I read, "Don't Shoot the Dog" over the weekend on a longish flight and just have to reccommend it to everyone.
Basically, the traditional way of training sucks compared to the results you will get with clicker training. It's a little difficult to explain, but please, please check out some of the information on these websites. I promise you will feel so much better about training ANYONE this way! Oh, and you can use this training on any age animal, even if they are already trained (there's so much more you can do with them). And the best thing is how well you will be able to communicate with your animal.
I am getting a new rottie in about two weeks, according to the breader, and I plan to use this method instead of traditional training (which causes fear and requires a level of force/coercion). Some of you may remember I had a rottie (used to be my avatar), but he passed away January 5th, so unfortunately I never got to use clicker-training with him.
I hope if any of you try this out today, tomorrow, whatever (I mean you can do this stuff in a night), that you will come back and let me know how it is going for you. TIA.
I trained our dog Mitch w/ a clicker and it is awesome! It's super easy and fast. He picks up new tricks and commands rediculously fast. We don't use the clicker much anymore because you phase it out once the dog knows the command. I'll definitely go back to it w/ my next dog tho, and I would highly recommend the clicker training system to anyone.
^ For example, when you teach your dog to sit by forcing it's rump on the ground. Even if you give the dog a treat, it is still a form of coercion, which is not the best method of training. Another example is using a choke collar to train a dog to heel, or when horse trainers/riders train a horse to turn by pulling in one direction or the other.
All of it has negative consequences for the dogs/other animals.
I hope you will check out clicker training since you do have a pup. You can start right away and it is super easy and super fast.
IMO clicker training works, and is a great choice for breeds that tend to be a little stubborn especially. We decided against using a clicker, but our trainer gave us the option to do so. In both clicker training and 'regular' training, you load the clicker or a word with a reward. Once they make the association that when they hear the click or a particular word, they've pleased you and get rewarded, subsequent training goes quickly! It's not a remote control though, unfortunately . Anyway, IMO you can achieve the same results w/out a clicker, but some people find it easiest to stay consistent with the clicker. The consistency is really the key to any training!
The reason we chose not to is that I personally found the clicker cumbersome to use in every situation we would have needed it to, but many people find the opposite to be true and think it's much easier to give a consistent click than remember to say a specific word. You also eventually faze out the clicker, and we preferred to use a method that we'd be able to use all the way through.
The literature on clicker training is really interesting, though! Even if you don't want to clicker-train, the principles and techniques are really great and can still be applied to training. Just replace the click with a word ... we use 'Yes!'.
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I do my training mor like Elle. I dont use a clicker, but I believe I follow the same rules. You can also just click with your mouth, or use any noise that grabs their attention.