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The miracle of the clicker!

Sparkles99

Biking along the boulevard
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Monday night I started obedience classes at the new school. It was amazing & Ruby wasn't even there (dogs don't attend the first session). Everything the instructor taught was demoed with her dog, who was off leash the whole time with a giant garage door that opened onto a parking lot taking up most of one wall. They appear to have a moving fence for when lesson dogs come.

I got issued a standard clicker & it has changed our lives. I'm not very coordinated. This means that any reward other than verbal, even patting, is slower than for some other people or isn't consistently executed. The clicker is consistent & she likes it.

In less than 24 hours, Ruby was sitting immediately indoors without a leash, collar or harness & without me touching her. She is starting to do the same thing with down & starting to do them silently for me with the hand signals my brother taught her.

At first, she was a little reluctant to take direction from me & expressed this by trying to eat the clicker. But she adapted fast, because it's consistent. Her reward most of the time is touching my hand with her nose & verbal praise, but I sprinkle in treats unpredictably, just to keep things interesting.

The most shocking thing happened when she decided it would be fun to chase the cat. I ordered her to sit & used the clicker. Even my cat looked shocked as her butt hit the floor. No leash or anything. I will obviously use a leash out of doors + more treats. :)

Here are some pics of her at just past 6-months old! She is the most handsome dog that ever was & will hopefully soon be the best behaved too!

Ruby smiling.JPG

Ruby lounging.JPG
 

Toy

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She's beautiful. Look at her smile :). I knew you'd eventually figure things out. Have fun at class.
 

faislaq

I have macaws and don't post enough pictures
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That's great! I should try that with our new dog. :)
 
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