Click to Calm or Quiet

Click to calm

Prerequisite

Click and treat a few times to get your dog used to the clicker if he/she isn’t already
It helps if your dog knows a few behaviors, but right now we’re focusing on clicking for anything we like.

Tools

Clicker
Treats
Patience

Training Environment

As far as possible from any trigger of unwanted behavior. A little awareness of the trigger is good, but too close and your dog will not be able to control him/herself.
You want to keep your dog under the threshold where he or she gets upset if at all possible. Once the adrenal system kicks in your dog is going to have a hard time. Use distance from the things that upset your dog to keep your dog in a state of mind where learning can take place.
If possible work in a similar venue to, or where the behavior actually happens. For example, if your dog only barks at strangers when in the car, you will need to work in the car. Behavior can be very sensitive to context. The exception would be if the location is the thing that triggers the behavior you don’t like (your dog loses his mind every time he walks into a particular location). If that’s the case, try to create a space that is similar enough in some ways, but is not putting your dog over threshold.

Recommended Treat Position

If the dog is staring at something I always treat on the side of the face closest to me. I want to make the dog turn his head in my direction to take the treat. This will help shape the dog into turning towards me (and disengaging from the trigger) when the trigger appears.
Treating the dog on a mat can help turn the mat into a “magnet”. This is a way to use this (and any other exercise where treating on the mat makes sense) to make your “settle on a mat” easier to train.
Tossing the treat away from the trigger can help the dog redirect and allow them to get space from something upsetting. It can help remind them that they can move away rather than engaging with something that scares or upsets them.

Steps

First and foremost: Remember that your dog is struggling. They’re not being “bad” to upset you. They are having a hard time and need help.

The trick is to click and treat those brief moments when your dog is not “being a jerk”.

If the dog is barking, wait for pauses between barks and click and treat those momentary pauses. Gradually you can increase the duration of these pauses until your dog all but quits barking.
If the dog is fiddling about in an inappropriate way, click any time your dog isn’t doing the behavior. After a few sessions, start asking for a behavior to replace the “naughty” behavior, and click and treat that. For example, when dogs come to group classes if I have one that is struggling to stay calm, I have the handler click anything that isn’t “nuts”. Gradually the dog gets calmer and calmer, and the handler clicks every calm behavior.
If your dog is nipping or pulling on you for attention, click the absence of nipping and pulling.

If your dog is just too out of control, start here:

Identify the trigger for the behavior. What is causing your dog to get so upset? Start the behavior with something that makes him only mildly aroused, or a long distance from something that upsets him a lot. This is easier if your dog is not completely losing their mind. That being said, we will work with the situation we are in.
Click for anything that isn’t completely nuts. Look for split seconds where your dog is not reacting to the trigger.
You will see your dog offering calm behaviors that last longer and are more frequent. Keep in mind the good behavior may just be a second, and the increase will be by seconds, but the time between the troubling behaviors will grow. Click those good moments. Your dog will start choosing them over the unwanted behaviors.
Once your dog is offering behaviors you like in the situation you’re working in, make it harder by:
- Putting your dog in a down with the trigger far away.
- Allow the trigger to move slightly closer. Big rewards if your dog stays in his down. If he gets up, move the trigger away. No scolding for breaking his down.
- Change your position in relationship to the trigger. Sometimes closer, sometimes farther away. Try to move in a way that doesn’t put you headed directly towards the trigger so your dog doesn’t realize that the trigger is closer.
If at any point your dog’s behavior gets worse, go back to the last situation in which you were successful and work on that a little more.
Once your dog is bored with a trigger, start the exercise again with something new. This may be a new person if your dog has become accustomed to your current helper, a new dog, or anything different that your dog has issues with.

Homework

If you are just generally trying to improve your dog’s behavior, keep your clicker with you during the day and grab those moments that you like. If your dog does a behavior he/she doesn’t know that you’d like to work on at some point, click and treat it. You don’t necessarily have to concentrate on training it right now, but as you reinforce it, the behavior will happen more often.

If your dog is having a specific issue with a trigger or location, do your best to set up training sessions several times a week in controlled environments. The more you set it up so your dog has a high probability of success, the faster you will correct the behavior.

If you have a situation that presents itself where your dog is not so crazy that they cannot take treats (for example, a new person comes to the home who likes dogs and your dog is excited but not frantic) use that situation to practice. If your dog is frantic and won’t take treats, or you have someone who is not comfortable, put your dog in a quiet room with a good bone.

Keep sessions short. Less than 10 minutes. Being calm can hard on your dog!

At the End of This Step

You should see the unwanted behavior gradually grow less frequent, and then disappear. Work new triggers and locations as they present themselves.