ShellyBeggs Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I decided to have a go at clicker training my crazy kelpie....(nearly 10months old) I have only had a few goes with sit and he freaked out at the noise and now won't sit at home, even if i don't have the clicker he looks panicked and scoots backwards to the other side of the room and then stands usually in a place I can't see him and he can't see me....he then stays there totally shut down for ages (more than 5 and sometimes more than 10 min) I have had conflicting advice........from 3 people. perservere coz he will get the hang of it.........do it on lead so he has to face the noise not hide. randomly click all the time until he is no longer sensitive to the noise then go back to using it in training don't worry about it because he is obviously too sensitive to the noise and keep training with the food and lots of praise. before deciding to try this, his training was coming on slowly ....he isn't overly food orientated and not toy/game driven either. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I would condition him to a verbal marker instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffnCel Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Try just sitting down with him, really relaxed and quiet, and have heaps of food treats with you, and just click and feed, really quickly almost so they just focus on the food and don't worry about the clicking noise. We did this with our dog who didn't like the "click" sound, it just makes them begin to understand that when they hear a click they get food Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsforall Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 agree with above lots of treat then when he is interested in them click just one here and there then slowly increase as he becomes accustomed if someone else has a click at training you don't want him to freak so better to get him used to it where he is sfae and comfortable then have him freak if someone uses one when you are out best of luck dfa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sezy Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 Some dogs just don't like clickers. I would email Karen at Get Smart Dogs, she has been clicker training for years. If it was me I would just use your voice as the marker, no point scaring the poor dog. TRaining should be fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steph & Bam Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I had the same problem with Bam and the standard clicker. I use an iClick instead and he loves it, his tail never stops wagging and he is enthusiastic to make it click! They do cost a little more, but they are quieter than the standard. They make the same noise, but I find because it's quiet he's not scared. I stopped with the standard clicker as soon as it was apparent that he was scared of it. I used a voice marker instead, with some sucess until I got the iclick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkySoaringMagpie Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I had the same problem with Bam and the standard clicker. I use an iClick instead and he loves it, his tail never stops wagging and he is enthusiastic to make it click! They do cost a little more, but they are quieter than the standard. Another vote here for an iClick - it's what I use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdude Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I would worry about building drive first, then intro verbal marker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoezoom Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 I decided to have a go at clicker training my crazy kelpie....(nearly 10months old) I have only had a few goes with sit and he freaked out at the noise and now won't sit at home, even if i don't have the clicker he looks panicked and scoots backwards to the other side of the room and then stands usually in a place I can't see him and he can't see me....he then stays there totally shut down for ages (more than 5 and sometimes more than 10 min) I have had conflicting advice........from 3 people. perservere coz he will get the hang of it.........do it on lead so he has to face the noise not hide. randomly click all the time until he is no longer sensitive to the noise then go back to using it in training don't worry about it because he is obviously too sensitive to the noise and keep training with the food and lots of praise. before deciding to try this, his training was coming on slowly ....he isn't overly food orientated and not toy/game driven either. Any ideas? I agree with Cosmolo - I've always been taught that you always have your voice with you but might not always remember your clicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridgie_cat Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 definitely NOT the random clicking - perhaps that will get him over the noise - but it will completely ruin the effect of the clicker as you will have destroyed its meaning for him - the clicker would become background noise instead of its usual meaning of FOOD IS COMING - if you are not going to use if for training - go ahead and do this just so he doesnt freak out when other people are clicking... did you start him with high value food and simply clicking and rewarding? Generally the first meeting is so fun that they associate it with wonderful treats rather than scary noise... even if you did, I would go back to this - as it will help him get over the noise, whilst learning that it = food and is GOOD... you can get a softer clicker (some brands/styles are loud, others are quiet... the box ones are v loud) or you can use the lid off a juice bottle - ie the ones with the vaccum seal - again, a softer click. Bridget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steph & Bam Posted October 17, 2007 Share Posted October 17, 2007 definitely NOT the random clicking - perhaps that will get him over the noise - but it will completely ruin the effect of the clicker as you will have destroyed its meaning for him - the clicker would become background noise instead of its usual meaning of FOOD IS COMING - if you are not going to use if for training - go ahead and do this just so he doesnt freak out when other people are clicking... did you start him with high value food and simply clicking and rewarding? Generally the first meeting is so fun that they associate it with wonderful treats rather than scary noise... even if you did, I would go back to this - as it will help him get over the noise, whilst learning that it = food and is GOOD... you can get a softer clicker (some brands/styles are loud, others are quiet... the box ones are v loud) or you can use the lid off a juice bottle - ie the ones with the vaccum seal - again, a softer click. Bridget With the clicker association, I had a very similar problem to the OP with my ACDx, Bam. Bam was scared of the noise and couldn't get over the fear of the noise to realise that it meant food was coming. I tried for a week (three times a day) to do it this way and it failed. I then used a voice marker (high pitched 'Yes' that I now use in conjunction with the iClicker) it was doing more damage to Bam the longer I continued with the box clicker (or standard) his reaction just got worse with the noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lablover Posted October 18, 2007 Share Posted October 18, 2007 With your, as you put it, "crazed" kelpie, who sounds lovely BTW, I would not bother with a marker which frightens the dog. Move on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now