Delivering Food

Another important mechanical skill is the ability to deliver the food as quickly as possible after you click. In order to get the most value from the click/treat sequence you need to be able to deliver the treat immediately after the click while the dog is in the same position you clicked. The click tells the dog he did the right thing, the food presented in the correct position is an added reinforcement.

This is especially important if you have a quick dog. For example if you cue and click a sit and the dog jumps up before you deliver the food, the extra opportunity to reinforce the sit position is lost. And you run the risk of developing a chain – sit, click, jump up, food.

So try this exercise. Get a timer that will beep (so you don’t have to look at the time.) Put on your bait bag with your usual treats and set the timer for 15 seconds. See how many pieces of food you can deliver to a countertop in the 15 seconds. One at a time of course! No fair grabbing a handful.

When you’ve reached the point where the number is consistent and you can’t go any faster, pick a specific spot and deliver just to that spot. A good idea would be to change to something that is at the same height as your dog’s mouth.

When you’re proficient, up the criteria. Try the exercise with your eyes closed. Do it with your other hand.

This exercise will pay off when you can get that treat to appear from your bag to your dog in seconds.

Timing Exercises

As Bob Bailey has said so often “training is a mechanical skill.” Those words are so true and so powerful they inspire us to work on our mechanical skills so we can be more effective trainers. One of the most important mechanical skill you can develop as a clicker trainer is timing.

Developing your mechanical skills takes practice. And it must be good practice. The old saying “practice makes perfect” isn’t exactly accurate. Practice makes Permanent so be sure you’re careful about what you’re practicing!

Here are some exercises you can do to develop your timing. They are simple to allow you to make a quick judgment as to whether or not the criteria is met. Over time they will also develop a knee jerk type reaction in that you will respond automatically. They are best done if you can do them with a partner to observe you. But you’ll still get benefits if you do them alone especially if you can video or audio tape yourself. Just be very critical of your performance and make sure you don’t accept “close enough.”

1. Throw something hard into the air, like a set of keys that will make a noise when it hits the ground. Have your clicker in the other hand and click at the exact moment the object hits the ground. If you do it perfectly, there will be one sound. If you hear two sounds, keep practicing until there is only one.
2. Put the clicker on a table next to you. Hold the hard object out in front of you with your right hand and drop it. With the same hand, pick up the clicker and click at the same time the object hits. Again, you want one sound. Practice this with both hands until you are equally accurate with either hand. Once you get good at it, make it increasingly harder by lowering your hand closer to the ground before you drop the object. Work up slowly like you would when you train your dog. A little bit closer to the ground each time. You should be 95% accurate before you move on.
3. One of my favorite timing exercises can be done while watching TV. Pick a random thing like a person sitting down or a news anchor picking up a piece of paper. Every time it’s done, immediately click. If your dog happens to be nearby when you do this, it’s fun to feed him a treat every time you click. You strengthen the click/treat relationship in his mind and watch how attentive he gets as a result!

Have fun and remember, Pay Per Click!