# Teaching to turn lights on?



## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

Bear with me, as this might be a little long-winded. As it is right now, I hate coming home to an empty house, especially if the lights are off. I pretty much plan my schedule to avoid it, because it is almost impossible for me to bring myself to go inside. I hate leaving the lights on all day, and we have tried a few other ideas, but we haven't come up with a really good solution for a variety of reasons. 

But I recently read an article where a dog for someone with PTSD was trained to go into the house and turn lights on when they got home. I take Hans (our spoo) to work with me because I'm self employed, so I thought that might be a viable solution. My question is, what is the best approach to teaching this? He's almost 5 months old now, but he is a really quick learner so far. So I'm pretty sure he can learn this. 

I'm just wondering if I should start by teaching him to operate a switch that isn't on the wall first, and then work on the real one, or just start with the actual switch I want him to use (we would have to give him a step, since he can't reach it yet). Any thoughts?


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## LCS (Jan 8, 2014)

Hi there, I'm sure others will have lots of ideas on this - but I always think about what I'm aiming for and then work backwards. So for instance what are the steps needed to turn on the lights. 

1.) know to go to something (in this case the switch, but you must teach a reliable 'touch' to get there- and 'touch' would be more easily taught with other objects)

2.) he will need to go up on his hind legs to get to the switch, which requires a controlled effort.

3.) he will need the dexterity the flip the switch (which is a skill that will be taught once you have a reliable 'touch')

After just a quick youtube search I found this 'touch' video that I think will help with your first step. 






And this series which specifically talks about how to teach turning on a light switch. This person says it is approximately 20 steps involved.





 (part 1)





 (part 2)

Hope this helps.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

why not just get a smart home program you can run off your cell phone? unless, of course, you want your dog to learn the trick as much as you want the lights on.


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

LCS said:


> Hi there, I'm sure others will have lots of ideas on this - but I always think about what I'm aiming for and then work backwards. So for instance what are the steps needed to turn on the lights.
> 
> 1.) know to go to something (in this case the switch, but you must teach a reliable 'touch' to get there- and 'touch' would be more easily taught with other objects)
> 
> ...


Thanks for the videos! I don't know why I never think to try youtube. That makes a lot of sense, about breaking things down into steps. I am still working on getting used to teaching him the behavior first and adding the command later (we got the "Train Your Dog Like a Pro" book for Christmas, and have been working on the basics from that). It is just a different thought process for me, so I'm trying to get used to it. I think I get too stuck on the end result sometimes. I actually just ordered a clicker today, so I will start with the clicker and "touch" when it gets here. 

As far as why we don't just get a smart home system...we tried one you install yourself, but we are kind of in the country and our internet/cell signals are not 100% reliable. So it worked sometimes and didn't work other times. And I don't really want to spend a bunch on having one installed and monitored. Plus, I figure that Hans seems to like learning stuff so far . I feel like we are going to have to come up with some things beyond the basic commands for him...he seems to like learning new things, and I don't want him to be bored (we are having fun teaching him, too). He goes with me anyway, so why not teach him something useful?


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## Hicubse (Feb 14, 2014)

My dog got frustrated and looked and started barking at me when I tried this. She is not used to using her face so she tries using her feet,


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## Rachel76 (Feb 3, 2014)

Ha! I had JUST watched kikopups video and then came here. The other two videos I have never seen. Thank you for finding them and posting them LCS


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## Vanilla-Yazoo (Jun 2, 2013)

I cant help with the training but how about those sensor lights that turn on when someone walks over to the door? 
Or an energy saver/ l.e.d light so its not burning lots pf electric?


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## FireStorm (Nov 9, 2013)

I thought it might be nice to update this thread. Hans is doing really well with the clicker training. He is the first dog I've tried it with, and I'm pretty impressed with how well it works. 

As for turning the lights on and off, we started out with the touch command and I just introduced a light switch this week (waited until the touch was solid). Today was the big breakthrough. He was doing well with touching the light switch, and would flip it occasionally (he got extra treats when he did). But today he actually realized that flipping it was the goal (and the way to more treats). He flipped it a bunch of times, and the few times he didn't actually flip it you could tell he was trying, he just missed. I'm so excited! So we will keep following the videos, since it seems to be working, and I will update periodically.


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## Rachel76 (Feb 3, 2014)

Way to go Hans! Good for you and thanks for the update. I'm so glad to hear it is working out so well. I am also a late comer to clicker training and it really is so impressive how well and quickly they learn. Looking forward to future updates. ....and some pictures if possible? :biggrin1:


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