This clicker training stuff is...

[Horsefeathers!]

Da bomb!

I haven't begun training with Fifty yet, but I have been doing the click/treat thing. Boy, do they catch on fast! My Schnauzer (Simon) was outside when I first began clicking this afternoon and freaked and backed away (this is a pretty loud clicker, so I've been cupping it in my hand to muffle it). All it took was a couple of click/treats and he was virtually climbing up my leg. Just that fast! If I click now, ALL my dogs come running, all eyes on me. It certainly is an effective attention getter and it didn't take but a minute for them to catch on that click=treat.

I did take Perry and Pauly outside today to just diddle around with it. They were SO intent on me. Perry is a very reliable dog and I think he would do just about anything I asked of him, but Pauly is easily distracted and will happily trot off after the first squirrel, truck, falling pine cone, or whatever he sees and conveniently forgets his name at the same time. Not with this clicker! I click, he looks at me, treat... nearly all in one move. I think I'm going to begin working with Pauly more and am just about ready to begin some one on one with Fifty, who is the absolute image of distraction ("hey, what's that over.... ooooooooohhhhh, a stick...! say, is that another dog?? oh my, look! a.... whoa! is that....? wait! let's go check out.... oooohhhhhh, lookie over THERE!!").

I am so optimistic about this just from the reactions of my old hardheads around here. I absolutely cannot wait to learn more about this and get more involved. I just can't describe how excited I am!

[TDG]

it's awesome, isn't it?

my current dog is the first one i ever trained with a clicker - in fact until about 3 years ago, i hadn't even heard about this method at all and all the training i did in the previous 20+ years was pretty much traditional "old school" stuff.

when i first started using the clicker, i felt just as you do right now - absolutely amazed and excited about how simple and effective it makes communication between humans and dogs, and how easily it is phased out once you have trained a behavior to be performed reliably.

my dog is a very high-energy guy and as a puppy had the attention span of a mosquito - he even forgot to finish his meals when something more interesting happened to distract him. his willingness to work, regardless if on silly little tricks or serious exercises, is so amazing and he will sit at attention the very second i pull out the clicker, no matter what else is going on.

one tip tho: do not use the sound of the clicker to simply get your dog's attention or to call them to you. that way you are going to decrease the effectivity of the click as a marker signal for "what you did JUST before you heard the click was what gets you the treat".

the one and only function of the clicking sound is to mark the moment where the dog did something you want to reinforce. also, whenever you click, you ALWAYS have to treat. do not attempt to fade out the food treat by clicking and not delivering, or the same thing as above is going to happen. you can fade out the clicker by not always clicking a behavior once it's reliable, but instead going to a variable schedule of clicking after a behavior has been performed well the 3rd, 5th, 9th, 14th, 19th etc. time - keep your dog guessing which time he will earn a click.

this page has some good tips & tricks too.

[Horsefeathers!]

[quote name='TDG']one tip tho: do not use the sound of the clicker to simply get your dog's attention or to call them to you. that way you are going to decrease the effectivity of the click as a marker signal for "what you did JUST before you heard the click was what gets you the treat".

this page has some good tips & tricks too.

Thanks! I bookmarked the link.

I may have gone a bit clicker happy yesterday because I was so excited that they responded so well to it. Ah well, I'm learning as well as they are. I'm just so amazed at the response. I'll try to curb my clicker enthusiasm.

I was even walking through the store last night with it in my hand just click click click clicking away. It's a great people attention getter, too, but they seemed more annoyed than eager to see what I had in my hand. :oops:

[Carolk9s]

I was even walking through the store last night with it in my hand just click click click clicking away. It's a great people attention getter, too, but they seemed more annoyed than eager to see what I had in my hand. :oops:

Did you forget the people treats? Chocolate brownie bits work for me! :lol:

Both of my girls responded VERY well to the clicker, I trained Candy to do her weave poles using a clicker. Jesse, on the other hand, is a sound sensitive guy and HATES the clicker.
TDG made a good point about ALWAYS treating when you click, the click is a 'promise to pay' as I was told.