth - biting, holding and picking up objects
Eyes - eye contact or looking at something on cue
Hips - moving hips sideways or in a swinging motion towards target
Shoulder - moving shoulder in a sideways or swinging motion towards target
Top of head/nose - touching, pushing, or flipping target with top of head or nose
Tail - moving tail up down, or sideways towards a target
Ear - moving side of head/ear towards target
And obviously, things like backwards circles, jumping over things, going around things, ect are all targeting an object in their own way. I have heard of other targets, but these are the only ones I have trained/seen with my own eyes. 
Some of those listed, like looking at a target on cue and chin targeting may be of interest to my fellow poodle owners as I employ both to keep Hendrix standing still while I groom him. I suggest to all with trick dogs or sport dogs to try target train at least a nose and paw target (chin target is one of my absolute favourites, too). Remember that targeting just means interacting with a certain object. The possibilities are totally endless.

I haven't read this back, so it might not make much sense. *Anything to add? Questions?*


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Oh, thanks for that . It is good to see it in a chart what sort of targeting we can work on. I would definitely like to work on chin at some point since it is a very cute action . 

I still find the timing of clicking really hard. I would assume that is where most people start getting frustrated. To get great results, we have to have precise clicks. It looks so easy in (professional) videos!! I'm sure I'll get the end result some day, but it may take 5 sessions for Hendrix but it may take 20 for me . 

Here is a video of a session, working on "wipe". We had a pretty good thing going, maybe 2 weeks ago. He was offering two paw wipes and sometimes multiple wipes. We took a break because I wasn't feeling great. So it's been like 10 days since I worked on this. My timings are off, and Sammy looks confused. He gives up in the end because I was waiting for both paws to wipe. It's not a good session at all, and I'm not proud of it, but yeah, this is all about my timing, unfortunately...  

https://youtu.be/YVIJJzCOwJE

Thanks for your update!!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Sammy the spoo said:


> Oh, thanks for that . It is good to see it in a chart what sort of targeting we can work on. I would definitely like to work on chin at some point since it is a very cute action .
> 
> I still find the timing of clicking really hard. I would assume that is where most people start getting frustrated. To get great results, we have to have precise clicks. It looks so easy in (professional) videos!! I'm sure I'll get the end result some day, but it may take 5 sessions for Hendrix but it may take 20 for me .
> 
> ...


I don't think your timing is too far off! And his wipe is adorable. One thing, I think you may have added the cue a little early. You don't want to add a cue to a behavior until you are consistently getting the actual behavior you want. Think of it this way: you name it, you buy it.  Add a cue when you are ready to "purchase" that behavior forever.

So, I would wait to add the cue "wipe" until you can predict that the actual wiping behavior will occur. Which means he needs to be wiping consistently before you start saying "wipe" as he wipes, if that makes sense. So whatever you did to get the initial "wipe" behavior, I'd keep doing until the behavior is stronger. Otherwise if you keep saying wipe when he's not going to wipe, and he's feeling confused, the cue can get poisoned. 

That is such a cute idea - I need to teach mine!


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

As long as he is performing something very close to the behaviour, you can add the cue. Because it's a shaped behaviour, it doesn't need to be perfect, as she can keep changing it here and there. Think of it a bit like going back and shaping a faster sit. He knows to sit on cue, but he doesn't know to do it quickly until you teach him.
I just add the cue when I know he's going to offer it or do it on a hand signal every time. For instance, I just added the cue to my performance heel, and Hendrix still isn't sticking to my leg going forwards or right. It doesn't matter so long as he understands he is performing a behaviour, and it is similar to what you want. You can see I add the "Go back!" cue before Hendrix is even targeting my legs in the backwards circles video I did: 



I was adding a cue to going backwards and turning at the same time, not the backwards circles. I adapted the cue as I trained the behaviour. It's no different to shaping a normal behaviour.
But yes, the dog does need to be performing consistently to add a cue. If they are doing three things at once then adding a cue is impossible.

And for Sammy's mum, avoiding saying it more than once. If he doesn't get it, change something. Say his name, point to the mat, move a foot, anything to focus him. Your criteria is a bit too high, which you noticed yourself. As long as you can fix the issue in the future, you'll be fine. It's good that you saw the problem, at least.
For getting two paws, maybe you could try going back to shaping it, this time clicking for the paw he doesn't usually wipe with. That, or you could cement the idea of wiping his paws upon coming inside and then go back and correct the little errors. As long as he knows what he is supposed to be doing, you are on the right track. I would probably change the mat to a rug or something he'd never seen before and shape a two-paw wipe, then generalize that. Maybe you could go back to just getting two front paws on the mat. I find they have an easiest time targeting a prop of about ankle height.
Don't be afraid to go back a few steps and work on a paw target. Make sure to throw a party whenever he uses two paws, or give him a special treat only for those, his normal treats for single paws, nothing for no paws.
At 50 seconds he was waiting for direction. I see this behaviour a lot in my cross over dog. When he doesn't know what to do, he'll try staring into my eyes (but he whines and growls at me). At this point I would have sat down on the floor and put a pointed hand on the mat to make it VERY obvious what I wanted. Try not to get into the habit of repeating the cue because it teaches him that the cue means nothing.
Your timing isn't bad. Maybe a few times it could have been slightly better, but if you are clicking for the behaviour you want (ie: as it's happening instead of afterwards when the dog is doing nothing), you are doing fine. Lightning fast clicks just come with a lot of shaping. If you are really worried about it, try capturing lip licking, that REALLY requires you to be on the ball.
Final note, the reason he's not catching onto your subtle pointing at the mat is because your hand is too high. That's why he's looking at your hand and not following the point. Try keeping your hand closer at first and slowly moving it away like you would with a hand guide for something like heeling.
I'll go back and have a better look through later and let you know if I see anything other than that. Those were the main points.

I have a video of teaching my dog Pickles to chin target, let me know if you want to see that. I also pick up Odie today, so I'll be training the trick again in the next few days!


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I forgot to add:
There is less to good timing than you may think. While timing is one of my strong points, I find that it's less of a mechanical speed and more of being able to predict what the dog will do, know exactly what the dog is currently doing (oh my goodness, trying to see exactly when a hind paw moves, or he opens his mouth a tiny bit). It's a lot about knowing the dog really well. If you can see the dog tensing in a certain way, or know him well enough to know how many clicks of nosing it takes for him to bite, you can predict the behaviours you want and thus, your timing becomes better.
It's not that you are being faster, but that you are more focused and sort of clicking slightly before something happens. It takes A LOT of time to start doing it. I didn't realise I was doing that until recently. It does sometimes lead to me clicking things I didn't want to click, and it does mean that I have to intentionally remove the clicker from my hand if I don't want to use it, because I now automatically click dogs for behaviours I like without thinking about it.
It's also about knowing exactly what you want. If you know what you are waiting for, you won't have to think about clicking it. I can't really push that one too hard, seeing as I always go into a training session blind and half the time I sort of make up my shaped behaviours as I go along, but it does help.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

The point is that you should not be saying "wipe" unless you are confident he is going to actually wipe (or successfully carry out whatever your current criteria is). This keeps the cue strong - to always pair it with the behavior actually occurring.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Thank you Charismatic Millie and Little Aussie Poodle - You guys are awesome! You have seen all three of my weakness in clicker training!
- I raise the criteria too high, too quickly
- I tend to have too slow of a click (trying really hard to work on this)
- I often add the cue word too early...

I took your advice and retried the activity again and I had a much better result. Yay! And please excuse my butt  

https://youtu.be/KScgzYDNzqo

I tried to crouch so I was closer to the mat, and I tried not to repeat the cue. I also tried to be more accurate/precise with my clicks. And also quicker delivery of the treat. I tried to reward for a step back in behaviour so we are in a groove. Overall I was much happier with this session for sure! 

I find that it is all about the focus the handler AND the dog have. We have to be in tune and have to be ready for the exercise. If I am plugged in better, I get better results. If I understand exactly what I want and how I want to get there, I have a better result. So yes, I have much to do in training MYSELF  Thank you so much for the encouragements and feedback!


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I love it! That's so awesome.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

One of the things that helped me with clicker timing was practicing clicking things that had nothing to do with my dog. 

Click when the traffic light turns green.
Watch electronic doors open and click as they open. Click as the shut.
Click that blank spot between a TV program and a commercial. 
Click the blank space between songs on your phone. 

Once I practiced away from my dog, my ability to time things was more precise.


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## Poodle-y (Jan 5, 2017)

Oh! I'm followng along and living vicariously. Your Sammy is so so cute and super attentive! Great job! Do you have training experience prior to Sammy? Clicker training was so new to me, but I really loved the connection with Luna as we worked on basic things... and I learned how she communicated back to me.  Are you working toward a competitive goal or just for fun?


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Thank you, Click-N-Treat, for such a cool idea! That is great - I'll have to try it out.

And Poodle-y - thank you for your comment! Sammy is actually my first dog I have ever lived with. I grew up in a country where dog ownership is rare. My parents, family members, and friends didn't have dogs. So I learned a lot from YouTube and PF. I especially got lots of great advice from LittleAussiePoodle. I knew I liked clicker training, but LittleAussiePoodle let me take it to the next level! BTW have you seen her videos? Hendrix and she are an amazing team!!

I am a stay-at-home-mom with three kids, so I don't think competitions are in my near future. It is just so hard to walk out of the house by myself for an extended period of time!!! . But... I have been practising some rally signs, so I think there will be some rally going on in my living room, yard and park. .


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Adversives VS Punishers*

*"All punishers are adversives, but not all adversives are punishers." *
An adversive is something unpleasant, but a punisher is something unpleasant that causes a behaviour to occur less (at first). They may appear to be the same, but the two have distinct differences.
For example, Hendrix and I like to wrestle. He sometimes bites me pretty hard and I sometimes slap his sides pretty hard during this time. Both are adversive, because both hurt (at least, I know his teeth hurt). But neither behaviour of ours is a punisher to the other. My slapping Hendrix's sides doesn't cause his playful attacks to cease, it makes him really happy and excited. 
So, I am conclude that it is a reinforcing adversive. Possible? Of course. I like listening to loud music even though I hate not being able to hear anything over it. I like dancing in the rain like a weirdo even though my neighbors look at me funny and I get cold. These things are all adversive, but none of them are punishing (at least, if they are, they aren't strong enough).

If your dog doesn't want the treat, it's not a reinforcer. If the dog wants or does not learn from the adversive, it's not a punisher. Take people petting dogs on the head. Most dogs hate it, but people do it anyway. I can think of a very famous example where the dog was stress panting and looked ready to burst while the trainer said, "See, just reward him for being calm."
If the dog is not learning from it, it's not working. That goes for punishment or reinforcement. If the dog is not working for the food/toy/praise and learning how to get it, it's either not very reinforcing to the dog, or, in the case of petting or rough toy play, it could even be a punisher. That's a common way for people to poison their cues.
They give the dog a rough ear rub for sitting on cue and wonder why he starts to duck his head and run off every time they say the cue. The rough petting on the head was the same kind of punisher as putting a leash on your dog for coming back to you in the park. The cue here becomes like a click, but for something the dog hates happening.

Similarly, you see people saying no to their dogs and the dog not even blinking. If the consequence of the behaviour doesn't change the future behaviour, it is not an effective reinforcer or punisher. If your dog is pulling on the choke chain, it is an adversive he has learned to ignore. Think of it this way: Reinforcement is anything the dog wants and will work for. Punishment is anything the dog doesn't want and will work against (avoid). If what you are doing is neither, you are not teaching your dog anything.
With some dogs, my slapping of the sides during play could be very punishing, even traumatic. With Hendrix, it's a strong reinforcer. All dogs are different, and no two dogs respond to an adversive in the same way. Some dogs will swim in icy water or run into glass doors or eats things that make them sick over and over, because they do not see them as punishers. Dogs deal with lots of adversives every day, and they learn to deal with them, just like we do.
Dog run into walls or slip on slick flooring, but how often do you see them learn from it? I can't tell you how many times Hendrix has ran straight into the wall in the kitchen because he's come around the corner too fast. Yet, the other day when he wasn't watching where he was going and ran into a fence post, he did not just bounce back up and keep running. He now gives the fence post a wary eye and wide berth when we walk past it. Clearly, running into the wall is not a punisher, but running into the fence post is. Maybe the fence post surprised him. Maybe the action of running around the kitchen corner is so reinforcing that running into the wall is not strong enough to be an effective punisher. Who knows?
All that matters is that your chosen reinforcers are effective, and that you can tell the difference between an adversive and a punisher for your dog. This ties back into the way of training leave it, which I talked about earlier. Stepping on the food may be just another adversive for some dogs, but, who knows? With your dog, it might be a punisher for one reason or another.
I find it best to minimize on causing adversives to my dogs. I don't mean wrap them up in bubblewrap - let them experience adversives - I just mean that I am not going to risk my stepping on the treat to teach my dog to leave it alone be a punisher. I won't know if it's a punisher until later, when the behaviour either diminishes, or doesn't.
Consider this: To train leave it in this way, stepping on the food must be a punisher. Otherwise, the behaviour of lunging for it would not go away. For some dogs, it may be very mild. Others may be terrified by the ordeal and avoid the food at all costs (or something else that was around whilst this was done, like your foot or the cat). Also consider that you can't really know until later, if at all, whether your dog took it as negative punishment or positive punishment, which is what I was talking about earlier.
Some dogs might see it as: Lunge. Food goes away. 
Others might see it as: Lunge. Foot slams down near my nose.

Another tangent. I was trying to find something else to write about, but I kept coming back to poisoned cues and punishers. I ended up with this. Sorry about that. I get my mind wrapped around an idea and have to write it down. At length.
*Anything to add? Questions?*


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Aversive.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

What about it?


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Oh, I see, I didn't notice you spelt it differently. I'm not sure if adversive is incorrect, but auto correct is giving me a green light on it and I was taught to spell it that way. Maybe it's an Aussie thing. Google says you're right, so I have no idea why my auto correct would ignore that word. 
Anyway, I've written it like that a million times now, so I don't think I'll change it. I would end up writing adversive by accident all the time.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

It's all good! I don't want to detract from what you are writing, which is all very well thought out. It's just that you used it a lot and since are writing some very helpful and informative training advice....you maybe should publish this all somewhere else in addition to here (blog post?).


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## Poodle-y (Jan 5, 2017)

I'm getting a lot from this post, thank you littleaussie. My trainer me told me "everything is training"... I'm starting to realize this 
Sammy... I just thnk you are doing an amazing job! I have 4 kids, work part time, and Luna was our first dog too. You are nailing it in my opinion! We were sooooo much rougher with this.  Sammy seems to focus really well on you and she just genuinely looks like she enjoys pleasing you!


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I can remember trying to teach my 11 year old Kelpie to nose target for the first time. For months I tried. I'm not exaggerating, you would not believe how many different ways I tried to do it. I would put out a target stick, a harness, my hand, nothing. He wouldn't touch it, even if there was food in it. I used to tell everybody I hated him (I didn't, it's still a running joke to this day), because he just would not do anything you wanted him to do.
Then I found an article on Karne Pryor's website titled, "_On My Mind: It's Not What You Do. It's How You Do It._" I have kept the link hidden in the deep dark corners of my computer for some time now, because I remember how it totally blew my mind.
There is a particular line in there that I find to be especially important. "One principle of shaping is that it is necessary to begin with something the animal is already doing." It seems to obvious now, but I had been trying to capture it, trying to wait for the moment that his nose made contact. It did. Several times. He just never seemed to catch on. He would intentionally stare deeply into my eyes, flat out ignoring the target. I called him stubborn.
Then, immediately after reading this article, I run outside with a wooden spoon, and in less than two minutes, I had this dog following a target stick around. I shaped it from nothing, and it amazed me. All I had done was click him for following me a few times, then hold the spoon in front of me, and the connection was instantaneous.

I think the biggest take away from the whole thing was that no two dogs are the same. Hendrix may have touched a target the first time I held it out, but Buster didn't, and it wasn't because he was stupid, it was because I wasn't giving him enough information. No method will work for each dog, but as is pointed out in the article, the principal behind clicker training will.
Encourage the dog to make the right choice, and create challenges that he can complete. You want him to feel smart and empowered. The dog wants his reward, and you want the behaviour. Figure out a way to get both of you what you want. 
Little story I thought I'd share. The article itself is about horses, but clicker training is the same idea for every species, and the premise is the same. I loved the article, because it all felt so simple, but it was one of those things I just would have overlooked.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Cues and -R/+R*

*Today I thought I would go over cues, and specifically, over the differences and similarities between those trained using negative reinforcement, vs those trained with positive reinforcement. *

A discriminative stimulus, or cue, is anything an organism can sense. It informs the organism that it has the opportunity to be reinforced, if it displays the correct response. Or, to put it simply, a cue tells an animal that if s/he performs a certain action, s/he will get what s/he wants.
I say this instead of, "It tells the animal to do something," because it is important to understand that dogs do not speak English. It seems very obvious when you say it, but it is surprising how many real trainers use words in ways that imply the dog understands them, without even realizing it. If you have ever said, "Good sit," after your dog performs a sit on cue, you have used a command as a noun, something your dog cannot fathom. Also, a cue can be almost anything, not just a word. A sound, sight, touch, taste, scent - anything the animal can sense - may be a cue. Finally, while a cue tells an animal that they could do something to earn something else, it does not make them do it. They always have an element of choice.

Now, a discriminative stimulus, or cue, is only an opportunity to earn a reward. I have mentioned cues being "promises" before, and while that's not untrue, it's not really explaining the manner of correct or incorrect answers. 
A cue is only an opportunity for reinforcement, even if it is trained without the use of positive reinforcement. Look at it this way: 
You ask your dog to sit. He sits. You feed him a treat. 
You ask your dog to sit. He does not sit. Nothing happens.
The next time, he sits.
You ask your dog to sit. He sits. Nothing happens.
You ask your dog to sit. He does not sit. You force him to sit.
The next time, he sits.
This is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement methods of training a sit. Either way, the dog is rewarded when he sits, and the cue to sit becomes an opportunity to get reinforced. This can looks a little hazy, because negative reinforcement can take the form of *nothing happening.* To the animal, this may be reinforcing, but to an observer, this looks very confusing.

Imagine for a moment that every day, someone asks you the same question. There are four possible answers. The first three days, you fail and are shocked. The last time, you get it right and nothing happens. Is the absence of the shock reinforcing? Do you feel relived that nothing happened? If someone asked you the question again, would you make a mistake again?
Of course, you can also imagine doing this using the positive reinforcement method, which would involve you getting $10,000 every time you got the answer right, and nothing happening if you got it wrong. Both would work (though I know which test I would prefer!).
Here, being asked the question - or seeing the questions - is a discriminative stimulus, an opportunity to get reinforcement of varying forms. You can play with the same mental model by changing the rewards and punishments. This is an interesting way of reminding yourself that if the punishment/reinforcement is not strong enough, the organism will no longer care about the exercise.

*So back to dog training.* When we give the cue, "Heel," we are telling the dog that if he subsequently moves into heel position, he may be reinforced. There is a choice there. If he does not move into heel, he will either get nothing, or get something bad (punishment, generally). If he's for some reason off leash or otherwise able to be reinforced by the environment, he could also be rewarded for not moving into heel.
If responding correctly to the cue grants nothing *every single time*, the behaviour may go extinct. If responding correctly to the cue grants positive punishment *consistently,* the cue may become "poisoned." 
Cues may become poisoned if it has some kind of threat to it. This could be punishment at failure, punishment (like rough petting) at success, or even frustration while learning the cue. The latter is common in those who are new to cueing behaviour. If the dog consistently gets the answer wrong, you may poison your cue.

As I believe I have mentioned before, cues can also become secondary reinforcers. That's when the dog knows that a cue always leads to good things happening. This can only happen with cues trained using positive reinforcement. With negative, it does not have the same effect. The following was taken from the article, "The Poisoned Cue: Positive and Negative Discriminative Stimuli," from Karen Pryor's website:
_"Even if the behavior was trained entirely with positive reinforcement, if one now clicks for correct behavior following a discriminator ( a cue, command, or signal) but also gives aversive correction (leash pop, verbal reprimand, etc.) for incorrect behavior following that same stimulus, the stimulus immediately loses its value as a positive reinforcer. It is, at best, ambiguous in terms of reinforcement. It is not a click. It no longer automatically triggers the positive emotions associated with conditioned positive reinforcers. It can no longer be predictably used inside a chain to reinforce previous behavior.

Even if primary reinforcers, such as approval, toys, and treats are supplied in abundance during or after training or performance, the discriminative stimuli themselves-the commands-are now threats as well as promises. Behavior tends to break down, interestingly, both preceding and following these ambivalent stimuli: preceding, because the preceding behavior may begin to extinguish due to lack of a positive conditioned reinforcer consisting of the now-aversive stimulus, and following, because the behavior that might be punished tends to be avoided. The shift becomes visible in the learner's attitude, which switches from attentive eagerness to reluctance, often with visible manifestations of stress. Even though successful response to a given discriminative stimulus is still followed by reward, if failure is now followed by punishment, you have made that discriminative stimulus ambiguous in terms of predictable outcome. It is no longer 'safe.' You have poisoned your cue."_

*On -R as a reward:*
The upside to using negative reinforcement would be that the dog always gets some kind of reward. The downside would be that firstly, the cue will only be as strong as the punisher, and also that it could have bad side-effects. Further, having a reinforcer every time the dog gets it right is not actually ideal. A variable schedule is a lot more interesting for the dog, and keeps them driven.
Finally, and the reason I am including this, all cues taught using negative reinforcement are inherently "poisoned."
Aside from the fact that you have to do something that dog dislikes for one reasons or another, I don't really consider negative reinforcement to be all that effective. It can also get really convoluted at times.

*The clicker *is* a promise. It uses classical conditioning. The dog will get a reward every single time you click and the only thing it cues is the response to the expectation of reward, and possibly, moving to where the reward comes from.


When we add a cue using clicker training, what we really want is for the dog to get it right almost every time. We want him to do so with joy, interest, and anticipation. The best way to do this is simply to keep criteria low, reinforcement high, and sessions short. I will try to write something about the simplicities of cueing next time, not some huge block of learning theory. Ah, well. Apologies for the mental breakdown I probably gave you with all of that. 
*Anything to add? Questions/comments?*


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## rj16 (Jan 30, 2017)

Thank you so much, LittleAussiePoodle and everyone else who has contributed to this thread. It's a fantastic intro to clicker training! Please please keep adding to it.


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

Another interesting read - thanks LittleAussiePoodle! It's definitely great to take a moment to think about how these theories and ideas apply to our practice!


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

I was thinking about your post just now. While I was thinking about your post, I was asking Sammy for a chin rest, and I was saying "good chin" !!! I realized that I sometimes do the "good sit" and "good chin"!!! I think I read somewhere that doing "good xx" was a way of praising the dog for a job well done, but oh boy - I was corrupting my own work!! I will be watching out for that... 

On another note, what are your thoughts on "no"? What do you think it would mean to the dog, and how effective or not effective is it for training? I see it being used on dogs, but I wonder what it means to them...


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

It's so easy to find yourself speaking to the dog using human grammar! It's not an issue normally, I think they like it, but if you start using cues as general language, you really water down the meaning. I wrote that because I actually said, "Good side," to Hendrix last night. I haven't said something like that in years! 
It was commonplace years ago for trainers to insist you said that while the dog was learning the cue, and a lot of people in the balance/traditional training community seem to still carry the idea. It's much less common in positive reinforcement type training, most likely because a lot of us use clickers, and while using a clicker you generally speak very little.

On the topic of no, I think there are a few different things it can mean, but if it is to actually do anything, the word no is a threat. The word no is, if the dog does not stop doing what it is doing, a prelude to a punisher of some kind. At first, you will see the word no being used, then punishment (even just taking a step towards the dog) right after. This is conditioning the word, whether the trainer is doing it intentionally or not. The dog learns that the word no usually comes before punishment.
Usually this is the point where people start to claim that it is just the tone of voice that controls the dog, because he has begun, much like he would with a clicker, to respond to it in some way. I am not against the idea that some dogs actually stop what they are doing at the tone alone, but I don't think any confident and trusting dog would care very much, and if it consistently has no punisher afterwards, the dog will quickly stop caring about the tone you are using.
I don't like Pawfessor Gage, but he recently put out a video where he repeatedly said no to his dog, yelling it several times. The dog showed no reaction other than starting a few times. I think that proves that the word no has no inherent meaning. Seeing as this topic is about dogs not speaking English, to have any effect, either the word must be a punisher, the tone must be a punisher, or the word and/or tone must be a signal that a punisher is coming. Again, if nothing happens afterwards, any behavioural effect the word, tone, or signal has on the dog will fade (the dog may still start, but will no longer be afraid of the actual word or tone it is said in). The word no does not have any inherent meaning, because dogs do not speak English, and do not process language in the same way as humans. 
Just as spoken cues are discriminative stimulus, not words, the word no is either intended to startle the animal, or it is being used as some kind of secondary punisher.

I would say that the word no is simply used as an interrupter. To the dog, it's probably a signal that their handler is angry/about to punish them, ect. I don't think they understand that they did something wrong. It's likely that, much like a clicker, it informs the animal that whatever behaviour he did has a consequence. This would take repeated usage (a dog can take MONTHS to get truly clicker-savvy), and repeated examples to the dog that no meant punishment.
Much like the clicker, I suppose the word would be subject to the no consequence rule. If nothing happens after a stimulus, the stimulus becomes unimportant to the animal. 

In terms of effectiveness, I don't see much point in using the word no. If the purpose of it is to stop behaviour, then why not just call the dog, or give a positive interrupter? Most dogs who are told no show at least very small signs of stress, and it is proven that stress slows learning. 
I don't think it is important to tell the dog that he did something wrong, if he understands that at all. Obviously, you have to get him to stop what he's doing and not do it again, but there are ways to do that which are more effective than saying no.
Lastly, I would say that is punishment only suppresses behaviour, what is saying no doing? If your dog truly understands the word no, he will stop what he's doing and you won't need to punish him for doing what he was doing. You are not really punishing his behaviour, then, are you? Are you not just telling him that doing that thing again in your presence is bad? Even that is asking a lot, so maybe you have simply distracted him for the time being. If you did not punish the behaviour, you have not suppressed it, you have just interrupted it, which is the only thing the word no does.

To clarify, an interrupter is very important, but no is just one of many you can use, and not the most effective, by any means. It does not work by itself, no interrupter does.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I would add that the word no is not bad to use. It is the WAY it is used. You could, if you really wished to, make no a positive interrupter, and it would work the exact same as the dog's name, or a kissy sound. I was going over the general use of the word no, where it is growled out to stop a dog from doing something.
If you were to make it a positive interrupter, it would be a cue, a discriminative stimulus ("Look at me," or "Freeze," or "Come back," or "Drop," or "Don't touch it," ect). That is where it differs from saying no in the usual way, which is, "Stop that right now, or else."


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Criteria*

When you start researching how to clicker train, one of the first things you hear is, "Be a splitter, not a lumper!" I can't remember when I first heard it, but if anyone here can, be sure to let me know if you actually understood it. People like to throw it out there and not really explain what it means, and I think it's easy for beginners - or really anyone, regardless of how long they've been clicker training - to not fully understand or even forget about the idea behind the saying.
A splitter is someone who breaks behaviours into tiny, manageable pieces. A lumper is someone who tries to skip to the final behaviour, to closer to it. These often seem very clear cut, but it can be very difficult, even impossible, to know what is lumping. In this video, shortly after 2.30 you can see me lumping. Hendrix shows several signs of stress in the few seconds before I change the tone of the session (those that can be seen in the video: avoidance, pinned ears, slightly hunched back, almost tucked tail, stiffness, beseeching behaviour, slowness):




When I was actually there, training, I could see his stress very clearly. In the video, it seems very fast and like a tiny, tiny detail. This shows that just a small criteria error can really upset some dogs. Hendrix is very sensitive, but does not often show this amount of stress in training sessions. In shaping, getting the answer wrong just makes him try harder. I conclude that in shaping, he has behaviours to fall back on. He also gets clicked for easy things early on, so he will never have no information. 
In this video (and I didn't realise this at the time), he was actually doing the right behaviour, but in the wrong position. This caused him to become confused. He was right. He knew what I wanted, and did it. If I had have lured him into the right place, the issue would never have come up. He was confused because he thought he was right, but I didn't do anything. If the previously reinforced behaviour wasn't working, what was I asking for?
Later in the video, I lower my criteria and get a very nice turn in the same place, with no trouble.

Have any thoughts on the topic? I probably could have gone into more detail, but I don't really think there's a way of teaching people about criteria. It seems to be something you have to get a feel for. If they don't get it, change something. That's the most important part.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

I would add as a final thought, that it's possible Hendrix being confused is some kind of cue. It stands to reason that emotions are cues for certain behaviours, so it also stands to reason that they can be poisoned. Think of it this way: We know that dogs perform all of the behaviours Hendrix did because of stress. But what cued this stress? Stress is not really an emotion, it's a chemical reaction in the brain that is caused by certain stimuli.
In the video, Hendrix seeks eye contact, looking for help ("beseeching behaviour"). I have probably reinforced this before, by giving him a hint or making it easier for him. That's basic criteria changing. It has been proven that _some_ dogs will seek eye contact when they want a human to help, so I conclude this to be a learned behaviour. The dog has learned that getting the humans' attention leads to them helping. So this beseeching behaviour is probably a behaviour cued by confusion.
If at some point I have - without intending to - punished him for being confused/not knowing the answer in a similar context to this particular session, I may have taught him that confusion in said context is bad, so that now, his confusion in this context is in a way a cue for him to become stressed, and therefore, to display stress signals.
I believe that his beseeching behaviour comes from shaping, where getting the wrong answer or being confused does not seem to stress him out, while him becoming stressed could come from old sessions on practicing and cueing behaviour. I used to be very bad at it, and with Hendrix being so sensitive to human emotion, my getting frustrated could have been punishing.
With dogs being so good at discriminating, he could be seeing shaping and practicing behaviour as completely different exercises, with the latter (or confusion within the latter) being a cue, or perhaps an anticipatory signal, "She's going to get upset because I'm confused."

Does that make any sense? I'm sort of speculating here. I think it's good to analyze what could be behind our dogs' behaviour, so we can fix it. I certainly don't want our heelwork to become poisoned, because he really loves doing it and it's one of the most important things for future competition. I hope that I fixed it by making it easier and a bit more of a game (we were practice drilling at the time, something that involves focus and less fun/energy than normal). At least I am able to see what I could have done better, so I shouldn't make that mistake again.


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## Flyingponey (Feb 2, 2017)

Hi, this is a good description of how to clicker train. I have two behaviors that I can't get right. I am trying to train my minip to go outside in a designated area. I live in a large city and do not have a yard. I have been taking her out to the same spot and using a cue word "go wee" . She however either does nothing - what do I do then, or she does her biz and I click as she finishes and say the word. I was told to click at the end to "capture" the behavior with the relief the dog will feel as the bladder becomes empty. My girl just won't comply and also doesn't always want the food reward. I have also rewarded her with a walk, acting like its "a party", telling her with pets and physical pettign that she is a "good girl". She does not seem to get the chain of events to get the behavior. I am doing something wrong, but what? 
The other is I have her to sit and lie down consistently in all places. Now comes the release. She either pops up from the sit/lie or stays in position quietly. DO I teach her to stay first and then the release?


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

Hello 
As for "Go pee," this one took ages for Hendrix to get. The trick is to teach it before adding the cue. Take her to the place you want her to go, and click as she finishes (she probably won't eat before she's done, anyway). Make your reward something super, super good. I used chicken at first. 
Eventually, she will start to go when you get to the place. Make sure to only go there when you think there is a chance she will pee, or you will end up standing there for a really long time. You don't really want to leave before you get that click in.
Once she starts to go when you get there, you can add the cue. Don't repeat it. You should be saying it as she looks like she's about to start peeing, because what you are cueing is her actually going.
If she doesn't want the food reward, make sure the pieces are big enough, the food is reinforcing enough (she has to love it), she is done peeing, she knows she got clicked, and that there isn't anything better you could be using. If she really likes to play tug or chase a ball or play in a hose, do that instead. Later on, you could use a walk as a reward, if she really likes walks. 
At the start, you want your reward to be for every pee, and to be really good. Peeing on cue is really hard for some dogs to understand. It took Hendrix a very long time to learn it. It could be that you aren't clicking at the right time, she's too distracted, or your reward isn't reinforcing enough.
I suggest you do some research on how to cue behaviour, and when you should stop clicking, along with how to add a variable rate of reinforcement.

For the lay down, start in just one place. Don't move on until you are 100% sure she can and will stay there. There are many ways of teaching a stay. Here is a popular method: 



That method involves teaching a stay as a default. The dog performs a stay automatically, and holds it until told otherwise. Personally, I trained a stay by giving the stay and release cue, one after the other, and rewarding the release. Most people reward the stay. You can teach the stay and the release at the same time, like saying stay, clicking for the dog not moving (at first you are clicking for a MILLISECOND), then saying your release cue and encouraging or luring the dog up and clicking.
I taught one dog to stay by cueing a down on a mat, and clicking for that. Then I used 300 peck to train the stay. Click for one second, click for two seconds, click for three seconds, fail. Click for one second, click for two seconds, ect. When he could stay there for 30 seconds every time I told him to go to his mat, I changed to a different room. 
We did this in every room of the house from all different angles to generalize the behaviour. Then we started proofing. I move my leg, click. I take a tiny step, click. I take a larger step, click. Eventually I can walk across the room and around the dog. I move my arm slightly, repeat. I hold a piece of food slightly away from my body, click. I hold the food closer to the ground, click. I drop the food about an inch, click. I drop the food higher and higher and then start doing small throws until my dog will stay when I throw food very close by.
The idea is to move in such small steps that the dog rarely makes a mistake. Remember your three D's. Distance, duration, and distraction. Don't add more than one at once, and when you make one harder, make the other two easier. When you move to a new location, make sure you are using a really high value food, and that the new location is not significantly more distracting than the last.

Here are some good articles from one of my favourite clicker training writers.
Common training mistakes:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/09/17/8-dog-training-errors/
Good article about what to do if the dog gets it wrong:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/03/27/how-do-i-tell-dog-it-is-wrong/
Good tips for training cue discrimination:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/05/29/reduced-error-cue-discrimination/
More on the four learning quadrants:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2013/04/29/operant-conditioning-quadrants/
How to get behaviour:
http://eileenanddogs.com/2014/07/18/dog-training-get-the-behavior/


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## Flyingponey (Feb 2, 2017)

thank you for your reply an dhelp. My problem with her is, for example, I often take her out for a last pee around midnight. I get up around 7:30am and take her out. She does nothing. I stand there and wait for about 10 minutes letting her snigg around, smell passing dogs and if there is no action, we go back inside. I feed her. I wait for about 30 minutes. Go back out side. Repeat. nothing on her end. go back in. She stays tethered to me or goes in her crate if I can't supervise. I take her back out. in an hour. I have done this sequence til I have to go to work which is 4pm. She will NOT have gone. I always check her crate pad to see if she peed in there, and she hasn't.
I have to know she pees before I put her in her pen area while I am at work because I do not want her peeing in the house. 
I then have to break down and take her for a walk where she will then pee. She is 8 months and can hold it for quite a bit. I can't stand outside for an hour in the same place waiting for her to pee. or do I?


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## Sammy the spoo (Jul 7, 2016)

I was in a similar spot lately - Sammy had learned to hold his pee. While he went in and out of the house, he was going out to have fun, not to do his business. Also when the weather was bad, he held it and held it. I had noticed this behaviour, and I had made a commitment to change this. 

The first day, I was at wits end - it's really really cold out here in Canada, and he held his pee from 8-4p.m. And yes, I was like you, I was out every half hour to an hour, getting out in the cold and waiting for him to pee. Sniffing his spot, and playing - I was a VERY grumpy person. But every day, and every week it has gotten better. For him his reward was click and treat, and he got released out of his leash after he peed. I let him play in the yard as I went back in the house. 

My method was - 
-Click in the split second when he finished his peeing - so as his hind leg started falling down from position. I had made the mistake of clicking as soon as the pee started flowing. Yup, that was a bad mistake. I only did that once. hehe
-awesome treat - a treat he doesn't get anywhere else. There has to be one or two food that your pup cannot resist. If your pup is not taking the treat, it is not high enough of a value to him. 
-a walk as a reward doesn't sound instantaneous enough of a reward for your pup. I think it is so hard for the puppy to associate the walk as the reward since it did not come quick enough. I think a tug toy or a special squeeky toy that only happens when you pee is more effective.

I am happy to report that my Sammy is quicker in getting his business done these days, and I think I am like week 3 or 4? I cannot remember. But we get'er done, and it has been helpful in maintaining my sanity. I hope this helps.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*I'm not sure why I've not gone over the "ABC's" before, but better late then never. I will probably write a long theory about it a bit later, but in case I forget, here is the basic rule.*

One way to look at how animals, specifically dogs, learn is through the "ABC" method, which is simply behavioural cause/effect analysis. 
_Antecedent:_ Cue, trigger. Cause of behaviour.
_Behaviour:_ Something the animal does as a reaction to the antecedent.
_Consequence:_ Four quadrants, and basic extinction/non-consequence rules. Happens after the behaviour, which happens after the antecedent begins/ends.

If you change the consequence, you change the response to the original antecedent over time. If you change the antecedent, you change the offered behaviour instantly, but do not change the response to the _original_ antecedent. I am currently doing research on the topic of emotions being cues, as I spoke about earlier. 
Trained cues are antecedents, but the cue's effect of behaviour may change over time. When first adding a cue, the dog may not perform the behaviour at all, because the cue is not yet a discriminative stimulus. It is not conditioned yet, it's just a sound you are making. 
Some people like to debate about whether stimuli which do not effect behaviour (like untrained cues or stimuli that have been subject to the non-consequence rules) are still antecedents. There is, I suppose, an argument to be made that there is a behaviour happening, but it is not visible. Noticing the stimuli, but not responding, for example. What you see as an antecedent depends on how technical you want to get.

Here is one example of the ABC in action:
_A:_ Handler makes a sound.
_B:_ The dog knows the handler has been rewarding sits, and knows the tone of voice is a prompt. Dog sits.
_C:_ Handler gives dog a treat. The behavioural response to the antecedent has been positively reinforced.

_A:_ Handler says the same cue again.
_B:_ Dog knows the sound is the same as earlier and that it was previously reinforced for sitting. Dog sits.
_C:_ Handler gives dog a treat. The behavioural response to the antecedent has been positively reinforced.

When analyzing actual behaviour you would likely simplify this to just be "Dog sits," because you wouldn't know the actual meaning behind the dog's behavioural response to the antecedent. Nonetheless, the above is an example of adding a cue with a dog who is very good at inference, and/or is very well set up to guess correctly.
The ABC method of looking at behaviour is useful for figuring out the cause of a dog doing something, and the cause of him (dis)continuing to do so. You can find what is reinforcing/punishing behaviour easily by using this kind of a model.


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## LittleAussiePoodle (Jun 2, 2016)

*Understanding NR using ABCs*

Negative Reinforcement is always a hard one to get your head around, so I thought I would do this. I was bored. I plan to write something about behaviour chains soon and I thought this would be a good lead up as it helps understand one of my points a little better. I also still think there is more to be said about discriminative stimulus, and the ABCs can help a lot with that.

Most behaviours have a consequence. This is just the basic four quadrants stuff. If a behaviour does not have a consequence, it will go extinct. Here is an ABC for a dog shaking water from his coat, which should help explain why some dogs do not shake out their coats after a swim.

_Antecedent:_ The dog’s coat is drenched and feels heavy. It may be cold.
_Behaviour:_ Dog shakes coat.
_Consequence:_ The dog’s coat has less water in it now, and is not as heavy. The behaviour of shaking the coat is negatively reinforced.
_Prediction:_ Behaviour of shaking coat out will increase.

The antecedent here is an aversive stimulus. It may or may not be punishing. If the dog does not find the water to be aversive, he will not shake. Hendrix very rarely shakes after a swim. I think this is probably because he is so driven for the water that he is over threshold constantly, as opposed to the water not being aversive. 
This is an example of naturally occurring negative reinforcement. If you are interested in more about the topic and why I dislike the use of negative reinforcement in training, this is a good post on it: Why Scratching an Itch is Not the Same as Performing a Force Fetch - eileenanddogseileenanddogs
For those who don't want to read it, here's a quote from it that sums it up pretty well:

_"In automatic negative reinforcement, the reinforced behaviors are directly related to solving the problem. The actions of opening the aspirin bottle and taking an aspirin are reinforced by the relief the aspirin provides from a painful condition.

But in socially mediated negative reinforcement, perhaps someone else has the keys to the medicine cabinet. That person could require some unrelated behavior from you (say, clapping your hands three times) before you got access to the aspirin. If they were consistent, that behavior could be reinforced by the relief provided the aspirin, and would increase. When you had a headache and needed an aspirin, you would probably clap your hands three times. That’s a big difference from being able to walk in the bathroom and get your own pill.

...In dog training, the human has control of the reinforcers (and the aversives, if used). So in negative reinforcement, rather than a dog performing a natural behavior to remove an aversive condition, the human has influence over the stopping of the aversive. And like the clapping hands for aspirin example above, the human can choose a behavior that is unrelated to the natural way the dog might escape the aversive."_


Also, the behaviours being increased/decreased will at first only do so when the antecedent or a similar one is given. Dogs discriminate well and generalize poorly, so it may be that a dog given a treat for sitting on cue in one place will not sit on cue in another. This (if the dog is in a learning state) would be because the dog is not understanding that the behaviour of sitting will still be reinforced when there are slightly different antecedents. Ie: The dog is not generalizing the cue because the set-up is one or all of the cue.
This is one reason why dogs who bite when nervous can develop a fast bite to certain triggers, but not all of them, even if all of the triggers are equally aversive to the dog.

If you go into a paddock with a horse who does not like people in it’s paddock and end up running and jumping over the fence when he charges at you, then he has just been negatively reinforced. The aversive stimulus (your behaviour) caused him to try a behaviour (charging at you), and this behaviour caused the aversive stimulus (your behaviour) to stop or go away. Let’s look at it with an ABC:

_A:_ You enter the paddock.
_B:_ Horse charges.
_C:_ You leave the paddock.
_P:_ Behaviour of charging will increase.

The hard part is getting rid of negatively reinforced behaviour. In this example, I would probably train an alternate behaviour using positive reinforcement, possibly with extinction. Most horse trainers would use extinction, an aversive stimulus (which may be punishing), and negative reinforcement. An example would be applying the aversive stimulus (you) until the horse performed whatever behaviour you wanted, and was no longer charging, then removing the aversive, perhaps by leaving the paddock.
Generally speaking, you can punish, give no consequence, or reinforce an alternate behaviour to make one go away. I would probably train the horse to stand still or get on a target while I was outside the paddock at first, and counter condition my presence. That is training an alternate (being calm, and staying still/targeting), and using extinction if the horse charges the fence and I don't move away. 
Extinction might involve you not moving away, but you have to leave eventually, and when you do this, you could be unintentionally using either negative punishment or negative reinforcement. That's an interesting discussion to be had - how many times do you think you have negatively punished a behaviour by ending a session, and not realised it?

*Hope all that made sense. Anything to add, questions?*


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