Did you know that young children can train puppies as well as, if not better than, adults can? I didn't--at least not until I watched the Clicker Puppy DVD! When we bought our new puppy this year, I thought the best way to train him would be signing him up for doggy obedience classes. I also thought that only one person training a dog was preferable. Turns out both assumptions were wrong! Clicker training is a science-based method that uses positive reinforcement to teach your dog. In my family's experience, using this method has been easy, gentle, and yes, even fun! The DVD is just under 50 minutes long and guides you step-by-step on how to train your puppy. One of the best things about this presentation is that all the training is done by children with puppies who are learning it in real time. It is amazing how fast the puppies learn from the children using just a clicker (which you can purchase from the website) and some treats!

There is so much included in the DVD! In addition to demonstrating what clicker training is and how to do it, the video shows children teaching commands such as sit, down, roll over, come, off, jump over an obstacle, and retrieve. Because the presentation is done without rehearsal, you'll see common problems crop up and observe how to solve them--a huge advantage compared to just reading about it!

One of the things that proved particularly helpful in training our own puppy was the section titled "Training Tips." We learned why it's helpful to train close to the puppy's dinnertime, what the "3-try rule" was, why training with two people is better than one, and how and why to avoid negative reinforcement. In addition to this bonus track, there are three others included: using clicker training with rabbits, how to read a dog's body language in order to stay safe, and a method of clicker training used with people called TAGteach (which you may form a positive or negative opinion of, but is nonetheless interesting).

My family found this DVD to be a very helpful tool for training our puppy and reinforcing what he's learned. Having something like this on a DVD is so useful because it demonstrates techniques that are best learned visually. Watching other children training different puppies gives my kids the confidence to do it too, and it is wonderful to be able to return to the DVD whenever we need a refresher on something!

I highly recommend Clicker Puppy to anyone who wants to train a puppy using positive reinforcement that yields great results!

Product review by Dawn Peterson, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May, 2010