Clicker Training With More Than One Dog

[Ravyk]

I've started to clicker train, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma.

I get the whole if you click you reward but how do you train when you have two dogs? I've tried shutting one out the room when I am training one, but all I get is whining and scratching at the door. And I feel bad about shutting one dog out.

Is it possible to clicker train one dog with the other dog in the room but still have the dog you aren't training know that the click = treats every time? Or do I just need to suck it up and shut the other dog out?

[Lollipup]

I am facing the same dilemma and find it easier to work with each one on its own first. Mine both need their special attention time, especially my girl who gets the sulks everytime i'm with the other one.

I have a book called "Click & Easy - Clicker Training for Dogs" and it has a section on this very topic. It has some good tips in it. It suggests to form a bond with each dog with one on one training first. Then you will have a stronger bond with each dog, rather then the dogs only bonding with each other. I won't try to explain it too much in my own words right here but theres a lot of good info in that book for what you are after. Hope to hear how you go

[TerraNik]

I've started to clicker train, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma.

I get the whole if you click you reward but how do you train when you have two dogs? I've tried shutting one out the room when I am training one, but all I get is whining and scratching at the door. And I feel bad about shutting one dog out.

Is it possible to clicker train one dog with the other dog in the room but still have the dog you aren't training know that the click = treats every time? Or do I just need to suck it up and shut the other dog out?

Yes (case in point -

- the other girls were in the room. You see them at the end of the video).

My two older dogs (the young one isn't clicker trained) know when I am working with them or not. They know this because of a few things. Firstly I always say "Jedi's turn" at which point Ahsoka goes to lie down or do her own thing (and vice versa). They also know that I'm working with them because I am looking at them and interacting with them. Ahsoka and Jedi have been trained to rest while I'm training the other. I have not found it to be a problem in terms of click = reward.

[Ravyk]

I've started to clicker train, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma.

I get the whole if you click you reward but how do you train when you have two dogs? I've tried shutting one out the room when I am training one, but all I get is whining and scratching at the door. And I feel bad about shutting one dog out.

Is it possible to clicker train one dog with the other dog in the room but still have the dog you aren't training know that the click = treats every time? Or do I just need to suck it up and shut the other dog out?

Yes (case in point -

- the other girls were in the room. You see them at the end of the video).

My two older dogs (the young one isn't clicker trained) know when I am working with them or not. They know this because of a few things. Firstly I always say "Jedi's turn" at which point Ahsoka goes to lie down or do her own thing (and vice versa). They also know that I'm working with them because I am looking at them and interacting with them. Ahsoka and Jedi have been trained to rest while I'm training the other. I have not found it to be a problem in terms of click = reward.

I watched that video! Very cute! Esky the Husky showed it to me.

Can I ask how you trained your dogs to rest while the other is being trained? I know Peggie generally will go rest when I'm training Spot but Spot [who is an attention and food seeker] always gets up and gets in the way when I am trying to train Peggie.

[TerraNik]

Can I ask how you trained your dogs to rest while the other is being trained? I know Peggie generally will go rest when I'm training Spot but Spot [who is an attention and food seeker] always gets up and gets in the way when I am trying to train Peggie.

Essentially I put the non-working dog in a drop or sit. Every time the working dog gets rewarded, the dog lying down gets a reward one-for-one. Soon enough they realise that lying down watching is pretty rewarding. Then I move to treating the non-working dog every 2nd treat, every 3rd, etc. Ahsoka has been doing this for almost 2 years and she just chills out (she doesn't get rewarded anymore - except for her crumb collecting haha).

Edited July 29, 2010 by TerraNik

[corvus]

I tried Nik's method and gave up. It was too difficult to deliver treats fast enough to two dogs at once and my training suffered as a result. I couldn't be bothered persisting with it. I tried using a remote reward delivering machine that rewards automatically on a schedule for Erik, but Erik REALLY loves training. He would get there if I kept working on it, but I keep forgetting. So I shut the other dog into another room or outside. They generally bark incessantly until I get sick of it and give them a turn. It keeps my training sessions short and sweet.

Incidentally, I use two different markers. Erik gets a click and Kivi gets "PING". It helps Kivi, but in the end if I'm training someone he wants in on it quite badly. Erik I'm pretty sure knows all the markers and has probably allocated some all on his own as well (like "shh" apparently, and eye contact). He'll take whatever he can get.

[TerraNik]

I tried Nik's method and gave up. It was too difficult to deliver treats fast enough to two dogs at once and my training suffered as a result.

When I'm training the non-working dog (which is how I look at it!), all I am doing with the other dog is old tricks and basic behaviours (e.g. sit, drop, spin, beg, etc). So I'm not actually having to concentrate on the dog that's learning (they are really just pretending to have a session )

It would be WAY too stressful to try and do this while teaching the working dog something new!

It is only once the non-working dog understands what is expected of them that I start doing proper sessions with the working dog.

Edited July 29, 2010 by TerraNik

[bedazzledx2]

I prefer to train one dog at a time. I figure if I want full attention and focus then in turn I must give him my full attention and I can't do that with 2 at a time. Don't feel bad about shutting the other dog away...it'll teach him some self control and that his turn will come. You will also get great attention as you can swap them around pretty quickly.

I've started to clicker train, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma.

I get the whole if you click you reward but how do you train when you have two dogs? I've tried shutting one out the room when I am training one, but all I get is whining and scratching at the door. And I feel bad about shutting one dog out.

Is it possible to clicker train one dog with the other dog in the room but still have the dog you aren't training know that the click = treats every time? Or do I just need to suck it up and shut the other dog out?

[lovemesideways]

I stick one in a crate where they can see me training the other.

Find it actually builds their drive. When I then swap them over, dog that comes out of the crate is just bursting to train!!

I would let spot howl and whine.

[Kavik]

I put the ones I am not working away. Either behind a gate (I have a few different sections in my yard) or in their crates inside if it is raining.

[corvus]

Find it actually builds their drive. When I then swap them over, dog that comes out of the crate is just bursting to train!!

I find that, too. I almost always do Erik first. He switches on instantly, but Kivi takes a bit of warming up sometimes. By the time I get to Kivi he is very excited and has heaps of energy.

Nik, I think I'm just not very good at multi-tasking with training.

[megan_]

TerraNik - How does your method work when you are trying to capture "natual" movement in a day-to-day situation. For example, I'm trying to capture my boy's "cat stretch" in the morning for agility stretching, but my girl is in the room too. At the moment, I click his behaviour and ask her to do something simple like sit. They then both get the treat.

At the moment, she doesn't understand when I'm asking him to do something - she thinks she needs to do it too.

[OSoSwift]

Mine are seperated. Either in the dog run , crate or tethered if in the house.

I want 100% focus on the dog I am training, as that is what I expect from them

[TerraNik]

TerraNik - How does your method work when you are trying to capture "natual" movement in a day-to-day situation. For example, I'm trying to capture my boy's "cat stretch" in the morning for agility stretching, but my girl is in the room too. At the moment, I click his behaviour and ask her to do something simple like sit. They then both get the treat.

At the moment, she doesn't understand when I'm asking him to do something - she thinks she needs to do it too.

I don't typically capture day-to-day behaviours. I have shaping sessions but I never try and reward random behaviour. Just a personal thing.

When I'm doing formal training (not tricks), my guys are crated or tied up.

[Bjelkier]

Can I ask how you trained your dogs to rest while the other is being trained? I know Peggie generally will go rest when I'm training Spot but Spot [who is an attention and food seeker] always gets up and gets in the way when I am trying to train Peggie.

Essentially I put the non-working dog in a drop or sit. Every time the working dog gets rewarded, the dog lying down gets a reward one-for-one. Soon enough they realise that lying down watching is pretty rewarding. Then I move to treating the non-working dog every 2nd treat, every 3rd, etc. Ahsoka has been doing this for almost 2 years and she just chills out (she doesn't get rewarded anymore - except for her crumb collecting haha).

I do this too, works a treat once they understand what we are doing.

But as Nik also mentioned if its formal training I remove the other dogs from the room or go outside with the dog I'm working with.

[Ravyk]

Thanks guys. Last night I decided to suck it up and kick one out the room [OH was in the other room reading, so they weren't alone] and I did find when I swapped them over, Peggie was raring to go!

Still having trouble figuring out how to do this clicker thing without the need of 10 arms and hands.

Spot also decided at one point my thumb was kinda edible and tried to eat it!

[OSoSwift]

Does feel like you need to be an octopus in the beginning, but it is a mechanical skill that is a learned one. Give it time and you will be juggling things extremely well in no time!

I figure if I can heel two dogs at the same time and have clicker and treats you'll get it in no time!

Have loads of fun. I love the lightbulb moments - especially in baby puppies.