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Topic Dog Boards / General / Clicker for touching?
- By ANNM172 [gb] Date 31.08.09 18:36 UTC
My six month old papillon has become hand shy over the past few weeks and pulls back whenever someone strange tries to touch her. This is obviously not ideal at shows. She does not lack confidence on the move or when put on the table to relax or stand for a treat for me.
I wondered if a clicker might be used to reinforce first the stand , then someone approaching and standing by her, hand touching etc. Is it worth a try or should I just get as many people as possible to handle her at any time

I am hoping I can sort this out quickly
- By Goldmali Date 31.08.09 19:56 UTC
I wouldn't say you can sort this out quickly -if you charge ahead too quickly with just a lot of people touching her you could potentially  make the problem much, much worse -although it will of course depend on just how worried she is. I'm working through a dog like this at the moment (Malinois) and my clicker trainer's advice is to absolutely not take her in the ring for another 3 months -but if possible take her along to shows to let her have a good time without anything scary happening to her.(Just being given lots of treats, meeting people without any pressure, walking around.) You're better off first working at getting her more confident, accepting strangers, forgetting the show stand at the moment -she knows it, you can come back to that. By making her stand first she will put that together with the unpleasant experiences. So do informal stuff first, being approached, click when she stands still and looks happy, gradually get closer, have people touching her (not forcibly, at first it might just be one finger) etc, and never force her to to do anything she feels uncomfortable with.
- By bear [gb] Date 01.09.09 09:06 UTC
i've never done showing but with regards to your dog being nervous with other people i would keep her out the showing enviroment for now and build up her confidence first. i have a very nervous TT because she lacked a lot of experiences that most pups would be used to.
i've had to start from scratch and when i see someone coming to talk to me on walks or friends come round the house i ask them not to look or talk to my dog,you must let the dog make the first move,so it's on their terms. once friends are sat down in my house i still ask them to ignore her even if she comes up to them and for them to just drop a treat on the floor, hence a positive experience for the dog but no pressure. things are improving at a slow pace and it's very important that you don't rush this other wise it will make the situation much worst.
obviously it depends on how nervous your dog is but just trying to get the dog to meet a lot of people is often too much in one go and it is best to let the dog find it's own way and know people want touch them until their happy. after a while of this then people dropping treats but no touching or eye contact and once the dogs used to that and they become more confident then putting there hand out for the dog to sniff and a treat from the persons hand.
if it were me i would forget the showing for a while and concentrate on what i've said then your dog can move on to showing when ready, if you force it i would think your dog will not enjoy being shown and it will be a stressful experience for them.
i have never used clicker training but always use reward a training instead so can't give advice on that i'm afraid.
- By tohme Date 01.09.09 09:54 UTC
Click to Win by Karen Pryor deals with this, however if you have not clicker trained before I would suggest that you research this and understand the method before applying it to a crucial behaviour.
- By ANNM172 [gb] Date 01.09.09 16:27 UTC
Thanks for the advice- I have clicker trained for years for obedience so am confident have just never used for show/nervousness.
At the weekend she was shrinking back a bit but happilly taking chicken from people. She is great going round- tail high, thoroughly enjoying herself. She was happy sitting watching the world go by from the top of the trolley just not keen on the judge coming in and they alwys come head on. After a few mins he would relax and I could feel the tension go. I am taking her out where people pass etc and doing the evryone giving her a treat which she will happilly take- I am at the point where I feel she now needs a touch to earn the treat. We have one more show then a break for a number of weeks so I will take her and see how she is on the day.
- By ANNM172 [gb] Date 01.09.09 17:07 UTC
Just tried to find the click to win on amazon and its well over £100 for a paperback - gulp
None on ebay either
- By perrodeagua [gb] Date 01.09.09 18:52 UTC
Not to be a killjoy but one of my Spanish is like this.  Confident cocky so and so and will go into any room with confidence but if anyone tries to touch her without her asking she's not happy at all.  Had her eyes tested when she was about 11 months old and the specialist said didn't I realise that she couldn't see properly.  Now I realise the only sign was that if she didn't request for someone to touch her she wouldn't let anyone near her.
- By ANNM172 [gb] Date 01.09.09 19:19 UTC
Just tried her by making her follow a pencil with her eyes and she is following it everywhere so hopefully not that. She has been funny since my holiday so think it may be related. Will keep trying clicker
Topic Dog Boards / General / Clicker for touching?

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