Teach Your Dog a New Trick in Just 10 Minutes – Simple Clicker Training Tips

Mr. N is becoming quite adept at clicker training and he can learn a basic trick in a few minutes. We do a lot of structured shaping where I have a goal in mind and I try to “nudge” him towards the final product. We don’t do a lot of free shaping where I just wait to see what Mr. N has to offer because he gets frustrated if he feels like he lacks directions.

So I thought I’d see what he came up with. Mr. N (being the diva he is) likes to stomp at me if he thinks I’m being unclear or if I’m not rewarding for something he thinks I should be. Sure enough, I sat there and he started to stomp at me and I clicked and treated and put it on cue. My hand signal is tapping the floor with my fist once.

As you can see from the video, he caught on pretty quickly that he would be rewarded for “stomping.” From start to finish, it took less than ten minutes complicated by the fact that I also had my phone out to take pictures and he was like do you want me to pose pretty for a picture or work?

Shaping really makes dogs think and I love playing the “game” with dogs. I also worked with Mr. N’s friend, Sage, shaping for two five-minute sessions and she was regularly offering a wave by the end of the ten minutes. And this is a dog who hasn’t had much experience with clicker training and shaping.

Ten minutes. That’s really all you need. Your dog can learn a lot in those few minutes and it’s better for them to have shorter, frequent sessions anyway.

Have you tried training your pet to do something new in ten minutes?

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No purchase necessary. Giveaway is open to US residents, 18 and over. Void where prohibited. Giveaway will run from Monday, April 6th, 2015 through Sunday, April 12th, 2015 at 11:59pm PT. One (1) winner will be randomly selected by PromoSimple.com and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize. Participants must read and agree to Tenacious Little Terrier’s and PromoSimple’s Privacy Policy before entering and participating in this promotion. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, KONG, Outward Hound, Zuke’s, i-Click, Dogwise Publishing and Howln Moon Press do not sponsor, administer, or endorse this promotion. Prize pack will be shipped separately by participating bloggers who donated prize items. Prize pack may not be as pictured.

Welcome to First Monday’s Positive Pet Training Blog Hop hosted by Cascadian Nomads, Tenacious Little Terrier and Rubicon Days. Please share your responsible pet owner positive pet training tips by linking a blog post or leaving a comment below. Any positive reinforcement training posts or comments are also always welcome. The Positive Pet Training Blog Hop goes all week long. Our next hop will begin Monday, May 4th and continues for a week. The May theme is “reviews” where we invite you to share a review of a positive reinforcement training book, DVD, treat, tool, speaker, class, etc.