Clicker Training

[Ree Luvs BORDERS!]

Hi all, been running into sites promoting Clicker Training and posed the question to our breed site and a few recommended it and suggested looking here further. I have gone through pages and pages and did find a couple that were clicker related.

I think I would like to give this a go. however from reading there seemed to be different types of clickers and different sound frequencies. What type should I get? I just dont want to get the wrong one thats all.

My boy seems to get too over excited whenever I praise him for what response I want.. doesnt seem to matter what pitch I use lol. "Good Boy" nice and calm has almost the same effect as "Good Boy" all excited. ie: heeling... when he's in line with me I say good boy and he starts going faster in front of me .... I was thinking with a clicker... you could just mark the behavour... hopefully not changing the pace???

How have other people found it?

Thanks in advance,

Ree.

[huski]

I have used clickers in the past but now I just use a marker word (yes) to mark behaviour.

My dogs seem to pick up on it really quickly, they now know that yes = you did the right thing and a reward is coming. I find it a great way to communicate with them, and they do learn faster when I mark the behaviour I want.

[laffi]

Hi all, been running into sites promoting Clicker Training and posed the question to our breed site and a few recommended it and suggested looking here further. I have gone through pages and pages and did find a couple that were clicker related.

I think I would like to give this a go. however from reading there seemed to be different types of clickers and different sound frequencies. What type should I get? I just dont want to get the wrong one thats all.

My boy seems to get too over excited whenever I praise him for what response I want.. doesnt seem to matter what pitch I use lol. "Good Boy" nice and calm has almost the same effect as "Good Boy" all excited. ie: heeling... when he's in line with me I say good boy and he starts going faster in front of me .... I was thinking with a clicker... you could just mark the behavour... hopefully not changing the pace???

How have other people found it?

Thanks in advance,

Ree.

Well you have to reward after a click so you will change the pace to reward (whether a food or toy or pat) anyway. But clickers are great to mark the right behavior so the teaching process goes faster (unless of course your timing is wrong and you just confuse your dog).

There is no such a thing as wrong clicker ... I think they are more of a personal preference. I really like i-clickers because they fit in nicely in your hand

[ozjen]

Hi all, been running into sites promoting Clicker Training and posed the question to our breed site and a few recommended it and suggested looking here further. I have gone through pages and pages and did find a couple that were clicker related.

I think I would like to give this a go. however from reading there seemed to be different types of clickers and different sound frequencies. What type should I get? I just dont want to get the wrong one thats all.

My boy seems to get too over excited whenever I praise him for what response I want.. doesnt seem to matter what pitch I use lol. "Good Boy" nice and calm has almost the same effect as "Good Boy" all excited. ie: heeling... when he's in line with me I say good boy and he starts going faster in front of me .... I was thinking with a clicker... you could just mark the behavour... hopefully not changing the pace???

How have other people found it?

Thanks in advance,

Ree.

I love using clickers and at times I have them stationed all over the house as I am big on tricks training and like to be able to catch some natural behaviours to turn into tricks. My dog has become so use to the clicker game that if I click something she does, she will try it again to see if that was what I was click/treating. When I click/treat again her whole face lights up in that lightbulb moment that says " AH! got you mum, can we try that again." We also do a fair bit of freeshaping, where the dog tries different things to get a click/treat, doesn't have to be a trick it knows it might just be an interaction with an object that I have presented to the dog. This encourages the dog to think more about the clicker game and teaches the handler just how smart the dog is and how the dog's though processes work. Its quite an eye opener to realise just how smart our 4 legged friends really are. Unfortunatley my dog has no trouble outsmarted me.

With regard to clicker types its what works best for you, I use the ones with the clicker inset to the plastic. The ones with the button on the outside are handy to use under your foot if your hands are not available, but I've never tried them. You can even use the little clicker party favours if like me you sometimes like lots around, but they don't last very long. The dog never seems to worry about the slightly different tones as long as it means treats. If your dog is unsure of the clicker to begin with, just muffle the sound a little with your hand until the dog gets comfortable with it. The most important thing is to have fun.

[Ree Luvs BORDERS!]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I'm definately going to get one ! Sorry its taken a little to reply I havn't been on much in the last few days.

I've started just clicking my fingures and giving a real good pat and I think he's actually starting to pick up on it so thats really encouraging The thing I'm finding good about it is its instant... whereas if he's doing something good by the time I react and get down to give him a good pat of encouragement he's doing the wrong thing

Nope I think I'm convinced.

[B-Q]

I love my clicker. Its helps me be really clear with Buster and helped him come out of his shell. Its such a positive experience for him. He doesn't like to fail so its great for taking him through baby steps and i LOVE that look on his face when I see him starting to work something out in his head.

http://www.clickersolutions.com/ is a good site to check out. I really like its articles.

Make sure you arn't making "Good Boy" your release word. I did this with Buster without relising it, because as soon as he'd finish a stay or a good heel or whatever I would say "good boy" and praise. He was doing exactly as asked because I'd taught him that as a release word and as soon as I said "good boy" he'd think the stay/heel etc was over. I went back and taught him "okay" instead and added a no reward marker, which is good for him because its not harsh, it just gives him another chance to retry.

A clicker is only a marker, so you could even use a ball point pen as the marker if you wanted. Also practice first with timing games to teach yourself better timing before you start with the dog, like throwing a tennis and aiming to click at the peak of its ark.