Also are you training in your house or outside? I would do it inside where there is minimal distractions and where she is most likely to be bored already and is looking for something to do. I have to be SUPER enthusiastic with my poodles and really positive. It's really gotta be fun.

Or you could crate her and then as soon as you let her out of the crate go to work (granted she'll probably need to pee) then maybe she'll be bored enough that she's looking for fun. Unless she gets too hyper because she's been cooped up. Just a suggestion...

Good for you and even better for Pepper . I started out the same way as you and then found marker training and haven't looked back since. Advice I was given which made the transition successful was to consider my dog as untrained and start from square one. He already had his basics but I retrained all of them beginning in a non distractive environment with many short frequent sessions. This served two purposes. 1. To get us both comfortable and accustomed to a new way to learn and 2. More importantly, removing all corrections from the learning phase....I found it difficult to remain neutral and let him work things through without correcting him but short non distractive, sessions to teach simple behaviors really helped.

I am making the sessions short and am clicking and giving her either cooked liver,cheese or sausage and occasionly a game with a toy but she dosen't seem as interested in toys.

Another dog in the early stages of training is a HUGE distraction! She's not ready for that yet.

When I train her at home there are no dogs around and we get on not to bad alough she will sometimes lose interest in the training and switch off but I think thats my fault for going on too long.

But I also take her to dog training classes once or twice a week and there she has to work with other dogs around and she often loses interest and watches what the other dogs are doing rather than watching me, in the past I would have used the check chain and jerked her to regain her attention, but now with the clicker Im not sure what to do to get her attention back onto me, any ideas anyone?

What's your relationship with her like?

shes pretty take me or leave me, she doen't thinmk Im the best thing around and I have no idea how to make her think that

Is she attentive? Do all good things in life come through you? If not; I'd work on building that kind of bond and the marker training will help.

I used to free feed her but I have now changed it to 2 meals a day with raw food and ME being the one that feeds her, but even then shes not jummping around going ohhhhh theres my dinner she just stands there and waits for it to be put down and then SLOWLY eats it. should I maybe put her onto one meal a day?

What motivates her? Food is easy and you can build her drive for it by making it not as available and having her work for it during training. But there might be something better for her if you think hard about what really gets her going?

She will eat treats, like liver,cheese and sausage, and she has ONE yellow squeaky ball that she will play with, but I wouldn't say her drive for thease is very great.

Dogs in general can read us and Poodles are especially attuned to their handlers; do you think she might sense your disappointment and go into avoidance aka become distracted and disinterested?

I supose there could be that, alough I do try to be light and happy with her and make myself a fun person to be with ahen we are together.

Also make sure you are rewarding constantly in the beginning; don't be a stingy marker.

I click and treat everytime I click, infact my trainer said I was over doing the clicking last time I was at class and I needed to click less and reward a bit less as Pepper was getting lazy in what she was doing, coz i was clicking for not very good behavious and not waiting till she did a better one.

Now I have just previewed this and It didn't quote like I thought it would could someone please tell me how to put quotes in my messages

Hi Connie,

I have got the video marker training and have ordered basic obedience and focus and drive ones, I need to sit down and watch the marker training one again as it was late at night when I watched it and I was half asleep lol.

Thats Just my problem, when I say "ready" to my dog she gets up wags her tail a tiny little bit but dosen't get all excited at all, I just don't get the drive and willingnesss to work out of her at all and I don't know what to do to get it.

Im not sure wether its because shes a pet dog and is with me 24/7 hours a day, loose in the house so she can come and go when ever she wants with free acces to the garden, she is fed 2 times a day and my husband walks her as I am disabled and can't walk far enough so the only time she has with me is when I feed her and train her, could that be why she is so unwilling to be excited about training?

The Clicker I sat down in a chair and clicked and gave a treat till she realized that click = treat, then I got a marker stick and got her to touch her nose to the marker and clicked and treated every time she did that, then I got her to touch my hand and clicked and treated when ever she did that. then I went onto to giving her commands for things she knew and clicked and treated them, like sit, down, come and so on.

Then I got a box and put it in the middle of the room and clicked her everytime she went near it untill she was picking it up and doing things with it.

she does do things for me with the clicker but shes just so laid back and SLOW to do them her down takes about 1min to actualy get from the begining to the end and she has no drive for any of this.

I have thought of doing this as one time we went out and left her at home, I decided to train her as soon as we got in the house and she was a different dog, much more drive to please and wanting to work, more bouncy and anticipation, so maybe having 24/7 hours acces to me is too much of a good thing for her.

I am getting her to do things with the clicker, but using food as a lure, then clicking when she does something right. what I am not getting is the drive the real YES I am LOVING this attitude from her...

All I am getting is a flat sort of okay I will do this but Im not going to be fast or excited about doing it attitude.

I mostly train in the house with just me and the dog and food, for tricks that shes just learning I use the clicker, for things that she knows already I use my voice saying "YES" then give the food reward or a run after her ball.

I take her to an obedience class once a week and a clicker training heelwork to music class once a week so 2 times a week she is trained in a class with other dogs, this is where she can get a little bit distracted, although the obedience class she has been going to for a long time and I was using the old check chain in the class and she is a lot more attentive in that class, whereas in the clicker class I just can't get her to listen all the time coz I don't seem to have her attention as much.

 Quote: Naomi Clarke

... The Clicker I sat down in a chair and clicked and gave a treat till she realized that click = treat ...

Was the dog hungry? Did you use high-value treats? Was the session very short and upbeat?

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Well, a hungry dog and excellent food rewards are a good combo.

Also plenty of enthusiasm from you, and short frequent sessions rather than long once-a-day ones.

I have cut Peppers food down from free feeding to 2 meals a day now, so hopefully that will make her more hungry and more happy coz I will be feeding her instead of the food always just being there.

 Quote: Naomi Clarke

... I take her to an obedience class once a week and a clicker training heelwork to music class once a week so 2 times a week she is trained in a class with other dogs, this is where she can get a little bit distracted, although the obedience class she has been going to for a long time and I was using the old check chain in the class and she is a lot more attentive in that class, whereas in the clicker class I just can't get her to listen all the time coz I don't seem to have her attention as much.

You are using a compulsion ob class and marker ob at home? Why are you not teaching ob with markers?

Or are you doing compulsion ob in a class and marker ob at home??