Clicker training a tail

First off this may sound really stupid, but bare with me. Do you think its possible to clicker train a dog to position his tail?

Basically I show one of my dogs. He's very happy and totally loves it. When standing, his tail position is bang on, but when moving he gets very excited and carries his tail over his back like a Husky, which he gets marked down for. Probably thrown out for too....lol. I don't want to curb his enthusiasm and want to make training enjoyable for him.

So I'm wondering if its possible to train him to lower his tail on the move by using clicker training. I understand the basics of clicker training and I've just read the stickied thread above but I'm unsure how to teach it. Obviously its not like teaching a sit where you can lure with a treat or toy.

Could you guys give me some suggestions please?

Short answer is yes you can train it

longer answer

The best way I can see to do this would be free shaping - but that would take a while and a lot of patients from you both as it would take him a long time to realise he was being clicked for his tail moving

Something I have read of but not used might work in this case
- it was explaining how to get a dog to target his hip to your hand

Basically you gently push on his hip, then when you let go his hip will automatically move back to position (less than an inch movment) so you click this movment towards your hand and over time he will learn to move the hip

Guess its possible to do with the tail too - hold it up and lower your hand and click for the tail moving down


also as it is just when walking then possibly take it a step at a time
click standing in a nice position, take a tiny step forwards and click before the tail goes up, take it slowly one little step at a time and eventually he will learn

which ever way it will take a while becuase they dont realise they are moving their tail


It is a shame he gets marked down for it - I love to see a dog enjoying themselves so much they get hyper tail

My friend clicker trained her Boxer to stack himself and to keep his head in the proper position around the ring so, yes, it's very possible.

Thanks guys.

Afghans are supposed to carry their tails high, but not right over their backs. When standing him if he's stuck his tail up I've just gently pushed it down into a good position and said 'tail' to him at the same time. Not sure if he's been able to put two and two together with that or not as I know next to nothing about training.

Although I was at Crufts with him so I must be doing something right...lol

He carries his tail quite high anyway, but I thought if I could stick a command on it I could get him to lower it when on the move. Its just a case of getting him to know what he's being clicked for

It is possible to clicker train a dog to do anything (within its physical capabilities) as long as IT IS CONSCIOUSLY AWARE of what it is doing with that part of its body.

Tail carraige, eye blinking, and some other body movements, in my experience, can be a result of a mental state or indeed an unconscious bodily reaction, not a deliberate movement of the body controlled by conscious awareness.

Do you know when you blink, without actually thinking about it?

If the dog is AWARE where his tail is and that its movement is under his control, then it can be clicker trained, if he is not then he can not, unless you can find a way of MAKING him aware, Some people do this be weighting the relevant area or attaching something to it the dog can either see or feel, like a bandage.

Good luck with this and please let us know how it goes, Ill be interested to learn....

Thanks Lotsadogs, I'd never thought about it like that. He's a very happy dog and the more excited he gets the higher his tail goes. I watched a video of him at Crufts. While he's standing his tail is in a low position and wagging. As soon as he knows we're about to move up it pops.

I didn't know if I could touch it with a target stick while moving and then click and reward when it goes down. Is it possible that he'd get the idea with me physically moving his tail while giving a command?

It is possible. But again it comes down to how aware he is of that part of his body and his control over it.

For instance, most horses and dogs, are unaware that their back legs are under their own control. If you try to back a horse or dog say up a stair, they can make a right trash of it and go into panic. Some have no sense of what it is they have touched if their back leg and not their front encouters something.

it can be the same with tails. he may feel you touching him, but he may or may not connect that with the possibility of moving away from the touch, or independantly moving the tail in that way, without the touch actually happening.

Try it and see, let us know how it goes. Good luck.

First off this may sound really stupid, but bare with me. Do you think its possible to clicker train a dog to position his tail?

Yes it is. You can train dogs to self stack, hold their ears correctly, hold their tail in the position you want.


Personally I do not believe in pushing or shoving a dog into position, that is not what clicker training is about, you can train the tail in any position you want PROVIDED that a) he understands clicker training and b) that he NATURALLY holds his tail in this position at some point in time.

To give you an example, HWTM dogs are trained to kick up the ground as in after doing a poop etc by clicking and treating it when it is done in this context, then you can train it OUT of context.

One of the best books to read about clicker training a dog to show is the one by Karen Pryor called Click to Win!

Thanks Smokeybear. I do have that book actually. The problem with me is that although I understand the concept I find it difficult to apply it and change it about to suit what I'm hoping to achieve.

If you were trying to train this how would you do it?

I would watch the dog's tail and as soon as it was in the right place I would click and treat, assuming that your dog was clicker savvy.

I would get this so the dog was offering this position for reinforcement.

Once this was offered statically, I would then differ geographics and orientation.

Does that make sense?