Blog
Professional insights, training tips and reflections from Canis instructors. Clicker training, learning psychology and everyday dog training.
Professional insights, training tips and reflections from Canis instructors. Clicker training, learning psychology and everyday dog training.
Filosofi · 22. mai 2026 · 4 min
I think the time has come to debunk a myth, and it might hurt a bit for many people. It often hurts to change your mind about something, but it passes and you usually come out wiser for it.
Morten Egtvedt
Klikkertrening · 19. mai 2026 · 3 min
If you've read the books "Clicker Training for Your Dog" or "Obedience Training in Theory and Practice", you will have learnt about the importance of focusing on 4 things to make your training more effective (or for your course participants):
Morten Egtvedt
Læringsteori · 10. mars 2026 · 3 min
In Psychology Today, we can read a very good article that addressed an issue dog trainers have been discussing for many years.
Morten Egtvedt
Klikkertrening · 26. mai 2025 · 4 min
Canis clicker instructor course has been run (almost) every year since 2003.
Morten Egtvedt
The Constructional Approach · 8. oktober 2024 · 3 min
Clicker training – in its most common form of «click for correct behaviour followed by delivery of a treat or play reward» – is not necessarily the most ideal approach in all situations.
Morten Egtvedt
Klikkertrening · 26. mai 2024 · 8 min
The most important thing is to click precisely. But in many cases you can also make your training even more effective by delivering the reinforcer in a special way after the click.
Morten Egtvedt
· 20. juli 2021 · 7 min
After the Canis instructor course went digital, I have followed it as an observer multiple times. It might sound a bit extreme, but I'm actually not alone.
Brukshund · 10. juni 2021 · 6 min
Today we had the fifth session of «Brukshundstigen», since we started teaching this exercise a couple of weeks ago.
Morten Egtvedt
Konkurranselydighet · 19. mars 2021 · 2 min
Here's a quick recall film showing how Cuba has learnt to "hold breath" as a "start button behaviour" on the recall.
Morten Egtvedt
Grunnferdigheter · 6. oktober 2020 · 1 min
Here you can see the entire session and how I gradually raised the criteria throughout. In such small increments that she was still able to do the right thing, but at the same time in large enough steps that we made progress.
Grunnferdigheter · 6. oktober 2020 · 1 min
I make some mistakes along the way, clicking for things I shouldn't have clicked for and so on, but that's fine as long as I notice it and adjust afterwards.
Konkurranselydighet · 17. august 2020 · 3 min
Cuba's chin target has been "okay", but she hasn't really "stuck" to the hand before. Usually she's gone a bit with the chin target, then slid forward slightly and come back again.
Morten Egtvedt
Konkurranselydighet · 8. august 2020 · 2 min
From there onwards I see everything as a disturbance. I change positions—first sitting, then I stand up, and I also add movement.
· 2. juni 2020 · 4 min
Over the last 10 days, I've run a small 10 Day Challenge on "Stay" with the Shepherd Cuba (15 months).
Morten Egtvedt
· 28. februar 2020 · 2 min
Starting position is an important foundation skill when competing in LP, as Cobra will do. We have been working on perfecting the position in the starting stance and getting it flowing smoothly.
Konkurranselydighet · 10. oktober 2019 · 2 min
"Shaping" means forming a behaviour through gradual approximations towards the final goal. We use shaping a great deal in clicker training (but shaping is not necessarily synonymous with clicker training).
Morten Egtvedt
· 5. september 2019 · 2 min
At the moment, we've had Cuba for 2 months and 1 week, and basic obedience training is in full swing.
Morten Egtvedt
Grunnferdigheter · 24. august 2019 · 2 min
We can call this Cuba's first "official" training session with DZ (she's 6 months old and we've had her for just under 2 months so far).
Morten Egtvedt
Konkurranselydighet · 13. august 2019 · 3 min
I don't have specific context about what you're referring to—are you asking about: 1. **Dog behaviour/anatomy trends** (locked hind legs vs. front legs in dogs)? 2. **Training methods** at Canis? 3. **Health/physical conditions** in dogs? 4. **Equipment or gear**? Could you clarify so I can provide an accurate translation to English? I want to make sure I understand the subject matter before translating for Canis Hundeskole.
Konkurranselydighet · 1. august 2019 · 3 min
What creates the most pull? It's poorly executed exercises that create the most pull, regardless of which exercise you're talking about.
· 24. juli 2019 · 2 min
I'll try to share some of my thoughts, but as for what the judges like – that's something you'd have to ask each individual judge about. I can't really say anything on that.
Klikkertrening · 3. juni 2019 · 4 min
If you've just become interested in clicker training, it can initially be a bit difficult to understand how experienced trainers can free-shape a dog to offer behaviours "voluntarily", without luring, leading or showing the dog what to do in the first place.
Morten Egtvedt
Selvtrening · 5. april 2019 · 4 min
At Canis' clicker instructor course, you don't just learn how to use learning principles most effectively in dog training. We work with your own behaviour too.
Morten Egtvedt
Grunnferdigheter · 31. januar 2019 · 2 min
I now have four dogs and they have quite different starting points.
Klikkertrening · 17. oktober 2018 · 4 min
"Contact is the most important thing in dog training!" If you've been training dogs for a few years, you've definitely heard some variation of that statement.
Morten Egtvedt
Forsterkning · 28. september 2018 · 6 min
One of the first things I teach my course participants is to keep the treat well hidden in their pocket while training – until (at least 0.3 seconds) after the click.
Morten Egtvedt
· 17. april 2018 · 1 min
Spring is here and competition weekends are coming thick and fast.
Brukshund · 13. april 2018 · 4 min
Herpes is an incredibly frustrating virus in that once you've caught it, it stays with you for the rest of your life.
Grunnferdigheter · 21. mars 2018 · 2 min
I'm not entirely happy with Bonus's position in heelwork off-lead. In my opinion, she's a bit too far forward.
Agility · 17. mars 2018 · 3 min
Cobra has her starting position between my legs for agility. When I first began training it, I wanted her right in the middle between my legs, but over time the position has gradually moved further and further forward.
Konkurranselydighet · 12. mars 2018 · 2 min
Now I'm sitting on the boat home from Denmark (unfortunately). I've had a wonderful holiday, relaxed, eaten good food and not least trained my dog and discussed dog training!
Konkurranselydighet · 6. februar 2018 · 4 min
The main focus will still be on agility, but now she will also train a bit more obedience and because I don't like to do things halfway, she will now be a participant in the foundation skills course starting 20 February.
· 28. januar 2018 · 2 min
Yes, there's a lot to learn as a new clicker trainer. But many have gone before you, and here are the steps you can safely follow based on experience. Enjoy the training and trust the process!
Morten Egtvedt
Konkurranselydighet · 2. oktober 2017 · 2 min
The courses I've created so far have been very large courses with many tasks and lasting 3 months.
Læringsteori · 19. august 2017 · 3 min
It's not uncommon for me to meet owners who apologise because their dog cannot or will not play with them.
Konkurranselydighet · 17. august 2017 · 2 min
This film I've posted before, but it's so good and so spot on that it deserves a rerun!
Konkurranselydighet · 24. mai 2017 · 4 min
I've created an online course on the theme of loose-lead walking. And why was it specifically loose-lead walking that became the theme of my first online course?
Atferdskjeder · 21. mars 2017 · 1 min
Jan Østergaard is well known to many clicker trainers because of his numerous shaping videos on Youtube, where he demonstrates many excellent examples of outstanding clicker training with his particularly clicker-savvy dog, Basso.
Morten Egtvedt
· 13. mars 2017 · 1 min
**Field search is an important part of several of our working programmes, and it can be a very good place to earn points.
· 7. mars 2017 · 2 min
Herding is a complex and very exciting dog sport that is both a competitive discipline and also, among other things, part of the qualification programme for rescue dogs.
Læringsteori · 28. november 2016 · 1 min
In this little gem of a film, you can get to know the man who formulated many of the principles that we use in dog training today – B.F. Skinner
Morten Egtvedt
Brukshund · 23. mai 2016 · 6 min
This weekend I held the year's first herding course in Silkeborg (Denmark) for a group of experienced handlers who have been training according to the principles in the book "Rundering i teori og praksis".
Morten Egtvedt
Nyheter · 2. mars 2016 · 1 min
On Canisakademiet.no you'll find several short online courses that show you how to use clicker training in practice.
Morten Egtvedt
Valpetrening · 22. februar 2016 · 3 min
Getting a puppy – for the first time, or a new puppy – is a big experience. It's also a big decision to make.
Grunnferdigheter · 7. februar 2016 · 2 min
I started the clicker trainer course at Canis in September 2013. The plan was to use Bonus on the course, but Bonus was only 6 weeks old on the first course weekend, so Lexie came along instead.
· 29. desember 2015 · 5 min
The day is almost upon us, and you should have completed the training preparations with sound work by now, so what's needed next is "fire-fighting".
Konkurranselydighet · 25. desember 2015 · 2 min
At a competition this autumn I got chatting with some other participants. There was some discussion about distance with locked front legs versus locked back legs.
· 9. desember 2015 · 1 min
Many handlers struggle with their dog disliking the lead being put on for various reasons.
Spesialsøk · 30. september 2015 · 2 min
Room Search Training
Brukshund · 8. juli 2015 · 3 min
Endre has an exciting challenge ahead of him now, as over the next year he needs to increase Embla's range from 400 to at least 800 metres, so that they can also pass the A-approval next summer.
Morten Egtvedt
· 7. juli 2015 · 4 min
Today we worked a lot on teaching the retrieve to several of the dogs.
Morten Egtvedt
Brukshund · 6. juli 2015 · 3 min
All handlers can be placed somewhere between 1 and 10 on the scale based on how relaxed they are on the midline when working around with their dog (or training other things for that matter).
Morten Egtvedt
Brukshund · 5. juli 2015 · 2 min
I shouldn't draw the parallels between dogs and humans too far, but what is at least similar for both dogs and humans is that we move in and out of different states/moods throughout the day.
Morten Egtvedt
Brukshund · 4. juli 2015 · 3 min
What I want to highlight from the first day in the forest is the importance of centre-line obedience, which we write extensively about in the book "Rundering i teori og praksis".
Morten Egtvedt
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
Cecilie Køste
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
In my previous blog post, I went through a number of safety routines that you should have when clicker training horses.
Cecilie Køste
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
The training has much in common with retrieving training for dogs 🙂
Cecilie Køste
Spesialsøk · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
Learn to use your dog's amazing sense of smell to search for chanterelles, keys, mobile phones, and pretty much anything you might wish for.
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
Many horses need to be sedated before clipping because they're afraid of the clippers, but with good training, clipping can become a really pleasant session for the horse.
Cecilie Køste
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 1 min
When you start clicker training your horse, it's fine to begin with exercises where you can train it from the ground.
Cecilie Køste
Klikkertrening av hest · 7. juni 2015 · 5 min
In today's film I demonstrate how you can use the common steps for teaching cues that we know from dog training, also when you're sitting on a horse's back.
Cecilie Køste
Valpetrening · 23. mai 2015 · 6 min
Finding good playmates for your puppy
· 23. mai 2015 · 3 min
Some breeds, such as certain spaniels, some retrievers, and some of the smaller breeds, appear to become very active in their bodies when they train (even when they are not working).
· 23. mai 2015 · 3 min
Here one day I had the strangest conversation with Frida. A few glasses of red wine, an overtired me and an über-smart aussie aged 4.5 years (Frida, in case anyone wondered).