Clicker Charging

[Luke W]

I've decided to start with clicker training for my 10 week old cocker spaniel.

I started 'charging' the clicker last night, before dinner.

He doesn't seem to get it. After about 10 minutes and lots of treats (click, treat, click treat), the click doesn't seem to cause him to anticipate a treat. I've read that after a click he should look to me (or my hand) in anticipation of the treat.

I tried it again this morning before breakfast, same thing. A couple of minutes of click treat, click, treat and I pause. He wanders off to sniff around the room. A click doesn't even draw his attention, he continues wandering around sniffing at stuff in the room.

I'm wondering if he's just not food focused. Maybe I've been using treats too heavily without a clicker in the preceeding 2 weeks. Maybe he's being overfed and just isn't hungry enough.

Maybe I just need to be more patient.

Suggestions?

[MonElite]

Maybe I just need to be more patient.

Yes you do. its a 10 week old BABY!!!

[Miss Boss Doggy]

I'm guessing he's too well fed. How does he respond to the treats generally? When I started training with treats I had to cut back on the size of meals. Charging the clicker works best when the dog REALLY wants the reward. If he's not interested in the treat, the reinforcement isn't occuring. Try it when he's a bit hungrier and see if he's interested then. And 10 mins is way too long. A minute is heaps for a pup. Keep him interested, and always stop BEFORE he has had enough of it. BTW, what treats are you using?

[PAX]

Make sure you use really yummy treats like chicken, roast beef, little bits of cheese, something that isn't his normal food.

Get the treat to his mouth as fast as you can after the click and little sessions of c/t often is best so he learns to be excited about the click.

[poodlefan]

At his age, he has the attention span of a gnat. Yep, be patient and make the food rewards really high value (and really small pieces)

[Luke W]

I think it's a combination of him being too well fed and the treats just not being particularly interesting - I think he gets too many.

For his everyday training (toilet training, sit, come etc) prior to clicker training I used his normal kibble, plus dried liver and pal puppy treats.

How does he respond to treats generally?? He's become a bit blase about them really, he'll occasionally even sniff and refuse (eg...kibble after toileting).

[poodlefan]

How does he respond to treats generally?? He's become a bit blase about them really, he'll occasionally even sniff and refuse (eg...kibble after toileting).

"Normal" dog food isn't going to inspire most dogs. Try tiny pieces of chicken, cheese, devon, cabonossi or the like. The smaller and the smellier the better.

[Luke W]

How does he respond to treats generally?? He's become a bit blase about them really, he'll occasionally even sniff and refuse (eg...kibble after toileting).

"Normal" dog food isn't going to inspire most dogs. Try tiny pieces of chicken, cheese, devon, cabonossi or the like. The smaller and the smellier the better.

Dried liver doesn't seem to inspire him much either. He takes it, but he's not real enthusiastic. I might try something else when he's a bit hungrier.

[Kavik]

You want something moist and smelly I use cheese, cabanossi also works well as does chicken

[Staff'n'Toller]

Sausage? Also chicken or turkey chunkers from safeway- you can get them in puppy chunkers.

Number one thing though is that you're making the pup work for wayyyyy too long. Do five click/treat then abandon, come back later in the day, it shouldn't take many of those sessions to simply charge a clicker. He is shutting down- that's why he's disinterested and walking away.

Mel.

[Luke W]

I think I exaggerated about the 10 minutes. Probably less than 5...but the message is loud and clear...Much shorter periods.

Thanks for the hints everyone.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Luke W

[sas]

Dante never got clicker training, he had me thinking he was deaf at one stage LOL

Nearly 14 months old and he's now only starting to develop a brain.

[whatevah]

Tia was exactly the same. I would "click" and then have to find the dog to give a treat. So what I did was only ever hand feed her for a week and between each bit of food she got a click. I think Ian Dunbar uses this method with puppy's, hand feeding all their food for a week. This is what fixed it for her.

[Kelpie-i]

Yes I too hand fed Gabe when he was a pup, mainly his evening meal. It's the best thing way to get the dog knowing that you are the bearer of all things good.....and vital to their existence!

[cwm]

When you say that your puppy walks around sniffing the room - this can generally be an indication that the dog is uncomfortable with the situation and doesn't really know what's expected of it.

I don't know what cockers are usually like in terms of attention span - but I can imagine any young pup of that age would be pretty low in terms of attention span, so might be best to do a couple of things with the click treat, then leave it and do something else.

I've also heard that some dogs hate the clicker sound!

Maybe instead of the clicker you could try marking the right work with 'yes' in a nice excited voice. then treat... see how that goes, then click at the same time as yes, and just see if there's any difference in attitude.

[alpha bet]

Luke,

Setting the trigger for your pup to work to the clicker only takes about three short sessions. If you are having this much trouble it would appear that you are not using the clicker correctly. The best way to learn the technique is to have someone who already works with clickers show you. Alternatively there are some good videos/dvd that may provide you with a better technique.

One item i will note is that you do not use the clicker to get the dogs attention. This is defeating the whole idea of the click.

Excercise One - Dog learns his name. - start with clicker and a handful of food, let puppy wander around the room.[/i]

Call puppys name, wave your arms, use excited voice, any body and voice language you can do to make the pup walk towards you, as soon as he walks to you, CLICK, then throw a piece of food in front of the puppy. Walk away and ignore pup. When pup is wandering off again the Call pups name, (again any voice and body language) CLICK, throw food perhaps half way between you and pup.

Walk away, you may now find the pup doesnt want to leave you, just ignore pup until he walks away to explore, give him a minute or so then Call pups name, bend over and wave your hand, AS HE RUNS TO YOU, then CLICK and hold out the food.

This is the start of developing reliable clicker training as well as teaching your pup to come.

Repeating the same excercise three or four times and then leaving it is best. This way you keep things fresh. You can repeat this excercise three more times over the next couple of days and you will probably find the pup runs to you as soon as you use his name.

It is not really necessary to have the dog really focused before the clicker will work, in fact, once you start using the clicker you will find that the dogs (yes puppies too) will increase their focus time very quickly. Dont worry if the dog seems to have limited attention span.

I work with clickers on other peoples dogs & puppies all the time and during an hour of play and disucssion time, we use three 5 minute sessions and the dog/pup is showing an understanding of the clicker. Be very careful that the food doesnt become the main lure for the pup.

In fact pups from about 8-9 weeks of age will respond quicker to the clicker than an adult dog.

I am happy to help further if you wish, my email is [email protected], contact me and I can give you my phone number. Perhaps a chat will clarify things.

Best of luck with your training, clicker training is fun for you and the dog.

Anne Zelvys

I've decided to start with clicker training for my 10 week old cocker spaniel.

I started 'charging' the clicker last night, before dinner.

He doesn't seem to get it. After about 10 minutes and lots of treats (click, treat, click treat), the click doesn't seem to cause him to anticipate a treat. I've read that after a click he should look to me (or my hand) in anticipation of the treat.

I tried it again this morning before breakfast, same thing. A couple of minutes of click treat, click, treat and I pause. He wanders off to sniff around the room. A click doesn't even draw his attention, he continues wandering around sniffing at stuff in the room.

I'm wondering if he's just not food focused. Maybe I've been using treats too heavily without a clicker in the preceeding 2 weeks. Maybe he's being overfed and just isn't hungry enough.

Maybe I just need to be more patient.

Suggestions?

[Luke W]

Hi Anne

Thanks heaps for the reply.

I've given up on the clicker over the last week or so - I do plan on going back to it soon.

Barkly already mostly reponds to his name, comes and sits in front of me. He also comes of his own accord a lot when out in the garden. I've been treating him and praising him when he does. He'll mostly run as fast as his little legs will take him straight for me whenever I call him. Unsless distraction levels are really high.

I was following the video here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4384744371279416582 to 'charge' the clicker.

I wasn't using the clicker to get his attention as such, just occasionally clicking when he wasn't paying attention to see if he DID react to try to determine if he'd associated it with a treat coming his way.

I guess I'm hearing from you that I should ignore that whole 'charging' thing and just leap straight in and immediately get the clicking working as a marker.