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Special Situations

Clicking a Deaf Dog

The best example of a clicker trained dog that I know personally is Lynn Gardner's Aussie rescue named Maggie Mae, in Ontario. Maggie's owner has trained her to recognize over 200 cues, and often does clicker demos with her in schools. Maggie's click is the blink of a flashlight, just a regular pen light pointed at her; and most of her cues are American Sign Language words. The trainer holds the light in one hand along with the target stick if using one; and treats in the other, just as we do with target and clicker. The dog has to be watching the trainer to see the blink, but she watches very carefully, you may be sure! Once when Maggie was sitting in front of Lynn, at attention, Lynn gave her a hand signal, and the dog rolled over on one haunch and scratched herself. I couldn't help but ask, "What was THAT signal?" "Relax," said Lynn.

Fear Not: Navigating the Holidays with an Adolescent Dog

Celebration?

My Dog Is Aging—Now What? More Training, Of Course!

A click for all ages

As your dog moves into her senior years you’ll probably notice some subtle changes—she groans a bit when changing positions, hesitates briefly when a

New Year’s Resolutions: Making Your Plan for Success

The starting bell

Reducing Leash Reactivity: The Engage-Disengage Game

Sound familiar? The 4 Fs of fear