We’ve had Lola, our six month old Rottweiler rescue puppy, for less than a week now, and she and I are already well into clicker training. I’ve decided to do something a little different to begin with: I’m going to work my way through the exercises in Kay Laurence’s clicker training books . (The link takes you to my description of these books, also available as downloadable ebooks, on this website.) I say it’s a little different because it doesn’t just go in an ordinary order, like “sit, come, stay.” Lola is already developing the sit and the down by using some of these methods, though. She did have an inkling of the sit when she came.
The first book, Clicker Foundation Training, has 15 “recipes” and we are already doing the 4th recipe. The first two were about luring with food held in my fingers and then giving it to her with the flat of my hand (Laurence points out that it’s wise to always give treats in that way… you’re more likely to keep all your fingers unharmed!)

The third recipe involved getting Lola used to the clicker, by doing several things. Her favorite was that just before giving her a meal, I’d toss a bunch of pieces of her kibble on the floor and click each time she put one in her mouth. I was challenged a few times to click each piece as that mouth can operate like a vacuum cleaner!

We just moved on to the fourth recipe, and this was the first time that I used a treat other than kibble — I cut up some cheddar cheese into quite small bits. The process involved offering Lola the flat back of my hand, with the cheese tucked between 2 fingers. As soon as she touched my hand, I moved the cheese to the flat of my palm and gave it to her. After doing this, we advanced to offering the flat of my hand without cheese, clicking when she touched it, and giving her the cheese right after.

I don’t think she really understands what’s going on with the clicker yet, but she sure likes the cheese!

I practiced the exercise first with our older dog, LarryDog, and he had it down pat immediately. But then he’s an old hand at dog clicker training.

We’ve been back for some weeks now from the road trip that we took for over two months this summer. It just occurred to me that since I’d written about LarryDog having separation anxiety, I might as well write a bit about how he did. Of course, I wasn’t here to see but I have seen some nice evidence of how well he did!

Basically, two young women from our neighborhood here in Mexico (by Lake Chapala) lived in our house while we were gone. They have several teenage brothers who would sometimes stop by to visit. Now Larry used to be pretty nervous about teenage boys, but when the young women or the boys have come by since to visit us, Larry has eagerly greeted them all. Seems he got a lot of loving attention from the whole family, and did just fine!

We knew from past house-sitters that he bonds well with whoever lives here, and this just confirmed that. We had left some anti-anxiety herbal tablets for them to give the dog, and they used those too.

Now that we’ve added Lola, our 6 month old Rottweiler, I expect Larry will be more relaxed when we leave for short times… no trips planned soon!

Lola will turn up a lot in this blog and website from now on! We acquired her two days ago, from a woman who was fostering her till a good home was found. We’ve known several wonderful Rottweilers, but weren’t focusing on the breed.

We wanted a dog that would be a good guard dog, as there have been a lot of thefts in the region of Mexico we’re living in, by Lake Chapala not far from Guadalajara. Our quarter-acre yard is completely walled and fenced, so any dog would be safe in it.

A friend emailed me the information that Lola was available, and we went to see her. On the way over, Kelly commented that what would really be essential– besides all the practical matters — would be the bond we felt with the dog.

Keep scrolling down for photos that give an idea of that bond! We took her home with us within an hour!

I got there first, as Kelly had an appointment. Lola was a total love, but what really surprised me was how mellow and laid-back she was, not at all like the two Dobermans I mentioned in a recent blog post. They are several months older than her but intrinsically much more high energy. Lola was more my style, with all the hours I spend on the computer.

She let me touch her all over — adored it, as you can see. She wasn’t mouthy. She’s quite beautiful and has lots of soul in those big brown eyes…

We don’t know a lot about her history but she is purebred, though with no papers. She’s been at several homes recently but hasn’t worked out for one reason or another. (She isn’t housebroken, we were told, but we’re being vigilant and there have been no accidents.) She’s been spayed and had her shots.

When Kelly arrived, they hit it off just great too:

Once home, we crated her for a while, and after a few hours she and LarryDog got acquainted. We couldn’t believe how well that went. The cats are still wary of her but Lola is showing great self-control.

Last night our friend Linda, who had been the “go between” came over to dinner with her husband Bill. They gave Lola very high marks and commented that she will be an excellent guardian. Lola demonstrated her agreement by soon producing the first two barks she has done here. She has a deep voice already!

A Rottweiler means lots and lots of training, and she and I are at it already. She already knew some things, thanks to a local trainer who had already worked with her once or twice. She’s very biddable and very smart.

We are very lucky.

Here’s a family portrait Linda took last night, in our yard:

Often when I set out to teach LarryDog a new behavior, he isn’t quite sure what I want. So while I am clicking and praising when he does the new thing right, he will also run through all sorts of things we’ve done in the past, maybe including some I’ve forgotten. He may touch my right hand with his nose, for example… something we haven’t worked on in several years!

His favorite “When in doubt as to what Rosana wants” behavior is to sit.

So if your dog offers you a variety of already-learned behaviors when your dog training goal is something new, take it as a sign that he or she is busy thinking about what you want!