I finally found a petshop with clickers! And I bought one.
Aidan, perhaps you can help me - because I'm still a little unsure how to use it.
my dogs already know how to sit & drop. I have used the clicker simply to condition them to the click so far - haven't really used it in any training methods, coz I'm not sure 100% ho to, and don't want to do it wrong. even though I have read a fair bit about it on the net.
How do I use it to teach my dog not to pull?
How do I use it to teach my dog not to bark at people walking past?
How do I use it to teach my dog not to jump up on visitors? (yesteday when my mom n dad arrived I stood in the kitchen (without the clicker) and made them sit and receive treats instead of running over, barking and jumping on them which they usually do - I made them sit, watch me, wait, then treat - and it worked in that they didn't harrass my parents.... is that the right thing to do? And how do I use the clicker with this?)
How do I use it to teach my dog not to go mental when someone's at the door?
bought my clicker
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Practice can be done in the form of tricks, the first thing we did using clicker is to get our Dal to touch the end of a target stick with his nose. To entice them dip the end in cream cheese or put a little kong stuffing on it. When they touch it click the clicker, lifting the stick away, and then give them the treat. The good thing about clickers is that they tell the dog that they're going to get a treat, but not necessarily straight away, giving you enough time to grab one and give to him.
Try to avoid using the clicker to bait them, that is to say, click before they complete what you want them to do, because they might try to cut corners. Yes do things gradually, but if you make a habit out of using the click to lure the dog, the lure does wear off and they will try to take the easy way out.
The best part of clicker work is that you can tell them that they are getting a reward from a distance. If your front door is at the end of a corridor, sit your dogs down on the opposite end and go to the door, if they get up, sit them back down. Click the clicker when you close the door after your guests click the clicker. If you live in the UK you would've seen the note about dog training on the door, you might want something similar because it will be a marathon.
I don't know about using it to stop pulling though, it's a reward training method.
Try to avoid using the clicker to bait them, that is to say, click before they complete what you want them to do, because they might try to cut corners. Yes do things gradually, but if you make a habit out of using the click to lure the dog, the lure does wear off and they will try to take the easy way out.
The best part of clicker work is that you can tell them that they are getting a reward from a distance. If your front door is at the end of a corridor, sit your dogs down on the opposite end and go to the door, if they get up, sit them back down. Click the clicker when you close the door after your guests click the clicker. If you live in the UK you would've seen the note about dog training on the door, you might want something similar because it will be a marathon.
I don't know about using it to stop pulling though, it's a reward training method.
Start off with a simple behaviour first.
You can do this two ways, you can lure the behaviour, or you can free shape it.
Luring is when you set it up so that the behaviour is pretty much guaranteed to happen, so the above poster mentioned putting cream cheese on the end of a target stick to teach the dog to touch the target, thats a lure, you are guaranteed to quickly get something you can then click to mark that as the desired behaviour.
Free shaping is where you DONT do anything, you wait until the dog offers the behaviour then you click and mark that and reward the dog.
This method is good with dogs who already know about clicker training - they will, if they enjoy it, often offer LOADS of behaviours to try and get a response out of you (the click is what they want, it means 'yes, have a treat')
With dogs who arent likely to offer you lots of behaviours to choose from at first id recommend leaving this one for a while and stick to luring.
Start with a simple one, just one action, no harm in starting with one your dog already knows as that will reaffirm that click = got it right.
DONT use a cue or command, lure your dog into a sit (for example) with food or a hand signal, when he sits the very SECOND his bum hits the floor, click and treat.
Repeat this a few times until he is offering the behaviour then you ptu the cue or command to it, then you move the behaviour into different environments, so if you start in the living room, go to the hall, the front door, the kitchen, the landing the bedroom the bathroom, the garden, etc etc until he is rock solid with that behaviour everywhere, THEN go back and do all those places WITH distractions.
If then, after all that you would bet a months wages that your dog will comply the first time you ask, anywhere with distractions, its pretty safe to say your dog KNOWS what you are asking of him. If not, h e doesnt fully understand, go back a few stages.
When your dog has the hang of simple one stage things like a sit, or a down, and YOU have got the hang of usign the clicker and recognising when your dog understands whts happening and when he is just doing things randomly, then you can move on.
You can do longer tricks or behaviours that require lots of little actions - the easy way to do this is to break it down. My dog does 'shut the door', a friends does 'tidy up'.
For tidy up, she has taught her dog to put pick up all the toys in the room and put them in a box. But thats LOTS of behaviours so at first she taught him to take a toy from her hand and drop it into the box next to her, then she taught him to take a toy fro the floor by the box and put it in the box, then to go from a distance to a toy and put it in the box, then from a distance to take a toy further away and put it in a box......
Each stage taught seperately and then linked together once the dog understands whats required to earn the click, when you link them together you withhold the CLICK (never withhold the treat but not the click), for first one behaviour then two, then three until you have a whole chain of events before the click. This is 'back chaining' as we started the trick backwards with what eventually becomes the last part of it.
You dont have to back chain, you can teach your dog that sometimes he has to do one thing for his click, sometimes three, sometimes two, sometimes five - keeping him guessing this way stops the dog pre-empting you and keeps him focussed on YOU and thinking abotu what he is doing, not doing things randomly.
If you want to use a clicker to STOP a behaviour thats a little different.
Your click and reward is that, a positive reward, so you obviously cant use it directly to extinguish a behaviour. In any case, methods that DO do this, such as rattle bottles (positive punishment, sound aversion) tend not to work long term.
To understand why you need to realise that dogs are VERY VERY bad at understanding vague commands.
'Dont do that' is quite a vague thing - the dog is a doing creature, he needs to do something and if you ask him not to do something, what ELSE should he do?
So instead of doing that, you are going to ask him to do something ELSE, give him a positive THING to do, something that rules out the thing he was doing before.
If your dog is lunging at people as you walk, what behaviour can he do that means he CANT lunge. Sitting is one, he cant be lunging and sitting at the same time. So if you reward him for sitting when normally he would lunge, you are stopping him lunging, AND rewarding him for not lunging as well.
If he is pulling on the lead, you need to set him up, lure him, into not pulling. Use treats and a head collar, and when he is beside you, click and treat. When he isnt, no click, no treat and because of the head collar (or harness), he cant PULL anyway.
If you also use the 'be a tree' method too, ie he puts tension on the lead, you stop dead, he will rapidly learn not to pull, its NOT rewarding, and there is a clear and obvious behaviour that IS rewarding (walking next to you).
For barking, theres not much a dog can do that rules out barking, so start at a distance where he doesnt feel the need to bark, click and treat when he sees people but DOESNT bark. Dont do anything else.
Gradually, move closer, if he starts to react back off again, take it at HIS pace, not yours and dont force him - keep him on a long lead but do NOT make this short and tight when you see people as this could easily tell him that there IS someting to be worried about AND he is trapped and cannot run away. If you need to keep him away from a person who suddenly apears to close, YOU walk way with him, making no fuss about it.
This wya he will learn if you take it slowly and prevent him from having the opportunity to bark at people, that the presence of people = click treat.
Jumping up at people.
This is a really rewarding thing to do for the dog that wants attention. Even if people arent nice to him, he STILL gets attention, because its not a natural reaction to completely ignore a dog who jumps up.
That is what must happen though, you have to start by ensuring that he NEVER EVER gets any attention for jumping up at people.
If you have visitors who for whatever reason CANNOT be expected to comply with your instructions, do not let the dog greet them loose, have him on a short lead so you can physically restrain him.
For every one else, instruct them that they must not:
Make eye contact
Speak to him
Squeal or laugh or jump around
Fuss him
Touch him
What they must do is stand stock still and pretend that he does not exist, or turn around and present the dog with their back.
So, now the reward is gone, thats a very good start but, you must do more than this because not all guests can be expected to do that, they may be old or frail or small children, or just plain annoying and refuse to do as you ask as 'they' dont mind being flattened by your dog (these are the worst and i shout at them or dont let them in my house!).
Now you must replace teh jumping up behaviour with something that means he CANT jump, again, sitting is great, you could use being on his bed or something similar.
Now the dog is hopefully realising that jumping isnt very good at getting peoples attention, if you replace that with a sit that IS rewarded calmly by guests and yourself, you can eventually have a dog who automatically sits when guests enter the house.
If you DONT replace the behaviour then he may do something else or may revert to jumping up, hes not very good at NOT doing thigns, he has to be doing something that he knows will be rewarded and again, a clear cut behaviour tha IS rewarded consistently will be remembered. A vague 'dont do that' wont.
Hope that helps
Em
You can do this two ways, you can lure the behaviour, or you can free shape it.
Luring is when you set it up so that the behaviour is pretty much guaranteed to happen, so the above poster mentioned putting cream cheese on the end of a target stick to teach the dog to touch the target, thats a lure, you are guaranteed to quickly get something you can then click to mark that as the desired behaviour.
Free shaping is where you DONT do anything, you wait until the dog offers the behaviour then you click and mark that and reward the dog.
This method is good with dogs who already know about clicker training - they will, if they enjoy it, often offer LOADS of behaviours to try and get a response out of you (the click is what they want, it means 'yes, have a treat')
With dogs who arent likely to offer you lots of behaviours to choose from at first id recommend leaving this one for a while and stick to luring.
Start with a simple one, just one action, no harm in starting with one your dog already knows as that will reaffirm that click = got it right.
DONT use a cue or command, lure your dog into a sit (for example) with food or a hand signal, when he sits the very SECOND his bum hits the floor, click and treat.
Repeat this a few times until he is offering the behaviour then you ptu the cue or command to it, then you move the behaviour into different environments, so if you start in the living room, go to the hall, the front door, the kitchen, the landing the bedroom the bathroom, the garden, etc etc until he is rock solid with that behaviour everywhere, THEN go back and do all those places WITH distractions.
If then, after all that you would bet a months wages that your dog will comply the first time you ask, anywhere with distractions, its pretty safe to say your dog KNOWS what you are asking of him. If not, h e doesnt fully understand, go back a few stages.
When your dog has the hang of simple one stage things like a sit, or a down, and YOU have got the hang of usign the clicker and recognising when your dog understands whts happening and when he is just doing things randomly, then you can move on.
You can do longer tricks or behaviours that require lots of little actions - the easy way to do this is to break it down. My dog does 'shut the door', a friends does 'tidy up'.
For tidy up, she has taught her dog to put pick up all the toys in the room and put them in a box. But thats LOTS of behaviours so at first she taught him to take a toy from her hand and drop it into the box next to her, then she taught him to take a toy fro the floor by the box and put it in the box, then to go from a distance to a toy and put it in the box, then from a distance to take a toy further away and put it in a box......
Each stage taught seperately and then linked together once the dog understands whats required to earn the click, when you link them together you withhold the CLICK (never withhold the treat but not the click), for first one behaviour then two, then three until you have a whole chain of events before the click. This is 'back chaining' as we started the trick backwards with what eventually becomes the last part of it.
You dont have to back chain, you can teach your dog that sometimes he has to do one thing for his click, sometimes three, sometimes two, sometimes five - keeping him guessing this way stops the dog pre-empting you and keeps him focussed on YOU and thinking abotu what he is doing, not doing things randomly.
If you want to use a clicker to STOP a behaviour thats a little different.
Your click and reward is that, a positive reward, so you obviously cant use it directly to extinguish a behaviour. In any case, methods that DO do this, such as rattle bottles (positive punishment, sound aversion) tend not to work long term.
To understand why you need to realise that dogs are VERY VERY bad at understanding vague commands.
'Dont do that' is quite a vague thing - the dog is a doing creature, he needs to do something and if you ask him not to do something, what ELSE should he do?
So instead of doing that, you are going to ask him to do something ELSE, give him a positive THING to do, something that rules out the thing he was doing before.
If your dog is lunging at people as you walk, what behaviour can he do that means he CANT lunge. Sitting is one, he cant be lunging and sitting at the same time. So if you reward him for sitting when normally he would lunge, you are stopping him lunging, AND rewarding him for not lunging as well.
If he is pulling on the lead, you need to set him up, lure him, into not pulling. Use treats and a head collar, and when he is beside you, click and treat. When he isnt, no click, no treat and because of the head collar (or harness), he cant PULL anyway.
If you also use the 'be a tree' method too, ie he puts tension on the lead, you stop dead, he will rapidly learn not to pull, its NOT rewarding, and there is a clear and obvious behaviour that IS rewarding (walking next to you).
For barking, theres not much a dog can do that rules out barking, so start at a distance where he doesnt feel the need to bark, click and treat when he sees people but DOESNT bark. Dont do anything else.
Gradually, move closer, if he starts to react back off again, take it at HIS pace, not yours and dont force him - keep him on a long lead but do NOT make this short and tight when you see people as this could easily tell him that there IS someting to be worried about AND he is trapped and cannot run away. If you need to keep him away from a person who suddenly apears to close, YOU walk way with him, making no fuss about it.
This wya he will learn if you take it slowly and prevent him from having the opportunity to bark at people, that the presence of people = click treat.
Jumping up at people.
This is a really rewarding thing to do for the dog that wants attention. Even if people arent nice to him, he STILL gets attention, because its not a natural reaction to completely ignore a dog who jumps up.
That is what must happen though, you have to start by ensuring that he NEVER EVER gets any attention for jumping up at people.
If you have visitors who for whatever reason CANNOT be expected to comply with your instructions, do not let the dog greet them loose, have him on a short lead so you can physically restrain him.
For every one else, instruct them that they must not:
Make eye contact
Speak to him
Squeal or laugh or jump around
Fuss him
Touch him
What they must do is stand stock still and pretend that he does not exist, or turn around and present the dog with their back.
So, now the reward is gone, thats a very good start but, you must do more than this because not all guests can be expected to do that, they may be old or frail or small children, or just plain annoying and refuse to do as you ask as 'they' dont mind being flattened by your dog (these are the worst and i shout at them or dont let them in my house!).
Now you must replace teh jumping up behaviour with something that means he CANT jump, again, sitting is great, you could use being on his bed or something similar.
Now the dog is hopefully realising that jumping isnt very good at getting peoples attention, if you replace that with a sit that IS rewarded calmly by guests and yourself, you can eventually have a dog who automatically sits when guests enter the house.
If you DONT replace the behaviour then he may do something else or may revert to jumping up, hes not very good at NOT doing thigns, he has to be doing something that he knows will be rewarded and again, a clear cut behaviour tha IS rewarded consistently will be remembered. A vague 'dont do that' wont.
Hope that helps
Em
thanks Em! I'm going to try them all.... only one thing about walking - he's so excited to be going for a walk that he turns his nose away at treats. I use a harness, and am doing the method when he pulls to stop, turn and walk the other way - I've only had time to do it once, and it seemed to work towards the end - so from now on every time we walk I'll be doing that.
Regarding the rest of the clicker training, I'm going to print off what you said, and start tomorrow! Thanks!
Regarding the rest of the clicker training, I'm going to print off what you said, and start tomorrow! Thanks!
Just out of curiosity, do you have Dogs Trust or a parallel in Australia? I get Wag Magazine from them and they have a page dedicated to how to teach your dog to do tricks. Here's one that I did from them with our dog.
Put a treat in your hand and clench your fist so that the dog knows you've got it, but don't give it to them until they put their paw on your hand. When they do click and treat. Do this until they put their paw on your fist every time.
Now, but the treat under your thumb and hold your palm towards the dog, don't yield until they reach out with their paw. Click and treat. About here you can introduce the command 'wave'
After this, move your hand out of your dog's reach, when they wave click and treat.
Tricks are great fun because they're mentally stimulating for dogs.
As for the problem with treats, try to find something he really can't resist. For example, Oscar (our Dal) won't come back for ordinary treats off lead, but bread works like a charm.
Put a treat in your hand and clench your fist so that the dog knows you've got it, but don't give it to them until they put their paw on your hand. When they do click and treat. Do this until they put their paw on your fist every time.
Now, but the treat under your thumb and hold your palm towards the dog, don't yield until they reach out with their paw. Click and treat. About here you can introduce the command 'wave'
After this, move your hand out of your dog's reach, when they wave click and treat.
Tricks are great fun because they're mentally stimulating for dogs.
As for the problem with treats, try to find something he really can't resist. For example, Oscar (our Dal) won't come back for ordinary treats off lead, but bread works like a charm.
yeah, haha. no treats work at all, believe me! cooked chicken, raw chicken, every single store bought treat you can imagine, roast meat, even his toy doesn't work, coz then he wants to play ball.... and yet we're supposed to be walking! He'll take treats in his mouth and drop it and look up at me grinning saying "let's go walk!" ha. it's ok, I'm doing it with just commands for walking, and he'll get it.
both dogs already "shake" so i'm sure "wave" wouldn't be hard for them to get.
and I haven't heard of the magazine (??) that you were talking about?
both dogs already "shake" so i'm sure "wave" wouldn't be hard for them to get.
and I haven't heard of the magazine (??) that you were talking about?
The BIGGEST 'treat' is the walk itself. I sure relate to that because my dog is the same!!leigh wrote:yeah, haha. no treats work at all, believe me! cooked chicken, raw chicken, every single store bought treat you can imagine, roast meat, even his toy doesn't work, coz then he wants to play ball.... and yet we're supposed to be walking! He'll take treats in his mouth and drop it and look up at me grinning saying "let's go walk!" ha. it's ok, I'm doing it with just commands for walking, and he'll get it.
both dogs already "shake" so i'm sure "wave" wouldn't be hard for them to get.
and I haven't heard of the magazine (??) that you were talking about?
Yep, if the biggest treat is carying on the walk, then stop..... wait till he returns to your side, click and move on.
The behaviour you want to click is him keeping that lead slack - click any slackness in the lead at all at first, stop dead if he tightens it.
When he realises that tight lead = no moving and loose lead = click and move on he should get it, and then y ou can improve the behaviour you want by withholding the click for the slack lead and rewarding for a slack lead AND beside you....
Then add in a cue, ie 'heel' or 'wtih me'.
Em
The behaviour you want to click is him keeping that lead slack - click any slackness in the lead at all at first, stop dead if he tightens it.
When he realises that tight lead = no moving and loose lead = click and move on he should get it, and then y ou can improve the behaviour you want by withholding the click for the slack lead and rewarding for a slack lead AND beside you....
Then add in a cue, ie 'heel' or 'wtih me'.
Em
Wicked 
keep doing it, and more importantly, if you have to go out and you DONT have time, DONT take him and allow him to pull - just teaches him to try harder next time.
Do some of the other training stuff too, will keep his mind active and bond with you much better - ive seen some AMAZING changes in dog - owner relationships once they have started clicker training, the dogs suddenly WANT to learn!
Em
keep doing it, and more importantly, if you have to go out and you DONT have time, DONT take him and allow him to pull - just teaches him to try harder next time.Do some of the other training stuff too, will keep his mind active and bond with you much better - ive seen some AMAZING changes in dog - owner relationships once they have started clicker training, the dogs suddenly WANT to learn!
Em
Hi Leigh, sorry I haven't been able to reply for a few days. Looks like you were very capably answered all the same 
Glad you found a clicker. They are the most efficient way to teach a bunch of things using positive reinforcement.
[quote="leigh"]even his toy doesn't work, coz then he wants to play ball.... and yet we're supposed to be walking![/quote]
You can interrupt walking to bounce a ball, the bounce itself might be reinforcing, even without a chance to play. Watch and see if he offers more of the behaviour you clicked before you bounced the ball.
There are a number of ways to "stop" behaviour using clicker training. I would suggest you read "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor. It should be mandatory reading for every dog owner. It discusses learning theory in plain english, and in my opinion, no-one does it better than Karen Pryor.
I've pasted an article I wrote for PositivePetzine.com for your benefit:
What is the difference between "pro-active" and "reactive" dog training? When we make pro-active training choices we don't say "stop doing that", we say "this is what I want you to do instead".
Imagine you draw a circle or pie-chart of 24 hours of your dog's typical day. You fill in pieces with every separate activity or behaviour your dog does in a typical day. You've got a large chunk filled up with sleeping, another chunk with drinking, another chunk with eating, another with ear scratching, going to the toilet, barking, running, walking, getting patted, chewing up your shoes, scratching at the door, jumping on your guests etc etc
Then you decide you want to take out all the unwanted stuff. So you take out the chewing up shoes, scratching at the door and jumping on guests.
You still have 24 hours in a day. So what fills in those missing pieces?
Think about it. How does your dog know what to do instead? How do you know it's going to be something beneficial to your relationship and your lifestyle? You don't. In fact, it might make matters worse...
Let's say he has some sort of emotional or physical need for exercise which is not being met. So he goes out into the yard and digs.
You catch him digging and give him a telling off. Then you put chicken wire over the parts of the garden that he likes to dig.
So what does he do instead? Maybe he starts escaping the yard and wandering about the neighbourhood.
You build a higher fence.
Then what does he do instead?
Another scenario... Puppy is teething and needs to chew for relief, it might be from boredom or from the pain of teething.
Pup looks around the room and finds a pair of your shoes, they look chewable! You decide to squirt him with water to punish the chewing. What does he chew instead? How does puppy's need to chew for relief get fulfilled?
The answer, in part, is to become pro-active. Put your shoes away and give pup legal things to chew. It's ok to say 'no' in a neutral tone of voice when pup is chewing the shoe you foolishly left on the floor, but then you need to follow up by swapping your shoe for a pig's ear or chew toy instead.
For the dog who is digging, maybe he needs a longer walk each day? Or maybe you could sign up at a local agility class for some fun activity, socialisation and training all in one?
You see, dogs do what works for them. The trick is to make what works for them work for you too. By being proactive we can channel their needs into activities and behaviours which complement our lifestyle and our needs.
(c) Aidan Bindoff 2006
Glad you found a clicker. They are the most efficient way to teach a bunch of things using positive reinforcement.
[quote="leigh"]even his toy doesn't work, coz then he wants to play ball.... and yet we're supposed to be walking![/quote]
You can interrupt walking to bounce a ball, the bounce itself might be reinforcing, even without a chance to play. Watch and see if he offers more of the behaviour you clicked before you bounced the ball.
There are a number of ways to "stop" behaviour using clicker training. I would suggest you read "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor. It should be mandatory reading for every dog owner. It discusses learning theory in plain english, and in my opinion, no-one does it better than Karen Pryor.
I've pasted an article I wrote for PositivePetzine.com for your benefit:
What is the difference between "pro-active" and "reactive" dog training? When we make pro-active training choices we don't say "stop doing that", we say "this is what I want you to do instead".
Imagine you draw a circle or pie-chart of 24 hours of your dog's typical day. You fill in pieces with every separate activity or behaviour your dog does in a typical day. You've got a large chunk filled up with sleeping, another chunk with drinking, another chunk with eating, another with ear scratching, going to the toilet, barking, running, walking, getting patted, chewing up your shoes, scratching at the door, jumping on your guests etc etc
Then you decide you want to take out all the unwanted stuff. So you take out the chewing up shoes, scratching at the door and jumping on guests.
You still have 24 hours in a day. So what fills in those missing pieces?
Think about it. How does your dog know what to do instead? How do you know it's going to be something beneficial to your relationship and your lifestyle? You don't. In fact, it might make matters worse...
Let's say he has some sort of emotional or physical need for exercise which is not being met. So he goes out into the yard and digs.
You catch him digging and give him a telling off. Then you put chicken wire over the parts of the garden that he likes to dig.
So what does he do instead? Maybe he starts escaping the yard and wandering about the neighbourhood.
You build a higher fence.
Then what does he do instead?
Another scenario... Puppy is teething and needs to chew for relief, it might be from boredom or from the pain of teething.
Pup looks around the room and finds a pair of your shoes, they look chewable! You decide to squirt him with water to punish the chewing. What does he chew instead? How does puppy's need to chew for relief get fulfilled?
The answer, in part, is to become pro-active. Put your shoes away and give pup legal things to chew. It's ok to say 'no' in a neutral tone of voice when pup is chewing the shoe you foolishly left on the floor, but then you need to follow up by swapping your shoe for a pig's ear or chew toy instead.
For the dog who is digging, maybe he needs a longer walk each day? Or maybe you could sign up at a local agility class for some fun activity, socialisation and training all in one?
You see, dogs do what works for them. The trick is to make what works for them work for you too. By being proactive we can channel their needs into activities and behaviours which complement our lifestyle and our needs.
(c) Aidan Bindoff 2006
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com
clicker
my dogs are both terrified of the clicking noise it makes. Since the first time i used it. I did exactly what all the books say (give the treat and click) and he ran under the bed. Now whenever i try to get them to sit they run away. its been a nightmare to try to make them understand againt hat sitting isnt a bad thing. Safe to say i threw the damn thing away!!!
Ahhhhhhh sound phobic dogs....
Use a different sound, a softer quieter sound. There are some really posh technical uber clickers that come with the ability to soften the noise, and there are some that make non-click type sounds.
Id possibly try something that makes a gentle beep rather than a click, but yes you have to sort out their fear first
Take them somewhere where they cant run off to hide, with a huuuuuuuuuuge pot of really really yummy treats and say the word sit ever so quietly, and reward immediately whatever they do (becuase your objective isnt to get them to sit, its to get them to reassociate the word with something pleasant).
You may eventually need to use a different word, either if they remain worried by the word sit, or they then learn it means nothing (through you rewarding them for not actually sitting).
Hope this helps,
Em
Use a different sound, a softer quieter sound. There are some really posh technical uber clickers that come with the ability to soften the noise, and there are some that make non-click type sounds.
Id possibly try something that makes a gentle beep rather than a click, but yes you have to sort out their fear first
Take them somewhere where they cant run off to hide, with a huuuuuuuuuuge pot of really really yummy treats and say the word sit ever so quietly, and reward immediately whatever they do (becuase your objective isnt to get them to sit, its to get them to reassociate the word with something pleasant).
You may eventually need to use a different word, either if they remain worried by the word sit, or they then learn it means nothing (through you rewarding them for not actually sitting).
Hope this helps,
Em
??
Hi Em (or anyone else who wants to answer),
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I am new here and just browsing around, taking in as much as I can!
You mentioned "DONT use a cue or command, lure your dog into a sit (for example) with food or a hand signal, when he sits the very SECOND his bum hits the floor, click and treat.
Repeat this a few times until he is offering the behaviour then you ptu the cue or command to it"
My question is, why? I'm just getting started with clicker training, so I'd like to get it right (as much as possible), right from the start. I have an 8 week old puppy; this isn't too young to start is it?
Thanks!
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I am new here and just browsing around, taking in as much as I can!
You mentioned "DONT use a cue or command, lure your dog into a sit (for example) with food or a hand signal, when he sits the very SECOND his bum hits the floor, click and treat.
Repeat this a few times until he is offering the behaviour then you ptu the cue or command to it"
My question is, why? I'm just getting started with clicker training, so I'd like to get it right (as much as possible), right from the start. I have an 8 week old puppy; this isn't too young to start is it?
Thanks!
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Fundog
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Leigh, I just wanted to mention that my dog's favorite thing above anything else is also the walk-- she'll forget all about food for a walk-- anyway, I've noticed that quite often when she's actually walking her very best, she'll sort of falter a bit and look up at me for encouragement. So I make sure to praise her, and say, "Good job, Annie. You're a good girl." And she looks forward again and carries on. So that's helpful. When your dog is walking correctly, even for a moment, praise him that moment. He will soon learn that it's when he's walking at your speed, loose lead, he is pleasing you. You'll know he's catching on when he does this, and looks up at you as if to ask, "How am I doing?"