Clicker training question

[sebastianthesingingaubergine]

I was going to start using this with Mabel for a few things I am struggling with. Nipping/chewing, getting off the sofa etc, as well as a few things the kids can teach her for fun and to get them involved.
So far I have just used just treats as positive reinforcement. Is it ok to use both together? To not use the clicker for everything? We are going to puppy training too, and clickers are not used there, so I would rather stick to the trainers methods when it comes to loose lead walking and the like. Or will that confuse the dog?

Ta.

The clicker is a marker that shows that a reward is coming. Every time you use the clicker a reward should follow within 3 seconds. The clicker is used to 'capture' the desired behaviour but a reward MUST follow.

I don't always have my clicker to hand. When I don't I use 'yesss' as a marker and again, reward within 3 seconds.

I taught my dog LLW without one and also his basic commands before I got into clicker training. The goal with using it is to eventually phase it out once a new behaviour is solidly learnt.

Thank you.

I have high hopes for it! I once taught my horse a few things with clicker training, she caught on pretty quickly so hope the puppy does too:)

You will find yourself in your puppy training class thinking "this would be much easier if I were using the clicker"

The dog will not mind but will understand what they are required to do much quicker if you do use the clicker.

Have fun but it is very addictive

When teaching the dog to get off the sofa with a clicker you need to think of the behaviour you want and reward that behaviour more.

Totally agree with idirdog. The mouthing needs to be dealt with by distraction, give your pup something to rag on or chew before attack mode happens!

Ta:)

I've been reading some blurb on teaching soft mouth etc. She certainly needs to learn that one The mouthing is getting harder obviously as she grows, and I feel we aren't making any progress. (She is just off 16 weeks, rescued her at nearly 13 weeks).

So sofa, should I click and reward just when she is sat quietly at my feet? Not often, but does happen. Mainly it is leaping on the sofa and onto the kids, so I have been trying to distract her off with a chew/toy and then rewarding her. It always confuses me a bit whether I am rewarding her for being on the sofa in the first place. ie I am on the sofa, ooh look a toy! , I'll get on the sofa again to get another toy!

No?

Right, decided to start with soft mouthing. I have been clicking and treating today to teach her that click = treat. So tonight, started by holding fist in front of her face, click and treat for just nose bumping, removed hand whenever she used her teeth. So far so good. She then gets really over the top about there being treats and she climbs all over me, on the sofa, on my knee, just desperation to get to the food! I picked her up and put her in the kitchen with a chew, to stop the game as such.

She did this at training yesterday, got so excited about the treats that she is just jumping up all the time and forgetting herself. Obviously she is fed, and gets treats all the time in an effort to positive reward. Do you think you can over do it with the treating?!

One vital step is to teach her what to do to replace the behaviour you don't want. She has to learn some rules around the clicker and treats, if her attention is on how to get the food out of your hand half her learning time is wasted. This is the first part of giving them the tools to succeed and actively shaping behaviour, learning how to lead them to a desired result rather than make them rely on guesswork. It is more successful to lead to a point of limited choices and set them up for achieving the thing you want.
Rather than remove her when she starts mugging you you have to show her what works, this is key to building attention on you not the chicken- she will try all the physical ways she knows how to get what she wants - for you to open your hand/get in the treat pouch - make sure that doesn't work (don't worry about the mouthing lesson for now), your hand stays still and closed, at some point she will have to stop and think or even step back to have another go - click, treat.
She will try all the moves again, including the new one whether she means to or not. Ignore the others, reinforce what you want, build on the space between you and sitting/standing. Generalise the behaviour - move your hand/pouch and repeat, dogs don't generalise well by themselves so if you only have your hand in one place - she waits when you repeat that but mugs you if you put your hand on the floor for example.
She will be looking at your hand the whole time probably. But from here you can encourage and reward eye contact and increase attention span, you have shown her what to do - be calm, be stood/sat back and look at you - instead of removing her from temptation and so only giving her the tools she currently has (mugging you) you have given her a behaviour that works to get what she wants.
Try to grab the treats, ignore me = no result, look at me and ignore the treats = reward.

Going straight into only training new behaviour without this step means you have a dog that is paying close attention to your hand if they can't reach it and is trying to get into it if they can, that is a dog not paying enough attention to you and is also a dog that is not much fun to lure or treat.
They want the treat, you are the giver of treats so it makes sense to listen to you not the siren call of livercake .
Hopefully this makes a tiny bit of sense - I'm on my second jar of coffee with a houseful of poorly dc and have forgotten what sleep is.
Hopefully someone sensible can explain correctly.

That is brilliant Bursar, thankyou.

We have a lot of work to do, I am determined to have a beautifully behaved dog! We have worked on eye contact at training, and she totally gets it. I just forgot all of that doing the clicking last night:) Also when she lost herself at training I was struggling even to get eye contact with her, so now you say it, it makes perfect sense that this is definitely key to get her to listen.

Thankyou again, I will keep at it.