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Clicker training tips please

10 replies

Chevvi · 21/10/2023 06:29

Hello, thanks for reading.
I have a 6 month old I’d like some advice on please. He is lovely and very friendly. His training is coming on well as in he has picked up all of the commands and knows what I want him to do, and almost all of the time he will do it.
i have met up with a few friends with dogs and when he has been off lead with them he plays well (on private land)
I always keep him on the lead when I’m out walking him as I’m not 100% on his recall yet. My issue is that he will lunge and bark at other dogs when he is on the lead. If I can get his attention with a treat and snap him out of his ‘focus’ I can usually get him to sit quietly and ignore them.
I need something to get his attention back to me quickly so was thinking clicker training. I have bought one yesterday and have got as far as teaching him that a click means a treat is coming.
If anyone has done clicker training do you think this is a good thing to try for my problem?
Any tips will be welcome. Thank you!

OP posts:
Donotshushme · 21/10/2023 07:03

Yes you can train anything as long as the dog really understands what the clicker is for. So i would suggest don't take the clicker out with you until you've done lots of short sharp clicker sessions at home. You need to be absolutely spot on with your timing and if you click by accident at the wrong time, you MUST treat every click otherwise the dog loses trust that the clicker means he did something right - if you clicked the wrong behaviour that's your fault! If you don't treat, he will lose the conditioning for the clicker.

To begin with, don't expect the full behaviour when you start with the clicker. If you are trying to teach recall, for example, you wouldn't wait till the dog has fully come and sit by you to click and treat if he was brand new to it. You'll be using the clicker to shape his behaviour .

I would wait till my dog was doing something, like sniffing in the garden. (I wouldn't try this to start with, when he was really engrossed in something. Wait till he's just bimbling around.) Call his name, if he comes right to me then great - click and treat. If he doesn't come to me, but he turns his head to look at me, i would click. If he takes a step towards me, click. If the first time he comes to me, but the second time he just looks at me, both instances get a click. You have to click in that instant that he begins to show the behaviour you want - in this case your dog listening to you. Most dogs will be curious about what you are shouting his name for.

Build him up by training him at home over a period of days before taking the clicker on the walk. When i got my dog I would have a clicker and a little stash of treats in each room so i could do little 2-3 minute training sessions wherever we were in the house, just training all sorts of tricks etc - my dog got a rock solid understanding of the clicker and i got plenty of practise with my timing. You need him to learn that a click means he did something right and he's going to be rewarded, without distractions. You also need to be confident that you know exactly how to use it.

I'm not sure what your intentions are when you do take the clicker out but i think if your dog has a tendency to lunge and bark at other dogs, trying to get him to sit and watch you while the object of his desire is walking by is already setting him up to fail. I looked after a relatives dog with this problem and they were doing the sit quietly thing with no success. You're asking a lot of a dog in that scenario - he needs to ignore the other dog, sit down on a cold wet floor, and watch you but you're not as interesting as the other dog. give him another option.

What i did was teach at home, a "follow my finger" command - i had already taught the dog to come to me, and i taught him to touch my finger with his nose. so i started to walk, and asked the dog to touch my finger while i was walking along (in the house) using the clicker to condition him at each step of course. When he got it in the house, we tried it in the garden where there's more distractions. i added in the command "follow" and he learned that if i put my finger out and said follow, that meant i wanted him walking nicely alongside me with his nose close to my hand. When he got it in the house, i took him for walks when i felt it was unlikely we would see another dog, and we practised it out and about. I would practise a new skill at the end of the walk when he was a bit more settled and ready to learn. i made sure i had some cheese cubes, a VERY high value, rare treat for this dog, and the first time we saw a dog he wanted to bark at, i had already seen the dog before he did, and made sure he was on the opposite side of my body to the other dog. I would move to the other side of the road if necessary. Set your dog up for success!

Rather than make him sit and wait, and prolong the situation, i put my hand out and asked him to follow, moving briskly past the other dog. When he saw the other dog, and went to bark/lunge, i asked him to "follow" again, keeping my hand outstretched near his face to make it easy for him. I clicked and treated for him doing follow. It was our 2nd or 3rd dog when he was not at all interested in it, and just walked past nicely with his attention all on me. If he makes a mistake and he ignores you and barks and lunges anyway, it's no big deal - either his conditioning to the clicker isn't strong enough, your timing wasnt right, the treats weren't high value enough or you haven't done enough work at home. Every single walk is another learning opportunity. Just stay calm, move him past that dog, and then ask him to follow again, click and treat if he gets it right.

Clicker training is amazing fun, I've even trained cats with a clicker but you need to make sure you understand what its for and how to use it to get the best out of it. Hope this helps :)

IngGenius · 21/10/2023 08:17

Dead easy to use the clicker on reactivity to other dogs

Initially be a good distance away from the other dogs where your dog is not reacting but can see the dogs.

When your dog looks at the other dog Click your dog will turn to you and your give a treat.

You are aiming for you dog to feel about other dogs , "good things happen when I see a dog and also for your dog to turn to you when they see the dog which usually stops the lunging and barking. win win

Dont click when you see the dog it has to be when your dog is looking at the dog. If is fine to click if your dog has reacted but do move away so the dog is calmer

if you click you must feed even if your timing was incorrect.

Controlled Unleased is a good book to help with this

tabulahrasa · 21/10/2023 09:24

The clicker is usually used to indicate that the dog has done something you want it to... not to divert attention though.

So yes, you can use a clicker to work on his on lead behaviour with dogs, but not the way you’re thinking of.

Lougle · 21/10/2023 09:32

Yes, clicker training is great. But you can't use the clicker to get his attention. You need to get his attention, then click and treat. That will encourage more attention giving behaviour, which will be the thing that diverts him from the other distractions.

muchalover · 21/10/2023 09:33

Puppy training classes.

Tiered treat system so best treats for new or challenging stuff, less tasty for stuff they know well.

Prioritise the recall. I always start the recall sitting in front of me. That's the position I want. I teach it at home first, in the living room. Then outside in familiar areas, then unfamiliar.

Distraction is powerful. Sit on a bench where lots of dogs pass, distract and reward.

Teach the settle.

Tubes of cheese are a great treat that you can use to reward longer. Tiny licks for longer focus. I used it to teach the heel position and have never asked my dog to heel, she just knows good things happen when she is in position.

Ylvamoon · 21/10/2023 14:43

Only do Clicker Training if you are very experienced in dog/ animal training.
It's a positive reinforcement training method, so your dog does something right (eg sit) you reward with a click.

With clicker training, y need to ignore all unwanted behaviour

In your situation, I would take the dog to professional training class and use treats to get his attention back to you.

Chevvi · 22/10/2023 05:58

Thanks so much for all of the info. I’m glad I posted as I was clearly about to do it all wrong.
I did go to puppy classes and he’s doing everything he was taught. It’s just the barking at dogs on a lead that’s a problem. It didn’t happen in classes, it’s only when we are out and he’s on the lead.
I will try the great tip of following my finger. It makes sense now that I need to give him an instruction to follow and then reward him for doing it. I just wanted something that will get his attention back to me when he has fixated on an approaching dog.
he’s the cleverest boy and is doing brilliantly with everything I have taught him. I just don’t want this barking to become an ingrained behaviour. Thanks again for the tips

OP posts:
Donotshushme · 22/10/2023 06:29

It's all a learning curve, don't worry! If you make mistakes, you may just need to go back a step or two and take things slower for your dogs sake. He sounds like a fab dog, you'll both get there! All of the time you spend clicker training will help your bond with him. I clicker trained my dog like mad when i got him and now I can clicker train him to do pretty much anything in just a few short sessions because he sees the clicker and he's ready to learn.

You don't need to be experienced in animal training to do clicker training. If you put in the work, it's a great way for a novice dog owner to train their dog. A clicker is great because it marks the exact behaviour. For example, if you ask your dog to do something and you say good boy, or yes, or just give a treat or something to mark the behaviour, you may say something different, or say it differently each time. The dog may get confused about what exactly you're praising him for. If someone else trains the dog, they may do it differently. The clicker sounds the same every time and dogs like consistency. You were almost there with using the clicker to get the dogs attention - except you want him to pay attention to your verbal command, and then click to mark when he pays attention to you.

Good luck and have fun 😊

Donotshushme · 22/10/2023 06:33

Chevvi · 22/10/2023 05:58

Thanks so much for all of the info. I’m glad I posted as I was clearly about to do it all wrong.
I did go to puppy classes and he’s doing everything he was taught. It’s just the barking at dogs on a lead that’s a problem. It didn’t happen in classes, it’s only when we are out and he’s on the lead.
I will try the great tip of following my finger. It makes sense now that I need to give him an instruction to follow and then reward him for doing it. I just wanted something that will get his attention back to me when he has fixated on an approaching dog.
he’s the cleverest boy and is doing brilliantly with everything I have taught him. I just don’t want this barking to become an ingrained behaviour. Thanks again for the tips

If he already knows lots of stuff from the puppy class, then introducing the clicker when you ask him to do that stuff will be a great way to quickly build his understanding of the clicker - if he knows how to sit/lie down etc and will do it reliably, then do a few sessions of running through the stuff he knows and click and treat when he does the things he already knows how to do - he will learn the clicker in no time.

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