Shaping Explained- Part 1 of Training Your Dog to Turn on a Light Switch with Clicker

Follow Jessie's actual progress during the first steps learning to turn on a light switch. In under 4 minutes (approx. 45 clicks), she has the main idea.
WARNING: If your dog has ever been on an e-collar (electric zaps as punishment), please DO NOT train your dog this way for a live light switch. Their wet noses make contact and cause a small zap. There are other switch adaptors (drop down) that would be suitable for dogs with this background as the dog does not have to interact with the actual switch. I discovered tis when training Lucy, my rescue dog. She had been on an e-collar before we got her and she eagerly trained on the dummy switch. When I tried using the live switch, she touched it once, then ran away in fear and refused to touch it again. PLEASE, please, please do not use E-collars on your dogs. Not only is it punishing to your dog, there is too much unpredictable fallout after you stop using them.

Have you considered training your own assistance or service dog? Or trying out a new trick to impress friends?
Clicker training is the best way I have found to successfully train almost any dog.

I have been asked several times for footage of a dog learning a task or being shaped for the first time so new trainers could see the actual process and know what to expect. So here it is! Lots of repetition. Note she doesn't get clicked for any behavior she offers that I don't want later on such as pawing, stepping on or scratching the switch plate.

The only editing was for slow periods where she scrambled for food, when I repositioned myself as I was uncomfortable or when I turned on and off the camera.

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  Pets & Animals

[David Deutsch]

Cool video. But don't you have to say a command each time, like "flip the switch," when you are doing the training? I mean, otherwise, how does he know when you want him to do it in the future? Or do you just end up with a dog that flashes the lights when he's hungry? :)

[Donna Hill]

That's one key difference between traditional training and operant conditioning. You don't add the cue until AFTER the dog can do the behavior perfectly. If you add the cue too soon, you only get the behavior you named (for example a sloppy heel). If you wait until the dog is consistently doing it exactly how you want it in several different environments, you will get that more precise behavior (a snappy precise heel).

[emilywNC]

Thanks for the video. I have PTSD and can't afford a service dog, but I am trying to train my pet dog to turn the light on/off because it would be really helpful if I wake up in a panic attack or from a nightmare. I have a practice switch rigged like yours, and she gets that if she touches it with her nose she gets a treat/click. However, she is not interested in pushing the switch. How do I encourage her to flip the switch instead of just touching it?

[Donna Hill]

This is where you learn to shape your dog. You ask for a little more each time. You will have to experiment. If your dog is happily hitting the switch with her nose, wait for two nose touches. The second will usually be harder as the dog will get a little frustrated with you. Click and reward those. We started by doing the shut the door behavior first so both the dog and I had experience with this concept before attempting the light switch. See our earlier video on how to teach that one.

[BoundsOfJoy]

@billywig2 As soon as I bring the treats out my two cats line up right alongside my pup and work just as hard as he does for them. My cats like to feign superiority, but really....

[Donna Hill]

LOL! Love to see people using the clicker on all their animals!

[MrAsecretgarden]

Thank you.

[Donna Hill]

Second hand stores and hardware stores carry them.

[MrAsecretgarden]

Where would get a switch from?

[bellaboo2013]

Great video!

[David Deutsch]

Emily - have you thought about getting a remote, like a X-10? That way you could just turn on the light from your bed. In fact, you could turn all the lights on at once from your bed with just one button click.