What NOT to do and why- dog training clicker tips
PLEASE READ THE WHOLE MANIFESTO IN AN EASIER FORMAT HERE: www.dogmantics.com It also translated into Dutch Swedish Spanish and Portuguese on that site. Here is a small excerpt: The many problems with using physical or psychological intimidation: 1) Without perfect timing, intensity, and consistency, the “training” amounts to nothing more than abuse. 2) The animal learns to avoid the punisher in order to indulge in undesirable behavior. 3) These techniques can cause irreversible emotional damage to the animal. 4) The punishment can increase stress hormones, arousal, and aggression. 5) Animals can habituate to the punishment — meaning that the intensity of the punishment must keep increasing to have any effect as the animal learns to endure it. 6) You cannot change an animal’s basic emotional response to find children, adults, or other animals (or anything for that matter) reinforcing by using intimidation; you can only suppress the dog’s punished behaviors. 7) Intimidation can cause dogs to hide their warning signs before attempting to bite. 
Dogs trained with punishment can feel trapped by their handlers, since the decision to leave a ‘stay’ or to leave the handler’s side (to escape from a bothersome child, for example) can cause punishment. Animals who feel they have no escape tend to bite rather than move away. 9) Intended intimidation can actually increase the behavior you wish to extinguish, as intimidation involves giving a form of attention to an animal. 10) The …
25 Comments on “What NOT to do and why- dog training clicker tips”
@trondyne there was a series called “It’s Me or the Dog” where the trainer used +R training towards aggressive dogs that had been “trained” the dog-whisperer way and came up with many positive results.
It is 100% possible to train all types of dog with positive reinforcement. It just has to do with how hard you are willing to work and how patient you are willing to be.
@trondyne An +R behaviour modoification trainer who deals with fear and aggression cases is Grisha Stewart. You won’t find any leash pops and any form of +P (only pleasant kissy noises as interruptions or ‘this way!’
@trondyne No dogs are close to wolves. Only wolf hydrids. There is something wrong with a leash pop. A) if you have to use one in the first place, there is something not right and b) it is an unpleasant interrupter if you need one. We cannot and should not punish and correct our dogs the way other dogs do. This is ritualised aggression we could never dream of copying and any proper dog-dog aggression is abnormal.
Thank you, good information.
Well put. id love to see some videos on how to train puppies if you have the time. Id like to know how to train a labrador puppy to pee and poo outside in the field. Ive heard about the shuv thier face into the wee bit… and that doesnt feel right. so how can you do that please? Also do i just apply all the things from your videos from older dogs onto a puppy such as heal, stay, sit, leave, drop. Ben dog used to be able to sit outside shops without moving, lovely dog. Thanks for your videos
@hinessa
Let’s see an example… I know the show and have not seen any good examples, moreover she is not 100% +R. And let’s see one, any example of +R only used with a dangerous dog…
I fail to understand why some people see a leash pop as something negative or attempt to treat dogs with more concern for +R than most people treat their kids..
Dogs and especially wolves do not discipline through touch, subordinates willingly submit. No such thing as Alpha rolls. Most “discipline” is done through body language. The man (Dr. David Mech) who created that theory has retracted his statements. (The “kissy” sounds are to get the animals attention… not for discipline.) There is a video on youtube with Dr. Mech look up “Alpha” Wolf?
What makes you think “many breeds will simply not respond to these “nicer” options”? And what breeds exactly are you speaking of? Does this count for every dog within that breed? So, not one individual dog of that breed will respond to scientifically proven techniques based on the most recent animal learning theories? Also, “Dealing” with aggressive or stubborn dogs via +R takes time and patience… Which would make a really long boring youtube video, im not suprised you haven’t seen it done.
@trondyne You’re right about that, if they are focused on something else you may as well be making sounds to a tree. But! If they are that focused on a stimulus they are beyond training threshold and should be brought back to a distance where they can focus even in the presence of the stimuli. Like Coolio said… Why set them up to fail?
@MsZoraZ Fading the treat out of your hand is part of the process of phasing out treats…The treats should be faded out very early in the game, it sounds like you may have hung on too long. Try loading yourself up with out letting the dog know you have the treats and start over in a really easy enviornment. Try not to give any body cues that you have treats or are about to dispense one, like putting your hand in your treat bag or pocket.
@GreatG0dOm Find a good +R trainer to do Counter Conditioning/Desensitization with you privately.
@flexina Maybe you should set an alarm and have it go off once or twice in the night so you can wake up and take her to her toilet. Maybe she can’t hold it all night long. Maybe she has a bladder or kidney infection or other health issue that causes PolyUria. Maybe you could make her toilet more accessable from your bed?
@lassy222 I have training mats on the floor in my bedroom, if i get up twice a night, i wont be able to get up in the morning :/ She does not pee in my bed at night, its during the day it happens.
@flexina When you are home or not home? If you are home can you escort her to her bathroom multiple times throughout the day and strongly reinforce her for using it? If not home can you keep her in a pen or play yard with her toilet,bed, food, water, and things to do? It would be nice if you could start her toilet training over, being sure to reward her greatly for using it, and in the meantime set her up for success by managing her environment so she cant keep practicing toileting on the bed
@lassy222 Oh, need to buy a pen then. Thanks, gonna try that
And be after her to go to do her buisness in the right place, with a lot of praise and goodies if she is good. I am gonna put my furniture in a different place in my bedroom, since when i am on the computer, my bed is behind me and i cant see whats going on. With my headset on, i cant hear it neither, so with the computer table put so i have the bed beside me instead of behind me would help me a lot.
Thank you
you’re right!
@DiyEcoProjects Housetraining: take your puppy out very often and praise for pooing/peeing. After every meal, when he’s slept or played. Or, as I did, I took Alva out every second hour. Her breeder had used newspaper so she knew she can pee on them and I used them too. She actually started to ask for walks by standing on the news. Observe your dog so you’ll learn how he wants out. When the puppy grows he can hold it longer and you can walk him less often. Alva was clear at the age of 5 months.
@DiyEcoProjects And never push your puppy’s nose into the pee/poo. That teaches him/her nothing. Also yelling or punishing the puppy when you see him/her doing it indoors is useless. Remove valuable/unwashable carpets so they don’t get peed. They can return onto the floors when the dog is housetrained. But use some carpets if the floor is slippery, slipping is not good for a growing dog.
I think you can use all kikopup’s vids as references in your training. These methods are not harmful.
@Belgiter And I really appreciate Alva could pee/poo on the papers because my parents’ 8 months old dog still pees/poos indoors and she did not know how to use papers. She thinks their living room is far enough from the bedroom to be a toilet! My mom has walked her after her every meal and so on… I think not using papers needs a lot more consistence than I needed with Alva. It might be needed to prevent this dog entering the living room until she knows that the whole house is “bedroom”.
@MsZoraZ I have the same problem with my parent’s dog. She comes when called only if she knows I have meatballs hidden somewhere in my clothes. And if she believes I have none… I guess running crazily around is too rewarding for her and feels like it’s some kind of play for her. She is quite sensitive and darn it is so easy to scare her. She does not like picking her up so if I pick her next time I call her she runs. Or I call her and don’t reward. She must be in leash in their yard
@Kikopup I think this may be the first time you’ve broached the psychological side of the intimidation training so carefully so now I wonder. Is it considered psychological intimidation to snap your fingers/hold your hand up in a stop gesture when you want the dog to stop a or not go past a certain line? The dog I’m living with at the moment has responded to this form of communication, with no other forms of intimidation, (no vocals etc).Not my dog though so dont know her past experiences.
@Belgiter Many thanks for your detailed response. I have a feeling that a dog companion is going to come back into my life… the joy of puppies yeay!
wow, very insightful. thank-you
I have to admit, I have been a bully, I would raise my voice or stare down my dog to make him sit, But I won’t do this ever again now that I have been enlightened, Thank you for all of your informational videos, they are extremely helpful and are becoming my training bible!