Clicker Training Advice

[WoodRose]

We have had our rescue Springer for a few weeks and I have been doing some clicker training with him. I am a complete novice at it, but thanks to the advice of helpful MNers (esp. Minimu!) I have been doing watching & touching exercises as well as recall training. He loves it and takes no time at all to learn what he needs to do for the click and treat. Far quicker than my border collie!!

My question is should I be doing each exercise in a separate session or can I do a small amount of each exercise in each session?

Many thanks!

Some people advise one thing per session. But at training classes they usually mix.

I mix for my 13 week old puppy and we have no problems, I always start with stuff he knows, then have a middle bit of learning something new, then go back to familiar territory to end the session on a positive note.

Depends! Not a really helpful answer. However if you are doing things he knows you can mix them up in the session.

If you are starting a new behaviour I would do that first for a bit - see how the seesion goes if it is all positive I would stop with that. If he gets a bit confused and flat then throw in a few behaviours he knows really well to perk the dog up.

But generally new behaviours in one session but great to mix it up when they know the behaviours

eg sit, back, stand, watch me, touch,down in quick fire to keep the dog on his toes. They ususally love doing this

Many thanks! We have just had a very successful first "down" session. I think I will stick with mixing up the ones he knows to keep him on his toes!