Clicker training experiences
Discussion
Funbobby, my wife clicker trains. Loves it. We find reward based treat training much better than dominance or punishment leader of the pack type nonsense. Ask away and I'll see if she can answer anything you want to know.
For removing unwanted behaviour you would never really remove the behaviour but train that something else is more rewarding. What behaviour would you be looking to change? If a dog is jumping up to greet people you can train a sit and reward that instead. The dog soon realises that the reward for sitting is greater than the reward for jumping up. The clicker only marks the good behaviour. You should not use the clicker without a reward as you reduce the value of the clicker.
If you need any more info let me know. You need to start by introducing the dog to the clicker and priming it with lots and lots of treats. You can't just start clicking willy nilly and expect to see results.
For removing unwanted behaviour you would never really remove the behaviour but train that something else is more rewarding. What behaviour would you be looking to change? If a dog is jumping up to greet people you can train a sit and reward that instead. The dog soon realises that the reward for sitting is greater than the reward for jumping up. The clicker only marks the good behaviour. You should not use the clicker without a reward as you reduce the value of the clicker.
If you need any more info let me know. You need to start by introducing the dog to the clicker and priming it with lots and lots of treats. You can't just start clicking willy nilly and expect to see results.
Clicker training/positive reinforcement is definitely the way forward and I agree with the wise words above. But it is you as owner who must learn to use a clicker correctly for it to be effective. It is not the dogs that fail, it is the owners not taking the time to learn how to do it correctly.
Personally I used this guy on youtube. He has a particular presentational style, that either will or won't work for you. I thinks he's great and I found his methods simple to learn/teach and very effective. Highly recommended, you just need to figure out which order to watch them in.
You might want to also introduce whistle training which I find very helpful and is also a really fun way of bonding with your dog. It also impresses other dog owners whose dogs [read owners] 'never really got on with obedience classes'. This is a very good website, whose methods I found to work well.
With clickers, the most important thing is to understand that a clicker signals a reward regardless and nothing else. If a dog is learning something and gets loads wrong but one thing right, if you don't have a clicker you wait to the end and reward the dog, but the dog doesn't understand which bit was right. With a clicker you give instant feedback on the correct bit and give a treat, so the dog learns what precisely it did right to get the treat. Clicker training goes wrong when owners use them incorrectly. They are not for calling your dog to you. You must treat EVERY time you click (even if you do it by accident). Do not confuse the dog/very simple message of click = treat and nothing else, and you'll have no problems. Enjoy
Personally I used this guy on youtube. He has a particular presentational style, that either will or won't work for you. I thinks he's great and I found his methods simple to learn/teach and very effective. Highly recommended, you just need to figure out which order to watch them in.
You might want to also introduce whistle training which I find very helpful and is also a really fun way of bonding with your dog. It also impresses other dog owners whose dogs [read owners] 'never really got on with obedience classes'. This is a very good website, whose methods I found to work well.
With clickers, the most important thing is to understand that a clicker signals a reward regardless and nothing else. If a dog is learning something and gets loads wrong but one thing right, if you don't have a clicker you wait to the end and reward the dog, but the dog doesn't understand which bit was right. With a clicker you give instant feedback on the correct bit and give a treat, so the dog learns what precisely it did right to get the treat. Clicker training goes wrong when owners use them incorrectly. They are not for calling your dog to you. You must treat EVERY time you click (even if you do it by accident). Do not confuse the dog/very simple message of click = treat and nothing else, and you'll have no problems. Enjoy
I'd say it would depend on the behaviour you want to correct and also depend on the dog as to whether it's an appropriate method or not.
Different training methods suit different situations. You can reward a dog for positive behaviour but it doesn't necessarily mean it will eliminate unwanted behaviour.
What is the issue that needs to be fixed?
Different training methods suit different situations. You can reward a dog for positive behaviour but it doesn't necessarily mean it will eliminate unwanted behaviour.
What is the issue that needs to be fixed?
Ok thanks have been reading all about it and it sounds effective if used correctly, main issue I have with my new rescue is she gets so excited when she sees other dogs on lead that it makes it very difficult to control her and as we have only had her a couple of weeks not been off lead in the fields yet for fear of disappearing ! The behaviourist from the rescue place suggested it and wondered how others had found it
Jasandjules said:
Rather suspect clicker training will have a limited effect upon an overexcited dog that wants to play...........
Sorry I disagree. Another dog is simply a distraction (like a squirrel or a ball or whatever). The key is to train your dog to focus on you and ignore distractions. Just as a puppy will be distracted by everything and will (should) grow out of it/calm down, so you can teach a dog to either focus on you or something else (like a ball for example). Simply accepting that this is not something that you can address through clicker/positive is the same mentality as accepting that your kid misbehaves because they are just lively/'aspiring footballers'/pick your cliche. (Jasandjules that last point was a general point and not in anyway directed at you/your comment 
).See this video here for teaching eye contact and this one to teach your dog to come here. Note these two videos are dependant on you teaching your dog what a clicker is/means. You also need to understand the method/psychology behind what's going on in your dog's head. These are just two videos that go part way to addressing the problem, you as owner need to read around the subject and understand it.
Just one note of warning dogs can develop a phobia to the clicker resulting in it being a negative training method.
It can be successful but it is not the correct solution for all dogs, hope it works for your dog, I'm lucky never to have had need for anything more than my voice and a ball or treat for my dogs which is good because clicker seems like too much effort for me
It can be successful but it is not the correct solution for all dogs, hope it works for your dog, I'm lucky never to have had need for anything more than my voice and a ball or treat for my dogs which is good because clicker seems like too much effort for me
Clicker training has a limited place in the training we do (Schutzhund), but we do use it for the basics of getting the dog to focus on the handler. For the first 6 months or so, no real obedience is taught to a puppy other then to build its drive. You basically want the dog to be lively as possible, everything is about the dog wanting to do everything at 100mph. A bit later, you need to introduce obedience and control, two very different things. Obedience can be taught to any dog, control is much harder as the dog HAS to want to do what you tell it, not just because it's following orders.
Before the dog can compete in sport (or in some countries even be used to breed from) it has to pass the BH exam. It's pretty simple (although very easy to fail!) and involves a bit of on and off lead obedience and not be distracted when you do a figure of 8 around a group of people.
To teach the dog to focuses on the handler, the 'fuss' (pronounced 'foose') is used to command the dog to look at the handlers face. The dog won't pass if it doesn't maintain eye contact with the handler.
The first steps for teaching this, we bring the dog in to heel and make it sit. You don't need to tell the dog to stay because if it's sat down its hard for it to move. We use a big mirror so you can see the dogs face. With the dog sat, make a few gentle noises to grab his attention. When he looks directly at your face, click and reward. We normally do this with two people. One observes the dog to ensure he's doing what's expected and clicks the second eye contact is gained and the handler MUST reward from the left hand the second the other person uses the clicker. The person doing the clicking gets to b
k the handler if they aren't fast enough with the reward. As you'll have food in your left hand, the side the dog is sat at, the dog will smell it and want to have a sniff. This training also teaches self control as he'll learn snuffling around at your left hand doesn't get the reward, eye contact does. As the dog learns, switch the clicker for a vocal command. Ours are all done in German as that's what's used at competitions, but you could say 'look', 'focus', whatever you want as long as you stick to it.
Once this is mastered you can then add distractions such as noise, clapping etc. It takes a lot of time and patience, but my dog will walk to heel, maintain eye contact regardless of what's going on around him whether it's dogs jumping on him, shouting etc.
We also have a ball on a rope we play with at home,. Stand still (or you become the prey item and you'll find the dog jumps at you)) and pass the ball around you body so the dog runs around you desperately chasing it. Let him win a few times, but when his drive goes up and he REALLy wants the ball, go and put it away. When you go on a walk and you're getting closer to another dog, before yours get excited, get the ball out your pocket and place it under your left arm. If the dog has high enough drive, he'll find you and the ball more interesting than the other dog. If he gives direct eye contact, use your command and reward.
Before the dog can compete in sport (or in some countries even be used to breed from) it has to pass the BH exam. It's pretty simple (although very easy to fail!) and involves a bit of on and off lead obedience and not be distracted when you do a figure of 8 around a group of people.
To teach the dog to focuses on the handler, the 'fuss' (pronounced 'foose') is used to command the dog to look at the handlers face. The dog won't pass if it doesn't maintain eye contact with the handler.
The first steps for teaching this, we bring the dog in to heel and make it sit. You don't need to tell the dog to stay because if it's sat down its hard for it to move. We use a big mirror so you can see the dogs face. With the dog sat, make a few gentle noises to grab his attention. When he looks directly at your face, click and reward. We normally do this with two people. One observes the dog to ensure he's doing what's expected and clicks the second eye contact is gained and the handler MUST reward from the left hand the second the other person uses the clicker. The person doing the clicking gets to b
k the handler if they aren't fast enough with the reward. As you'll have food in your left hand, the side the dog is sat at, the dog will smell it and want to have a sniff. This training also teaches self control as he'll learn snuffling around at your left hand doesn't get the reward, eye contact does. As the dog learns, switch the clicker for a vocal command. Ours are all done in German as that's what's used at competitions, but you could say 'look', 'focus', whatever you want as long as you stick to it.Once this is mastered you can then add distractions such as noise, clapping etc. It takes a lot of time and patience, but my dog will walk to heel, maintain eye contact regardless of what's going on around him whether it's dogs jumping on him, shouting etc.
We also have a ball on a rope we play with at home,. Stand still (or you become the prey item and you'll find the dog jumps at you)) and pass the ball around you body so the dog runs around you desperately chasing it. Let him win a few times, but when his drive goes up and he REALLy wants the ball, go and put it away. When you go on a walk and you're getting closer to another dog, before yours get excited, get the ball out your pocket and place it under your left arm. If the dog has high enough drive, he'll find you and the ball more interesting than the other dog. If he gives direct eye contact, use your command and reward.
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