Click for cheese

Sophie was clicker trained in her puppy class and first few obedience classes. She got the point of the clicker and did well learning the basics. I stopped using it mostly because I do not have the coordination to hold a leash, treats and a clicker (I am clumsy!!)

We moved to marking behavior with "yes" or "good girl", phrases she gets and knows means treats are coming. You say good girl in our house and a black lab will promptly stop whatever she is doing and sit in front of you with a tilted head as if to say "I hear the magic words...now where are those treats".

Sophie's contacts on the A frame and Dog walk have deteriorated in the last few weeks. I saw it at the trial, she wanted to run and was barely sticking them. We have always had iffy contacts to be honest.  I tried jackpot rewarding when she would stick the contact, saying yes etc etc. But it didn't seem to click with her.

Thursday, I thought to bring the clicker to practice. She is off leash so I only need to worry about treats and clicker, even I can manage that. We worked first on the base of the dog walk. Clicking every time she hit the two on two off. She got that pretty quick. So I started having her go over the dog walk, I would say contact and she would offer it, click and treat.

Not only was she nailing the contact but she started picking up speed on the dog walk, something she had not done since she slipped off a few months ago. She was grasping the concept that going over the walk, offering two on and two off meant a click which meant a treat. She got the concept so well that she was trying to speed over the dog walk!

I am not sure why the clicker works so much better than yes in this context but I am ready to run with it! Now just to learn to not be clumsy!

Class today, she kept trying to add the dog walk to whatever run we had so she could offer the contact, click and get cheese. I created a monster lol!