CLICKER RESOURCES The Best Links to Learn More Don't Shoot the Dog Gary Wilkes' Click and Treat ClickerTrain.com Getting Started Karen Pryor's Clicker Starter Kits A must have! Read these clicker "rules" -- you'll be glad you did! Best Book for Learning More Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor Best Book for Skeptics Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson (If you think using rewards is like "bribing" dogs, or don't understand why punishment-based training isn't as effective as clicker training, this is the book for you.)

Your normally active, outdoorsy dog suddenly finds himself confined to an x-pen or a crate. You find yourself overwhelmed with guilt -- it's not your fault your dog is in recovery from a cruciate repair, but how do you deal with it day in and day out, for weeks on end? You can't play ball, you can't play fetch, you can't do much of anything. Or can you?

Here are some "games" you can play with a confined dog. Many of them are tricks that you can use to impress friends and family later on, but the real fun is in the learning, trust me. Some may require that the dog sit up or roll a certain way, and if your dog is just starting recovery that may be difficult, but within a couple of weeks of surgery, every one of these should be do-able by your average cruciate-repair dog.

All of the games use clicker-training principles -- basically ignoring undesirable behaviors and rewarding desirable ones. You don't have to know how to clicker train to play these games -- but if you're interested, it's a great way to start learning! If you don't have or don't want to use a clicker, you can use a Snapple lid (makes a similar, softer click) or just a certain word or phrase, like "That's it!" to mark the behavior you saw that you liked.

The nice thing about this type of training is that anyone can do it -- it's easy, it's fun and dogs love it. Although I did get Kodi's AKC CD title through this type of training (no choke collar, no leash corrections), this is a good place to note that I'm not a professional "clicker trainer" and anything I say here is an imperfect layman's interpretation. Please refer to the box at right if you're interested in learning more about this wonderful way to work with your dog!

Last thing: All of the games below use "shaping" in some form. It's important to know what that is before you start. Please read the following section.

SHAPING A BEHAVIOR Shaping means exactly what it sounds like -- instead of expecting the dog to immediately grasp the entire behavior you're looking for, you start with an approximation of that behavior and "shape" it to look like what you want. It goes hand-in-hand with breaking a behavior down into small steps. For example, if you want your dog to pick up a ball from the floor, you'd first think about the various steps involved. Looking at the ball, moving his head toward the ball, putting his mouth on the ball, picking up the ball. You don't necessarily have to train each of those little pieces separately, but you should be aware that the steps exist -- it's not just a single fluid movement from the dog's perspective, at least not when he's first learning. Sticking with the ball example: Now you know there are several steps to even simple behaviors. How do you shape the overall effect? Let's say you put the ball down and your dog leans over and sniffs it. YES! Click, or use your word marker, and then offer the reward. Your dog will probably look at you for a while to see if more treats will be forthcoming. If he goes back to the ball, even accidentally ... YES! Reward that behavior. Some dogs will catch on faster than others, but it shouldn't take long for your dog to realize that interacting with the ball results in good things happening. If he actually mouths or even picks up the ball, or takes any kind of "big step" (even if it's by accident) ... JACKPOT! Use your clicker or reward marker and give him a small handful of treats. Your dog will be astonished by his good fortune, and you can bet he'll show real interest in that ball. Every so often, raise your criteria -- if he's consistently mouthing the ball, wait until you see it lift a centimeter off the floor before clicking and rewarding. All of that might happen in one 10-minute session, or it might take several sessions over the course of a few days. Remember to lower your criteria again when you first come back to an activity -- give your dog a chance to warm up and remember what he learned last time. Keep the sessions short and fun, and don't be stingy with the treats -- a common beginner habit is to slowly dole out large pieces of treats, holding out for bigger and better behaviors. You'll see much better progress if you use many, many *tiny* treats. Note that many dogs will happily work for Cheerios, but if yours isn't particularly food-driven, then you may have to up the ante. Try cooked, shredded chicken, liver or slivers of cheese. Now let's say your dog is actually picking up the ball, but then immediately drops it. How do you "shape" him to hold onto it for a few seconds? This is where the precision of the clicker can come in handy. As soon as the dog picks up the ball, mentally start counting. If you only get to 1 second, that's OK, CLICK and reward! Repeat a few times, and then up your ante: Hold out for 2 seconds. Then four seconds. As you build up, remember to occasionally drop back -- you don't want to keep raising the stakes so quickly that the dog gets frustrated or loses interest. This is called variable reinforcement -- you might click and reward at 3 seconds, then 5 seconds, then 4 seconds, then 5 seconds, etc. It's surprisingly effective, and it's that easy!

Whew! You made it through the shaping discussion -- let's look at the games!