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Reward Based Training with Nana Will

October 1st, 2009

Deborah Flick is one of those students that we all wish we had. I met her on Twitter and from there, discovered her blog about Sadie. Her posts about Sadie, their experiences, and dog training in general continually blow me away. I suppose her vivid writing style should come as no surprise, since she has a Ph.D. in Communication, but it’s just such a special treat to find great writing online. I enjoy her posts and hope you check out her website and delve into Sadie’s world.

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When Nana Will, our dog trainer, said reward-based clicker training was the way to go, and the only way if I wanted to work with her, it was a no-brainer. You see, Nana is a “cross-over” trainer, and, to my mind, that gave her a lot of credibility. When Nana helped me train my previous dog, Morgaine, we used compulsion techniques. I remember Nana saying to me when Morgaine was about 6 months old and ready for her first lesson in ‘heeling,’ “You’re not going to like this,” meaning I wasn’t going to like the choke-chain-collar-pop correction ‘necessary’ to teach Morgaine that not heeling was not good. She was right. But, by compulsion standards, Nana’s approach was mild and Morgaine was a confident, resilient dog.

Then along came fearful, reactive Sadie in 2006 and, again, I called Nana. In the meantime, as she tells it, Nana was blessed to have been able to study with some of the greats, including several years with Marian Breland Bailey before her death in 2001.

I’ll never forget Nana (who has been training service dogs for over 20 years) telling me this story: After teaching her service dogs to do EVERYTHING using reward-based clicker training she said she noticed a huge difference. “The compulsion trained dogs did their jobs–opening doors, picking up keys, delivering the telephone to their person’s lap, and so on. But, the positively trained dogs not only did their jobs, they were really HAPPY!” I wanted ‘happy’!

During our weekly private sessions, Nana tutored me in using a clicker and rewards—I was all thumbs at first and my timing was miserable. But, with practice and Nana’s guidance I caught on and Sadie advanced despite my fumbling. And, because Sadie is fearful and very sensitive I know working with her will be a life-long undertaking.

So, at Nana’s urging I immersed myself in the works of Patricia McConnell, Jean Donaldson, Ian Dunbar, Karen Pryor and many others. Now, for me, like Nana, there is no looking back.

You can find Deborah Flick’s entertaining and educational blog about Sadie here or follow her on Twitter: @boulderdog1.

This article has been provided by Grisha Stewart of Ahisma Dog Training.

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