Train Your Dog To Focus On You Employing A Clicker.
Friday, May 11th, 2012A basic training strategy that teaches helpful control to your dog is showing him how to focus on you. Clicker training can help you to do that easily by simply reinforcing the action when your dog examines you naturally.
The following stages will help you to tune your dog into a clicker and also use it to show him focus on you. This is a great training technique to use with Labradors and other food incentivized dogs.
- Prepare for each session with a clicker decent number of small treats. Tiny is better as the dog will simply get a taste of the treat which is incentive in itself.
- Press the clicker and right away give the dog a treat and repeat this a few times. This is named “tuning in”.
- At last the dog will expect a treat each time he hears the sound. You can test this by his reaction to the sound. He should look to you instantly for reward on hearing the sound regardless of what else he is doing. This can take one or two sessions of 10 minutes or so at a time.
- When the dog is sufficiently tuned in to the sound only click when he's looking directly at you. Explanation this by keeping his attention for varying amounts of time and alternating by amount of clicks used whilst he's taking a look at you.
- Introduce your focus word; it can be anything except should be consistent. “Look, watch”, or “focus” are all options.
- If you are having difficulty getting your dog to take a look at your face you can slowly move the treat to behind your head. The dog’s eyes should follow it and when he's looking at once at you then click-treat.
When your dog is taught to focus effectively this can be beneficial in numerous scenarios. It's an acceptable way to control your dog without putting any undue pressure on him.
I'm hoping that this has given you some revelations into how to train a labrador, and that you continue on your journey. Good luck!
For more positive dog training information, strategies, strategies, how to train a Labrador or any other kind of dog with reward and reinforcement, then visit The Dog trick Academy today!
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