Mimimu, i am a willing student to be taught all about clicker training, please be my teacher!

[morethanyoubargainfor]

Today i have strted to clicker train my loopy but lovely lurcher!

All i hvae done today is click and treat, no commands nothing just click and treat. Is that right? He started trying to take treat in hand and i just waited until he stopped and then clicked and treated. He then took it upoon himself to sit and wait fro the click and then the treat! the boy has manners .

I am planning on doing this for the next copule of days and then start introducding other stuff

He is very bright (unlike my other lad who i tried to click and treat and he just walked off after 30 seconds and went to sleep!) so i really want to use his brain, he is also a willing student and wants to please all the time.

Any help gratfully recieved.

ephiny - thanks for info. sorry i didnt mean i want him to stay for 5 minutes, i mistakenly used a turn of phrase online staying for 30 seconds would be good.
do you mean in the settle a dog can walk around or move where they are led, such as stretch and change position?

sorry meant minimu not ephiny.

The clicker Minimu provided a link for is the one I was talking about. It's quieter than, say, the ones you get from PAH and although the PAH ones are adjustable, the iClicker is a "nicer" click, for want of a better word.

I might give that quiet one a try to start with, thanks everyone for the info. He's not terrified of the one I've got but definitely a bit wary - he'll come and get his treat then back away looking at it suspiciously. Hopefully just needs a bit of time to get used to the concept, he's a bit worried by new things sometimes!

aww he sounds like a lovely, gentle dog

Yes he's a really sweet boy :), not really the typical 'fearless' Rottie though...

my friend's rottie was gorgeous too. she was so soft, she would let my little jack russell climb all over her and when play fighting my dog would actually go partly inside her mouth (very yuk to touch afterwards but very cute).
they had a system where my dog would jump on a chair, rottie would walk over, and then they were right height to kiss.
you can guess who was the boss - big scary looking rottie or cute tiny jack russell

Can i join in too?
I am just learning about clicker training. I have the clicker and i started last week by clicking everytime Patch (2 yr old JRT) looked at me and he seems to have the hang of click means treat so today i moved onto clicking when he sat. I am a bit wary of if i am doing it right or not.

How long should i be doing it for each day? And how can i tell for sure he has learnt sit? Not used command with it yet but he already knows sit on command.

My main target is to be able to get him to walk to heel. He is a nightmare on the lead! Especially barking and pulling when he sees other dogs.

Make sure you work on one new behaviour per session - it's different once you've put a command to the action and you're, say, doing a quick fire "Sit - down - sit - stand" sequence, but if it's a new thing you need to stick to one at a time.

If you're working on "sit", and he seems to have REALLY got the hang that "Sitting makes the click happen" then start to put the word a split second before his bum hits the floor. If you add the word too early, he may well think that the word "Sit" means "Stand and look at me", iyswim.

So you need the behaviour really reliable before you add the cue word.

Once you've got a reliable "You say sit, his bum hits the floor, you click and treat" every time, you can start to fade out the click and introduce a release word like "OK" before throwing the treat. So you don't need a clicker for "known" behaviours quite so much as for new ones. That said, I'll still get the clicker out from time to time to give my dog a refresher (maybe tidy up a retrieve, or tighten heelwork), and/or speed her up.

As for how long to do it for - it really depends on your dog. You don't want to go on so long that the dog gets bored, but the beauty of clicker training is that they tend to luuuuurve it so IME you can extend sessions for longer than you would using "traditional" training.

However, there is such a thing called "latent learning". You know sometimes if you're struggling to do/understand something (learn to skate/do something on the PC/whatever) and you go away and have a rest/do something else for a while, often when you come back to whatever you were doing it suddenly seems to "click"? That's latent learning. Often when you're teaching something new, they'll come back later/the next day and it seems like they've been thinking about it and make a sudden leap forward in progress. So lots of short sessions are often more effective than fewer, longer ones. Keep a tub of treats and the clicker on the worktop; it's amazing how much you can do while you're waiting for the kettle to boil

Thanks. I didn't realise i could do it more than once a day. Just tried sit again and he was very quick to sit down as soon as he saw the clicker and again after each treat .
Any top treat to use?

Whatever they like best!

If you're lucky, and have a pigdog, you can get away with using their normal kibble - just take it out of their usual ration so they don't get too wobbly. I've stopped feeding my dog out of a bowl at all - she only gets fed when she's training.

For special treats, dried liver (spread it and bake it til it's hard - you can sprinkle it with garlic powder/granules if you like) chopped into little bits: liver cake (stinks the house out but dogs love it): sardine cake (stinks slightly less than liver cake): little cubes of cheese: leftovers from the Sunday roast: a lick of Primula cheese: experiment and find out what your dog loves most. Some aren't bothered by liver but will jump through hoops for carrot!

And don't forget, if your dog loves to play, that's a huge reward and a great motivator.

That said, if you're teaching something new, it's easier to use food treats; you can get more repetitions in a 10 minute session if you're using tiny food treats rather than having to break off to play.

As a rule, I use food to teach, and toys for motivation/speed.

i use kibble with my dog when using clicker.
i found more high value treats - meat, cheese, etc - made him too excited as he is very keen on the clicker and gets excited just seeing it!
i have used cheese, meat, ball on a string at agility

I love dog training ask two dog trainers and never get the same answer

I never ever ever use kibble when clicker training. It has to be high value treats to make the dog work for it. I don't mind excited that is good and makes them think and want to work more.

Cheese, chicken, liver cake, tuna cake, dried liver, bits of meat etc.

this thread is great, its got me thinking. gorgeous jrt and i will have fun trying out the tips

Thanks so much for all contributions, great information here, encouraged me to have a go at using clicker to get my 6 month lab to walk to heel. Despite me following training class method (stand still if pulls, lots of praise and treats if walks a few steps to heel) he was getting more and more distracted, kept stopping and examining random leaves and trying to jump up at everyone who passed us. Took a bit of working out how to manage treats, lead and clicker (lead and clicker in left hand, give treats with right) I don't speak to him at all and it works brilliantly, pup is now completely focused and tail wagging for the whole 10-15 minute walk.

Can you give me tips on training to walk to heel please? Thinking of trying that next as doing well with sit just not sure how long to do each skill before starting a new one. Thanks.

I teach walking to heel with a clicker like this:-

I don't have the dog on lead.
Make sure you are in a secure place or garden.

Lure the dog into the heel position with yummy food. Have the food in your hand on the side you want the dog to walk, click and treat.

If you have a clicker trained dog you will find they stay pretty close to you. Every time they turn to look at you and are next to you click and treat. Only take one or two steps at the moment. Keep luring the dog with the food into the correct position and click and treat every second or so as you start to walk. The more rewards the better at this stage. DO not give a word command. When they are happy with this take your training out and about. When out on your walk lure the dog into the correct position and click and treat a few steps. Do this 7 or 8 different times a day and you will have a dog walking to heel in no time.
As they get better at it lengthen the time between the clicks and treats but randomly put in a few really quick click and treats as well.

Another way is to get the dog to touch your hand as a separate exercise click and treat when they know the touch command well you can lure them into the heel position with the touch command as the dog should follow your hand keep clicking and treating at regular intervals.

The touch command is great and looks impressive (I actually get the dogs to touch my little finger). If they are running around I can just lift my finger and they will come charging over to touch it without me saying a word.

I get quite scientific about my training so I will count up the number of successes to fails that I get. I want 97% success before I move on to a new skill.

I'm a complete novice, only been doing it for 4 days but am amazed at progress so can tell you what worked for us.
I hold lead in L hand and make sure its loose, also hold clicker with same hand. treat bag clipped to my middle, use right hand to give treat.
As soon as Bailey sees the clicker he sits in heel position but I had to wait when we first started, then click and treat.Day One I clicked and treated for just a few steps walking to heel, after 4 days have extended it to 15-20 steps. He still sometimes pulls sideways to stop and sniff something but soon comes back if I just stand still. He doesn't pull ahead at all now. I found it useful to time the clicking and treating to coincide with other dogs passing, groups of children etc to keep him focused. I try not to speak to him at all, not easy as I'm used to praising him all the time.

Thanks, thats great. Will give it a try. I like the idea of touch command.
I get so frustrated with him on walks because of the constant pulling combined with barking madly at other dogs. Otherwise he is a lovely little dog just had a bad start in life.

So i thought i would come and give an update, the loopy one LOVES the clicker, it is now his best friend! we do something everyday, so far we learnt to 'bow' really useful stuff . he loves to bow! He has also leanrt a silent recall, his recall has always been good but we have taught him now if we stop then he has to come back and wait with us. He is doing really weel.

Now i want to teach him that if he wants us to throw the ball for him again he needs to bring it back first! He is ball obsessed but once he has it he wants to just carry it until he is ready to chase it again, He just won't caome with 5ft of us if he has the ball, so he will drop it then we have to go get it. How do i teach him to bring the ball back? Ball play is my DH game of choice, but he is a softie and will go and pick up the ball where as i just walk away. DH then moans at me that "your bloody dog never brings the ball back, can you teach him to" so i told him we will teach The dog together so i know he is doing it right (dh that is not the dog) . Any help would be great, thanks.

Thats great morethan.
Still trying to get my dog to walk to heel! He was fine up and down the kitchen without lead but i tried in the garden and he was rubbish at it lol!

Bless him, he obviously like to do it in the kitchen. He will get there in the end, unless he is like my curly coated retriever who believes he is far too superior for all that clicker stuff .

I hope he does get the hang of it. Walks just leave me feeling cross with him because he is a pain! But I know it isn't his fault he wasn't taught as a pup. Poor thing went to one home then passed to another at about 10 mths old. Then we took him on in April last year. I will keep trying.

Tortoise, my lab was the same on the lead and with the clicker in the kitchen/garden scenario .

My clicker book recommends just going for a walk with the lead on and clicking/treating every time he is walking in the right position. If he pulls then stop walking, wait until he's back in the right position, click and treat then carry on.

I started following that last week and she is already walking on a loose lead for the majority of the time. She does need reminding every so often but the improvement has been huge.