Clicker Training

I've also started clicker training Harvey.
You use a clicker to "mark" the good behaviors. For instance I am teaching H to touch a measuring cup with his nose.
The clicker is one similar to the ones shown here:




You know how long it takes to get a treat out of your pocket or how long it takes to say "Good dog"? Well that time makes it hard to get a dog to know exactly what you think is awesome. Since the dog learns to associate the clicker with a treat, the click tells that dog that they did a good job. The sound is an immediate signal that the exact thing you wanted was the right thing to do. '

I am teaching H the command "Touch" because it can lead to other fun tricks and I can put the cup different places and get him to go away from me to "Touch". One of my friends is very into dog training of all kinds and she wants to show me how to teach him scent discrimination. This would teach him to pick out the object that I touched specifically, pretty cool huh?

Thought I'd share a little about my non vet school life. It's not all studying haha!