Then you need this book! I have a lot of dog training books, but When Pigs Fly: Training Success With Impossible Dogs is my favorite, no contest.

I've mentioned that I do agility with Thor. Here's one of our USDAA jumpers runs - not perfect, but still a qualifying round.

There are a lot of dachshunds who compete in agility (and every other dog sport!) but it's safe to say they are not your traditional agility breed. The herding and working breeds - dogs that are bred to work with their handlers - dominate most sports. The author, Jane Killion, puts it this way on page 10:

When we say a dog is difficult to train, part of what we really mean is the dog is not biddable. Biddable means willing to do your bidding, just because you ask. ... Herding breeds need to respond to the shepherd's commands. Gun dogs need to work as a team with the hunter. Terriers need to think on their own to outsmart and kill vermin...hmm. Sounds like we bred independent thinking instead of biddability into that group.

Wait, I'm on a dachshund blog. I've read all your comments and complaints. You know what I mean. They do what you want when they feel like it, which isn't very often, right? Well, this book will help, even for those of you who have no intention of doing performance events with your dachshund. (Though I think everyone should!!) More than a manual for the owner of an "impossible" dog, it's also a fantastic, plain-English, easy-to-follow explanation of using shaping and rewards to train. Even better, it teaches you and your dog to love learning and to incorporate it into your daily life.

And no, I haven't been paid to review this book or anything! But I can't say enough good things about it. It brings me to tears because I'm a huge dork, and because it resonates so well with why I love these little sassy sausage-shaped turds I live with. I once told a (former) agility instructor of mine that I liked a dog that was a little more independent and creative. No lie, her eyes widened in horror.

The concepts When Pigs Fly covers are clicker training and reward-based reinforcement, and using the clicker to capture behaviors your dog offers, so you can in turn shape them. If that doesn't make sense, it will!

I'm lucky that Thor is a ridiculously smart dog, and that above that, he LOVES to work. He will do anything for food. I mean ANYTHING. Part of that is who he is, but I do think a big factor in it is that I began clicker training right away when we adopted him. He is definitely an operant dog - another concept covered in the book! He learns so quickly. When I get out the clicker, he's ready to work. To illustrate, I decided to see how long it would take to get him to stand on the book. It was a matter of seconds.

Here's the first try at it - sorry that the video may induce motion sickness. I was trying to video, click and give treats at the same time.



Another go - you can see some of my timing is way, way off, (I was trying to click with my foot and kept getting confused, haha) but by the end of this clip, he's got an idea of what I want.



Indeed, often the hardest part of clicker training is your timing, but eventually, it improves! I'm barely scratching the surface of explaining the possibilities and realities of clicker training here, but if you're interested, this is definitely the book to get. Happy training and good luck!