Clicker Training

[Huskylover777]

Anyone heard of clicker training? it's real dog training, done with a clicker and treats. it's great for dogs like the American Eskimo, Chihuahua, Yorkshire Terrier, and many other dogs!

[imported_Kat]

Its known worldwide but i prefer to use my voice. In my experience from teaching classes, handlers don't enforce the clicker very well. Also in the lower classes for obedience you can't carry a clicker into the ring with you, but you are allowed to use your voice therefore I see it as an overall better option. Most Champ handlers that I know have trained using their voice as means of motivation.

[ObedienceGrrl]

I'm with Kat on this one. I use my voice as a marker.

Yes
Good
Right

Same thing.

[imported_nea]

I clicker train some. I love it! It makes teaching new things and fine tuneing things much easier. I think the click is a much better marker than my voice in the beginning, because it is so much more distinct. I've used the clicker some with getting Web to not go nuts when we see other dogs. In that situation he would be more or less blocked to my voice but the click was able to penetrate his facination with the other dog. Also its much easier to add a click after saying something. For example, if I say "Web!" and want to reward him for looking at me, a "Web!" click is easier than "Web", "good". Once he knows the thing, I stop using the clicker and reward in other ways, except for if I want to get him to do something more exactly or slighly better.

[ShatteringGlass]

Just found this interesting article about clicker training a show dog. I also read in Dogs In Review magazine, how the inventor of clicker training sees how traditional show handlers are doing everything wrong. It was a great article/interview and he made some really great points.

here's the article (not from Dogs In Review)
[url]http://nipissingkennelclub.com/showtrain1.htm[/url]

[quote name='Kat']Also in the lower classes for obedience you can't carry a clicker into the ring with you, but you are allowed to use your voice therefore I see it as an overall better option. Most Champ handlers that I know have trained using their voice as means of motivation.[/quote]

In the Dogs In Review interview, he spoke of the misconception that if you clicker train your dog, you have to use the clicker in the ring. He said that its not true, the clicker is a conditioning tool, not ment to be used continually, once the dog understands what it gets rewarded for and does it right, you no longer have to use the clicker.

[imported_Kat]

very interesting article. thanks for posting it :wink:

[ShatteringGlass]

[quote name='Kat']very interesting article. thanks for posting it :wink:[/quote]

No problem :wink: I never really saw the point to clicker training before, but recently I've been researching it, and I understand it much better now, I'm thinking of trying it on Sydney to see how she does with it.

[Guest Anonymous]

I use clicker and my dog enjoys it. We had have a few problems (passing other dogs) but when I started to "shape" my dog with a clicker in those situations it doesn't behave badly anymore. It also does obedience movements better and it concentrates better than before. I like to use clicker and it's been very helpful to us.