Clicker Training

[pittiegurl]

Here is a website that is very helpful in getting started.It's long & sometimes hard to understand,but don't give up!!! Good Luck clicker training is so much fun.

http://www.clickerlessons.com/lessons.html

[Moo]

I posted about clicking here
http://www.prodoggroomingsupplies.co...ead.php?t=2682
But I'm Copying and pasting here, this is exactly what I wrote before.... Summarized, added titles. LOL



The Clicker
A clicker is exactly as its name says. An object, that clicks.


I use the clicker, and Kirby loyally responds to it. Works best for noise-respondant animals. I also trained my guinea pig with it. Basically, it's for training tricks, without having to teach them. The Clicker is mainly for delayed praise, when you cannot treat and the dog will know exactly which behavior is being praised.

"Charging" the Clicker (Getting Associated)

You 'charge the clicker' - Click and Treat, Click and Treat, Click and Treat, Click and Treat. When you click, you always treat. For things like 'sit' you would click exactly when the bum touches the ground, and then give a treat.
You just click and treat, over and over a few times. (5-10). Then start with basics that she already knows using the click. Work on from there.

Dog then knows click = treat. The click is to denote the exact timing of the correct behavior. Timing is everything, without the right timing, you are better off just treating. You want to catch dog doing things on his own will. For example. if you wanted to train dog to put two paws on the chair, you would put a chair there, and click exactly when paws touch it. Treat. If he gets right up on top of the chair, if you clicked when the two paws were on the chair, before he got up on top if it, you have established that the two paws are good. Eventually, dog will figure out that two paws are good, and he will do it over and over to get clicked and treated. Then you plug in your vocal command/hand signal, and only click when the behavior is preformed on your command.

It's also good for behavioral problems, for example excessive barking. Instead of scolding barking, you distract and click for silence.

Timing is everything
For teaching jumps, if you were to try to clicker train jumps, you would click when your dog is at the peak of the jump. Not before, not after, right at the top. Then treat once the jump is completed. If your dog already knows jump, it's a good command to help get associated with the clicker. You would want to click as soon as the bum hits the ground on sit.

"Catching" Tricks
Carry a clicker and some treats around with you in your pockets. Try to 'catch' things that you would want to teach your dog as a trick. For example, if you wanted her to 'spin' and you saw her chasing her tail, you would click, treat and say "Good SPIN" emphasise the word that you would use as the command word. Try to lure her to do it again, Click, "Good SPIN". Then try to tell her to "Spin".

Clicking and aggression:
This particularly worked for me, after working out dominance issues, we were already clicking away and Kirby had finally slipped into the heirarchy right underneath me. Then he developed some child aggression. I was bothered, especially because I knewit was my fault. My tendency to speak loudly to my brothers (they never hear the first time) and yell and them. So guess who thought it was appropriate to growl at the kids when they touched him.... I pounced on this issue with the clicker. (Well, first I had to stop yelling at kids ). I had a system. 10 minutes every day, I took a pile of treats and the clicker and tied Kirby (to something stationary, he can pull tables) to a closed door. Boys touch dog, dog growls. Reinforcing 'quiet'. As soon as there's silence for a couple seconds, my cue to click, kid's cue to feed a treat. It worked, the progress was visible from day to day.

Contact training
(Often a good lead up to dog sports training)
Put a target in your hand. (a relatively flat container lid). Click exactly when dog touches it with his nose. (Wait it out, it will happen eventually). Treat. Do that a bunch of times, he will figure out, touching it with nose = good thing. Put the contact on the ground. Click for nose contact, NOT FOOT CONTACT. If dog picks it up, click before he picks it up. Then plug a command into it, and click only on command.