Part 3 - Using force free training to work through the dreaded nail trim

Catty says "I'm ready!!" 

"Ok, I said I'm ready please turn on the camera so we can get started!"

You can see Catty now thinks this is the best game ever!  She's a funny girl and I've had to put the pod/mat and clipper (and her muzzle) out of sight  when we are not working.  Otherwise she will demand bark at them - wanting to play the games.  While I'm thrilled she loves the games, the demand barking is not a behavior I want.

Here's more trainer errors on my part.  Not being clear in what I'm asking, not reinforcing her and not marking behavior.  If one of my dogs is struggling I can pretty much guarantee it's because of me.

The take away here is that we need to continue to work on our own training skills and be glad that dogs are so forgiving.

I've finally got it together - clear in what I'm asking,  high reinforcement and marking each behavior. Look at how beautiful we are doing and we have a nail clip!

Here we are a few days of practice and she's doing rat-tastic!  As you can see after all our practice, we can complete a nail clip in 9 seconds.  Not that this needs to be done quickly but, that 9 seconds is due to our procession and because Catty and I clearly understand the predictable steps and now we both have a good emotional response to the nail clip game.
 

So we do the above routine for each nail. Right now I'm just clipping 1 nail a session.  I want Catty to continue to develop a love for this new game.  We are having fun and I'm pretty sure both of us look forward to each nail trim. 

The nice thing about clipping one nail at a time is that it also gives us lots of practice with the game. And both of us get more comfortable with the game of nail trimming.  Even if a nail clip isn't needed we are now doing this routine (minus the clip) once a day so we stay practiced and Catty gets to play a game that she knows and loves.



Love this game!