Clicker Training

Hi

Never really been a fan of clicker training but am contemplating training Alice using this, how useful is it in agility?

Ann - does CSJ sell clickers?

Dawn

Ello Madear
Happy Xmas and all that!!

No CSJ dont do clickers....
We did look into it at some time I seem to remember, but they can be bought so cheapy
I have loads here I can lend you one if I see you sometime ...Mary Ray sells them thats where I usually get mine,
I think the thing with clicker training is that it doesnt need to be complicated!
Many people seem to get so much into the learning theory with clicker work that it becomes a science ....that precludes alot of people from giving it a go which is a shame! The psychobabble that comes with it isnt really necessary, and all you need to know is that its a marker...just the same as saying 'yes' to a dog for getting something right...but we still have to be predictable in that we always reward the dog after marking the right behaviour, so to me it kind of gets us into a good habbit for training of being consistent with rewards etc.

All my young dogs are made clicker aware because then its a training tool you can bring in at any time if you need to....I like to use emotion when marking the correct behaviour so find a clicker a bit clinical in that respect.... but I know many pure ists would consider that that may be confusing as a response.

Its great for building behavour and teaching tricks which is a good way of the dog learning how to 'work' and focus on the task ....

You know me dawn, its play every time although I do still sometimes use a clicker to teach something static and still use the tug as a reward.... I dont use it much for agility training though....although it comes out when proofing startline position etc

Its very addictive from a handler pov as the dogs learn so quickly! Its great fun!!

Ann
x

Happy New Year to you all, hope you got some lovely pressies....no new little french pup???

Need to keep it simple for me cant cope with complicated training antics!! Will give it a go then as she is quick to respond and keen to learn ..... is it easy to teach an old dog new tricks ie Lacey??

Dawn x

Sol has been clicker trained since he was a pup. He is desperate to please and hates to get things wrong and used to get very worried if I tried something new, he would rather not try at all than risk it being wrong, am I making sense? He loves his clicker as it lets him know without any doubt that he is right. The timing of the click is more important than the reward, the click tells them they are right and that something good is coming although obviously you can't leave it 10 minutes after an exercise to reward them:lol: I used it to train his left and right commands and they are pretty good to say the least. I also used a clicker to train his contacts. They have been done with a nose touch on a target, no stop command, just a release. I originally tried to train them using a clicker, toy and a stop command but he kept worrying so I dropped that. I trained his tyre with a clicker and have never had any problems with him ducking them even as a first obstacle. I think there is a weave method that uses a clicker, not sure as I haven't used it but I vaguely remember something about starting with two poles and building up to 12? I am currently working on his startline wait with the clicker. He did have a wait but as he got more confident he lost it as so many dogs do and because of his tendency to worry when things go wrong I let it slide. I would rather have the confidence and sort the wait out later and he is getting better, I have been told to scrap his runs if he doesn't wait but again if I do that means he is wrong....... I am also working on convincing him that being wrong isn't the end of the world, bless him, he does try so hard

I started training the other two at the same time as Sol so Deef was 4 and Kel 3 1/2. Kel is obsessed with the clicker, if I pick it up he immediately comes and sits in front of me staring and if I ignore him he will do his repetoire in order to get the required response from me. I had to retire him from full height 3 years ago and this year finally got my own equipment so have started training him more on contacts and have been using the same method as I did with sol and he loves it, his targeting is better than sol's I think! Deef on the other hand is a different matter...... He is better with the clicker away from the equipment. When he is training he is more toy orientated. He has got better and even targets on the contacts provided I use the right combination of motivation and reward which at the moment is hot dogs (reward) and his target is the largest in the world.... a rubber frisby!(motivation). Deef has always been a hard dog as he is very strong willed and I have always had to find the right combination in order to get him to do more than half a job, my trainer did say that if he hadn't seen what he was like he would never have believed me. I like him the way he is so have adapted to get the best out of him, he busts a gut every time I ask him to do anything for me so I guess the compromise has worked.

Some dogs aren't clicker responsive, some don't like the noise and some owners don't do it properly and then claim it doesn't work...... You still have to be consistent in your approach. With the contacts I require them to actually touch the target with their nose, not their foot or their tongue and bobbing their head also gets them nowhere. I have seen people reward their dogs for just thinking about performing the required behaviour whatever that may be and then of course the dog doesn't learn to do it properly. I have also spoken to some that have gone the other way and used a clicker for everything such as getting the dog off the furniture which just seems daft.

Dawn, as you have never been a fan I am curious to know what changed your mind? I was never that interested either but with sol being such a worrier I thought it might help and like Anne says it is addictive and great fun!

I need to try and focus Alice a bit more she tends to be a little flighty and loses concentration quickly and whilst she enjoys a tug she is not into fetching a toy, a bit like Billie a previous dog of mine who would just run to it and lie down in front of it, I just wondered if a clicker would be a different type of reward or even in addition to the toy, as I would still like her to go to a toy?

Its good to hear from other people about clicker training, I was also unsure about how you progress from training into the ring?! never having seen a dog being trained using a clicker.


Dawn