Clicker Training Introduction
Clicker training with
dogs is fairly well known,
but all animals
can be trained with
the Clicker method, cats, birds, horses
and most others.
Dogs
soon learn that when they
perform a particular action
it gets them a reward immediately after hearing
the click,
this is a very positive way
of training, which dogs react well to. They soon start performing the action in the hope
of getting another treat. The training
sessions are totally pleasurable for the
dog so they learn very quickly, once they have realised that they
get a reward.
The difference
between clicker training
and other reward based training methods is that with the clicker training method the
dog immediately understands which action has resulted in his receiving the
reward. As he hears the click,
as the correct action is performed, he immediately receives the reward.
The clicker is a more positive way of training than the spoken word simply because the dog
will very rarely hear the click at any other time, except when training, but he hears spoken words all the time, most of which he does
not understand.
You need
to exercise a little patience when
you first start, but most dogs
will start
to understand after hearing the click 5 or 6 times. You
will know when your dog understands, as he will look up at you when you click.
Start by
going somewhere quiet so your dog is not distracted by other noises. Arm your-self with some really tasty treats, that are not usually given
to him, like very small pieces of roast beef or chicken, cheese, liver or hot dogs. Use your clicker and give
him a treat, do this say, three times so that he associates the click with a treat. Should your dog be of a very nervous disposition, and is frightened of the click then muffle it by putting it in your pocket
to begin with. You can start by playing games. Have his toys with
you. Throw one and as he picks it up click and reward.
Once you know that your dog understands you can start
using words
to go with the action. After a short while you can introduce the words fetch and give as he performs these
tasks, click and reward.
You have to wait for the action you want.
Mark that behaviour by clicking.
Reward the behaviour.
Repeat.
He then quickly learns what is required of him.
You can also teach him to react to hand signals, in the same way. Once you get to this stage you only reward him when he has responded to your commands, you no longer reward him when he performs the action without the command.
To teach sit or down you have to use the toy as a lure to encourage your dog into the correct position, as soon as he sits or goes down click and
reward. Do not use any verbal instructions until you are confident that your dog will perform what you want him to. Only then do you use a command, and when you
believe that he will perform to command then you can stop using the toy, or treat, as a lure.
Teaching him to stay is an
important lesson to
learn. Start by putting him in a sit or down, which ever is your dogs favourite position. Tell him to stay but dont move, if he holds it for a few seconds click and reward. Do this a
couple of times before you try taking just one step away, if he holds it click and reward. If he moves just return to him and put him back into position. Keep practicing until you can walk unlimited distances away, but dont try to go too far too quickly.
Teach your dog the difference between stay and wait. Stay is when you are going away from him and will return to him. Wait is for a variety of occasions;
1) You dont want him to jump out of the car until you say.
2) he may be ahead of you and you want him to wait till you catch up with him.
3) he may be about to cross the road without you, and you want to check it first.
There are countless needs for the command to wait.
If your dog is not good on recall then start using the clicker to get him to respond to his name, he will soon learn that he gets a reward when he
responds. No dog will come to call if you cant get his attention when you call his name. So when he
looks up at you click and reward. The next step would be to call him when he is a
distance away, somewhere quiet where there are no distractions, click when he looks up, call him click again and reward. You will soon be able to have good recall when you are out.
The use of the clicker is generally only
used while the dog is learning the cue, as in the word or hand signal, once it is understood then you no longer need to click, but the occasional reward is always worthwhile.
Clicker
trainers prefer not to reprimand their dogs as they prefer to build a strong relationship with their dogs and they dont believe they can do this if they are punishing wrong behaviour. They also think that they get more enthusiasm from their dog if it is receiving no punishment. It is believed that any bad habits will slowly stop, as they get no reward. If the bad habit persists then the habit needs to be studied to understand why it exists, remove the cause and the bad habit should go away.
Valerie Dancer
How to use URL Redirection to Make Money
I have found
a way to
use URL
redirection to make very easy money. This technique is
perfect for those that want to make an extra buck or for those that want to multiply this system
and make some serious
cash. First,
you need to sign up for a few affiliate programs (I recommend
http://ClickBank.com and http://CJ.com). These
companies will give you a commission for every sale made through
your link.
Find a few products that
look appealing and
get your affiliate link for them. If you
are having problems finding your affiliate link, then contact your affiliate manager. Now you need to
create a list of
keywords for each product. Use SeoBook(
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/) to
find some keywords and how many times each one has been searched. I recommend finding
about 4-5 keywords and focusing
on only them.
Now you will need to create redirections for each of your affiliate links. I use
http://7P6.net because they allow me to edit
the title/description/keywords and track where my visitors are coming from. Plus, their ads are very minimal and they have a Links Bar that becomes a very important tool when using this
tactic (more
on that later). Be
sure to include some of your keywords in
the url, and use slashes to space out the keywords. Example: www.some-keywords-here.xxxx.net.
You will be using this url to earn commissions from your list of products, and the majority of your visitors will come from
search engines. So, the search engines will need something to read, right? Therefore, you will need to edit your url Title, Keywords, and Description. Obviously, you can't do this with your regular affiliate links.
But you can do this with a good url redirection service like 7P6.net. So get on there and include your 4-5 keywords on the Meta Tag forms in your account.
So, once you have your link created, submit it to MSN, Yahoo, and Google. Here are the direct submission links:
http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.htmlhttp://beta.search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspxhttp://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurlDon't worry about any
other search engines! Focusing on these will provide you with the most hits. The other search engines will eventually pick up your page anyway.
The last part of this process is to get
incoming links to your
site (ie: you need other sites linking to your url). The easiest way to build your links is to get on
as many forums that allow advertising and post your url on their site. Make sure that you use your keywords in the link. This will
directly improve your search
engine rankings. And don't forget to use different keywords for each of your postings!
Post as much as you can before moving on to the next product. The
more posts, the
better your search engine ranking. Also, using the link in your signature can help.
Another way to build links is to find link partners (ie: people that will
exchange links with you). But it has been impossible to do this with a traditional url redirection website
- until now. The redirection service that I use - 7P6.net - allows me to add other peoples links directly to my url via a Links Bar. It helps me build my search engine rankings when I'm starting a new url. And, if I get a decent search engine ranking, it allows me to
sell a few extra links on a 'per month' or 'per year' basis via Paypal. This is just a bonus and it is not required to make money with this tactic.
There are a few things to keep in mind when exchanging links. You will find that most of the people you ask will reject you or not even respond. This is all part of link building and it works this way even if you have your own domain name. Be persistent and polite and you will get some link partners. And if you can't get any link partners for a few of your urls, it is likely that you will
still rank in the search engines just by posting on forums.
There are two things that make this tactic so effective:
1. You are showing them the home page instead of a sales pitch website or blog.
2. People that view your site will bookmark your redirection page instead of the company page. So when they re-visit, you will
still get your commission!
3. It doesn't take much
time to create a url. Then you can easily create more and more to recieve a regular
flow of commissions.
Here is a real life example:
Lets say I want to promote
ink cartriges. The first step would be to create 'cheap-ink-cartriges.7p6.net'. Notice the use of keywords in the title and the slashes used to space out the keywords. Next, submit your link to MSN, Yahoo, and Google.
Then I would make a list of 4 specific ink
cartrige keywords: 'buy ink', 'buy ink cartriges',
'cheap ink cartriges', 'cheap printer ink'.
Here is what I would fill out on the Meta Tag forms (notice the use of keywords):
----------------------------------------------
Title: Buy Cheap Ink Cartriges For Your Printer
Keywords: buy ink, buy ink cartriges, cheap ink cartriges, cheap printer ink
Description: The best website to buy cheap printer ink cartriges.
----------------------------------------------
Next I would add my link on forums that allow me to advertise. Remember, the more posts, the better your search engine ranking.
Here is an example posting:
Here is the best website to [URL=
http://cheap-ink-cartriges.7p6.net]buy cheap ink cartriges[/URL].
One thing to keep in mind is that it is 10X easier to get hits from MSN and Yahoo than to worry about Google! Also, Be Patient! It takes time to get listed and
while you are waiting, you need to be creating more pages. More pages = more money. You may not make millions doing this, but this is some easy automated money and you can work as little or as much as you want.
TIP: Create multiple urls to promote a single product. This way you can focus on more keywords and get more hits to your affiliate link!
You can also make money by creating a website on a free host and promote multiple products in a single category. It is still recommended that you create a different redirected url for each page on your site to receive the most search engine traffic. You could also monetize your url with Google Adsense and Adbrite by using a free host and a redirected url for each page.
I hope you decide to use url redirection to make some cash. This is one of the only 100% free ways to make money online. Good luck.
This article
was written by online entreprenuer Craig Johnson.
