Teaching the Sit with a Lure and a Clicker

This dog training tip uses clicker training methods. if you aren’t familiar with clickers, you can get a free copy of my ebook Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog by subscribing to my weekly email newsletter. The link takes you to the page where you can find out more and sign up if you wish.

Put a clicker in one hand and a small treat in the other. For most dogs, the treat can simply be a piece of their dry kibble.

You and your dog or puppy should be alone in a place without distractions such as other dogs or people. Indoors is generally less distracting than outside, but a quiet yard is fine. You want enough room that you and the dog can move around.

You also want to be where you have a small container of the treats out of reach of the dog, so you can grab another one easily.

Your dog should be standing up or walking around as you begin this process. Show him the treat in your hand, close enough that he can smell it and at about eye level. He may move forward to sniff it or he may just watch you. In any case, raise that hand with the treat up higher than his head and back over his head… so he has to sit in order to keep watching you.

The very instant that his rear touches the ground or floor, click the clicker. Then open your luring hand – that’s the one with the food — and let him take the treat from your outstretched palm. (This is a much safer method for your fingers than giving him the treat right from your fingers! I always give treats from my palm.)

Now, what if the dog doesn’t sit when you try this? What if he jumps up for the treat,  moves away as you raise the treat, or does something else? You don’t click or reward because he hasn’t done what you want. You can say something like “Too bad!” if you want to, or just say nothing. Then create a bit of a timeout, for example, turn around or just stand looking out at nothing for a few seconds. Then try again. Normally, dogs get the sit quite quickly, as it comes naturally to them to sit in order to see the treat. If you still have trouble after a try or two, be sure you are moving the treat in a way that would naturally make the dog move into a sit.

After the treat has been consumed, walk to a different place in the room and repeat the process. Do this quite a few  times in a session, but I wouldn’t go more than about 10 minutes, and only 2 or 3 minutes for young puppies. You can do several sessions a day. 

One evening recently, my husband and I happened to watch a BBC documentary on dogs detecting cancer. The program described some small studies and some experiences of dog owners. Most interesting to me was that clicker training was used to teach the dogs to detect cancer.

Here is how they did it in a study in the UK:

First, they showed a professional dog trainer teaching an exuberant dog to sit with the clicker. This was basic clicker training, very much like I describe it in my free ebook, Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog — the man clicked when the dog sat and then immediately gave her praise and a small tasty reward.

Next, they used an apparatus on the floor,

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This article is excerpted from the free ebook I wrote, Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog. The link takes you to where you can get a copy by signing up for my weekly email newsletter. (It just takes a jiffy, and you can always unsubscribe.) The ebook covers every aspect of getting a good start with clicker training dogs.

In any dog training, you want the communication with the dog to be clear. What is it that you want him to do? His response typically consists of him doing what you are training for, offering another behavior you have previously trained for, getting distracted, or being confused.

What you want to do in your communication with him is to let him know when he does exactly what you want him to. This is where the clicker is so great. It’s a sharp distinct sound and when you click at the exact moment that your dog’s body contacts the ground if you are teaching the down, then the dog knows what you want.

(Well, the dog knows what you want once he understands what the clicker means. See Step One if he hasn’t got that yet.)

So you need to learn how to click at the exact moment. For some people, it’s easier than others. If you have good hand-eye coordination you are ahead of the rest of us. I don’t, so I have practiced without a dog to get better. Believe me, if I can do it, you certainly can! …

How watching TV can make you better at clicker training

You can also practice using your clicker with a television and a remote.  I like to use the mute signal because it is almost instantaneous, and I tell the people in the ads “Quiet!” For starters, if there happens to be an ad that you are familiar with, then you can choose to click when certain things happen. Another time I like to practice is when watching tennis or other sports, where I can pretty much predict how people will move their bodies.

Whatever television shows and ads you watch, I’m sure you can come up with some creative ways to practice hitting  the clicker right when you want to. Do be sure the dog isn’t going to hear you, though. You want him to think of the clicker as something you do with him.

Click (your mouse, not your clicker) here to get the ebook: Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog

This article is excerpted from the free ebook I wrote, Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog. The link takes you to where you can get a copy by signing up for my weekly email newsletter. (It just takes a jiffy, and you can always unsubscribe.) The ebook covers every aspect of getting a good start with clicker training dogs.

Actually Do Some Clicker Training Sessions

For success with clicker training, you have to do it. That sounds like a no-brainer, but learning any new skill involves going through a stage where you aren’t sure of what you are doing. Taking action, no matter how uncertain or clumsy, is the most important thing you can do now.

In Step Two, I’ll make some comments about your dog, outline two actual sessions you can do at home, and talk about how you can convert your existing training procedures to clicker training. Once you have done even one or two sessions, the later steps in this manual will make a lot more sense to you, because you will be building on experience instead of just book-learning!

If you have more than one dog, just work with one at a time at first. If at all possible, have any other dogs somewhere else while you are learning.

If you and your dog are new to clicker training, your dog won’t understand that that the sound of the clicker means anything. Some dogs may be startled by the sound at first. That’s why the first session I outline is for getting your dog used to the clicker.

Be attentive to how your dog is responding. Whatever the age of your dog, he can learn about clickers. I trained a young Basenji puppy to sit in the first few days that we had her, with the clicker. I’m currently teaching my ten-year-old mixed-breed some new tricks. Blind dogs can be clicker trained; people have trained deaf dogs by using a flashlight instead of the clicker.

Click (your mouse, not your clicker) here to get the ebook: Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog