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I have a dog from the Human Society that was relinquished due to cost (maybe?). She has a very sweet deposition. Never barks, jumps, growls, doesn't startle easy. Just a very balanced easy going dog.. Or so we thought. We brought her into our home and pack with Caesar's Way. Her only real issue is she gets panicky when we leave the house, we have been working on that too. Within a week I had her walking perfectly next to me on leash or no. She is very quick to learn. So far I've taught her sit, down, off, drop it, take it, paw and were working on roll over all in the last month. Everyone kept telling me I should try clicker training for some more advanced tricks. I always thought it was silly but thought why not? So I bought a 1.99 clicker at Petco, tested it a few times and she looked at me when clicked but didn't startle or run away.
So with her favorite treats in hand I started the process of "charging" the clicker. I started with the 'click!' part of the click,treat,click,treat sequence... And click! she backs up I call her back to me with the treat and she backs up further, I move forward with just the treat in hand and she doesn't want it. So I put the clicker away and try to just hand her a treat. Nope. She doesn't want anything to do with the treat. I put it on the floor and walk away and she goes as far away from the treat as possible. I take her to another room and she just cowered in the corner. I tried to just leave her alone a while. A little later, while giving our second dog a treat she ran in the kitchen because she knows the sound of the treat bag. As I hand the second dog the treat she smells what it is and now is also afraid of anything that sounds like a treat bag along with the treats. Furthermore, anything I have taught her using those treats has gone out the window. No more paw, no more down, no coming to her name. Nothing. The only thing I can think is that someone used the clicker in conjunction with some very severe punishment in her past.
Ok, clicker's in the trash. But how do I undo what has just happened? She was my "follow me everywhere" dog and now she acts like she's scared of me. She won't go near any kind of dog or cat treat that comes in anything like a bag after just that one little moment. Those treats were about the only thing she liked consistently as a motivation for learning things like sit on command. What do I do to fix this?
I don't believe the clicker ruined your relationship with your dog. I have done clicker training classes with my dog and they were very successful for us. However, if you clicked and treated when the dog was in the wrong mind set, then you are rewarding that behaviour, so you could have rewarded her fear without realising it. I would forget you had ever used the clicker and start again. Use a different treat if you want too, say like cheese, or hot dogs, but remember a treat is a treat and should not be used constantly one after the other. We want our dogs to do things because we as pack leader have asked them too, not because they will be bribed with a treat every time. A dog that has treats all the time will also become over weight. You see how seldom Cesar uses treats and when he does, it is never one after another and another and another and so on. You don't need a clicker for advanced tricks. My dog learnt them all without the clicker, roll over, crawl, shut the door, weave through legs, do a figure 8 through legs, bow, wave and so on. The clicker is a tool and tools are great, but it is always the energy the human is projecting behind that tool that makes the tool effective!
If your dog is scared of the treat bag, either change bags for the time being, put them in something else or desensatise your dog to it. Put the treat bag on the side or on the floor and just leave it there, forget about it, but and as soon as the dog sniffs it, just reward the dog, either with a toy, a stroke or good girl. Don't use an over excited voice though and only praise if there is no sign of fear, watch the dogs body language, a fearful dog will try and shrink, his tail will be between his legs or held real low tucked close to the body with maybe a small wag at the end of the tail. It may shut down or flee, so learning dogs body language is a great thing to do to help us recognise what our dogs are really telling us.. If she is fearful don't feel sorry for her or say it is ok or anything like that, because that will make the fear worse. Let the dog approach the bag itself, don't force it. Only praise when there is curiosity and not signs of fear.
Some dogs are sensative to noise and any little thing can trigger it off, so perhaps the clicker noise did that with your dog. My dog was trained from a pup and is now 5½. He has always been afraid of fireworks, but was fine with everything else, then last year a crow scarer went off, it was going off every second for an hour. My dog was use to this noise as we trained outside with them going off, but he was not use to so many in a row, so he freaked out big time. How I reacted that day was the crucial bit, I did not know I had reacted wrongly, but I did, my dog became afraid of every little noise and would not go out the door, he would shut down as soon I got his leash. I got him over that, but then got a professional who helped me get to where we are today. I worked on becoming a stronger pack leader and desensatising him to his fears. He is back to a calm submissive dog. He will occassionaly react, but now I know how to handle the situation, it is over as quick as it started and we move on. The main thing is to stay calm and assertive and patience is a big factor if a dog is scared of something. To help our dogs over anything being a strong pack leader is vital, not only being calm and assertive, but lots of patience and consistancy.
It is lovely to have a dog that follows us, but remember we don't want one that follows our every move. If we go to the toilet and the dog follows or we leave the room and the dog follows, we don't want that or the dog can develop separation anxiety, we want the dog to follow us on our terms when we ask them too, not when they may or may not decide too. Remember we are the leaders and leaders make the rules and not the followers. Always on our terms. If you feel the dog does not follow you at all, put the dog on the leash in the house or the garden and get it to follow you that way. Dogs learn by association, so the more you practice the better they become at things.
Don't give up with the tricks, they will come back, as your dog learns that your the pack leader they do slowly start to do those tricks again, but best of all they do it just because you have asked them too and not just because they know a treat is coming. Sometimes we think it is not working and it is taking a long time, but we cannot give up, we just try harder and harder until we make it happen. Everything takes time, but practice and repetition is the key. It worked for me and it will for you too. Be patient, consistant, calm and assserive!
Bravo Temporale, that is most excellent thoughts, I think your boy is very lucky to have such a fantastic Role model as you.
LinzDigital, my friend dogs are the most curious of creatures and are the most sensitive of creatures when it comes to their owners, who blummin knows what has caused this association ;) I think Temporale is correct in how to approach this 'problem' you have. If you need to just come back and talk some more please do, there are some very experienced and not so experience knowledgeable people and you will learn much, ;) and enjoy learning! ;) Welcome.
peace and light
jofi
Thank you Jofi, I am lucky to have my dog, he has taught me loads and I still have loads more to learn, but thanks to Cesar and my trainer I understand more now about dog psychology and how important it is that we look at the dogs mind set, rather than just the position, i.e sit. Cesar is so right when he says we get the dog we need and not the one we want!