Puppy Clicker Training – Taking It To The Next Level

Now that you have successfully trained your puppy to sit, come and go potty with the help of clicker training, you might be thinking that it’s time to put the clicker away in a box, never to be used again. Quite the contrary, the fun of clicker training is actually just starting because now, you can take your training to the next level and start teaching your puppy more complicated and fun tricks.

By this time, your puppy would already have figured out that if he does something good, the clicker makes a sound and a treat is offered to him. This is the basic concept that the entire clicker training method is built upon. It is actually quite amazing how quickly young puppies adjust to the clicker, especially if they are being trained by a seasoned professional. Many new puppies have been known to figure out how the clicker works and to learn how to focus on it within just a few minutes of training.

There are many different kinds of advanced tricks that you can teach your puppy by using the clicker but one of the most useful ones is teaching your dog not to jump up on people as a way of greeting. Of course, your puppies usually mean no harm by jumping up on people, especially on you when you come home from work at the end of the day — they are simply happy to see you. However, this behavior can get annoying, not to mention dangerous as your dog gets bigger. Therefore, it would be good to teach your dog to greet people a little less vigorously while he is still young, and this is something you can achieve with clicker training.

The first step is to put your puppy on a leash. Have someone hold the clicker and the leash while you stand a short distance away with treats. Gradually walk towards the puppy. When he begins to jump up, avoid eye contact, do not say a word and move back to your original position. Keep doing this until your dog stops trying to jump.

When the dog finally stays down as you approach, your assistant should click the clicker and you can walk towards the dog with the treat and some quiet praise. Do this repeatedly. Once your dog seems to have figured it out, do the same routine without the leash. Most dogs learn this trick after just two or three sessions. You can also speed up the process by asking everyone in the house to cooperate and to ignore the dog when it jumps at them.