How long does it take an intelligent dog to catch on?

Mac is an intelligent dog. I mean, intelligent. But he's as independent as a cat. (He also grooms himself like a cat!) Anyway, I can only persuade him to do anything by offering him a treat. Otherwise, he can't believe you'd ask him to do something. He's completely mercenary. The person with the treat in their hands is the one he works for. No loyalty!

Well, I'm trying to teach him "touch" with a clicker stick and some high-value treats. And he will touch the end of the stick without fail wherever I happen to hold it. So I've given him a target, and he'll touch the target if the clicker stick is there, but doesn't seem to get it when the stick is removed. Maybe I just haven't given him enough time with the exercise. I know he's intelligent, so the question is, am I?

On Monday (Labor Day) we are going to visit my puppy. She's been moved from the house to the nursery, where she is learning to use a doggy door. This is the stinkiest place on the ranch, because the puppies don't understand the doggie doors at first, and so are relieving themselves on the floor. Of course, the "floor" in this case is a concrete slab that has four runs on it. While we're out there, we'll take some pictures to show you. I'll upload them Monday night.

I'm glad we're going, because I need a  puppy fix!

Mac (right) and Tosh in their winter "pajamas."

Counting the Days

All I can think of is puppies. Toy Aussie puppies, to be exact. Eighteen days until I can pick her up! She'll actually be ready to go two days earlier, but I can't get out there until Saturday, eighteen days from now. I feel pregnant! The last few weeks just D-R-A-G!

I've given Mac some more training with the clicker, and he's doing well. A little here, a little there. He will sit up right quick, even when I don't want him to. It's so funny to watch him go through his repertoire, trying to figure out the behavior I want. And there's no problem teaching "watch"; his eyes never leave mine. But all this is getting ahead of himself. I want to follow a clear direction, and so far, it's all chaos. I've ordered a couple of books from Amazon on clicker training, so maybe I can get a plan in order before too long. Meanwhile, I'm just working on the things I know he will do. He doesn't offer anything reliably yet. More tries it till it works, gives it to me again, but then might offer something else entirely.

There are some good places to find things out on the web. Karen Pryor's site is the best by far, but there are others as well. Clicker Solutions is another informative site, as well as DoggieBuddy, a site that has 52 tricks to train your dog (1 a week for an entire year!). There are so many more, and as I have the time to look further into them, I'll post an amateur's review. The advantage of being an amateur is that I'll look for things that make it really easy to understand and follow. I'll post all the information resources I can find that are not overwhelming, because I probably won't read those that I find too scholarly. (Not that I'm not scholarly. I subscribe to Off-Lead and Animal Behavior Magazine, after all.) I just don't have the time to spend consuming all that information and breaking it down into easily understood lingo. (I used to do that for Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.)

Until next time!

A Journal Begun

Right now— after the passing of my beloved Tosh— only Mac lives with us. Mac is an eight year old miniature pinscher that we rescued six years ago. He's starting to gray a little in the face, especially on his muzzle, which makes me sad. I watched Tosh's little face go completely white; but she was gray when we rescued her, six years ago, too. We got them together and enjoyed these dogs immensely.

So last weekend, we drove an hour and a half to a nice little ranch in Blue Ridge, Texas, where I chose a red tri-color toy aussie. My new puppy will be named Sweet Paprika, but her call name will be Sadie. I get to bring her home in two and a half weeks from now. I'm dreaming of puppies!

Mac and Sadie need their own blog because from day one with Sadie, we will be documenting their training. Mac is rather mercenary, only willing to do what we ask if we have treats available. I plan on changing that through clicker training. And Sadie will be learning clicker training from the ripe old age of eight weeks. I'm really excited to see how the training  progresses with both dogs. And though I've owned many dogs throughout my life, this will be my first time clicker training. Up until now, I've used old fashioned methods that mostly used punishment for bad behavior, not rewarding good behavior. (I cringe as I write this!)

Mac understands the clicker, and knows to try different things to see if he can get the thing to click so he gets his reward. Thus far we've worked on come, sit, spot (down), sit up, touch and watch me. He's doing pretty good for a dog being trained by someone who doesn't really know what she's doing! (I plan on reading and studying a lot between now and the time I bring Sadie home. After that, when she's old enough for puppy class, we'll probably put Mac in a class to help him learn to focus through distractions.)

Meanwhile, as I said, I'm dreaming puppies and training and clicking and rewarding...

'til next time!