Clicker Training. Any tips?

[SadKen]

I thought I'd try and tire out my younger German Shepherd. He is very energetic, and I want to try and tire him out mentally by doing something useful, since tiring him physically seems impossible.

I bought a clicker which came with a basic instruction book. It said to click then treat til he learns to associate the two. Well, it's day 3 and he still doesn't seem to have worked it out.

Big dog got it in three treats but I don't want to train him, he's quiet and trained already!

Little one is quite clever and got 'normal' training quickly. I therefore assume it's either standard to take this long, or I'm doing it wrong! Anyone got any tips? Even silly ones that I may be supposed to know?!

 

[Teaselmeg]

You may not be charging the clicker correctly, check out the Kikopup series of videos on Youtube, she is fab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw

 

[SadKen]

Nope, I wasn't charging it right! Will restart, thanks for the link!

 

[Chiffy]

Replying via a friend who is signed on........ kikopup is one of the best clicker trainers to learn from!
When charging the clicker as you said it is basically building an association between the sound of the clicker and the dog receiving a treat for each time you click....... then you need to have the dog learn that they can make you click to earn a treat. So once the dog hears a click and expects a treat you can then wait til they do something....anything.....like a sit, for example and click and treat. They might just turn their head and you click and treat for that, or lift a paw and click and treat for that. So they offer a behaviour and you click and treat. It is random to begin with.
Start with that and then you could try asking for a behaviour that you know they understand and click when they do it then treat. Eventually you can "capture" behaviours you want....... a dog may bark and you click in the moment they stop barking and treat....... you have captured the no-bark! Does that help atall?

 

[JillA]

Then once you have them offering a certain behaviour for the click/treat, you need to shape it into something you want, by moving to a random schedule of reinforcement. That means only click/treating the biggest and best offer - I find it really hard to do that and not to reward every offer. Look up shaping, and how to make a diagram of the steps you need to get from the basic offer to the behaviour you want.

 

[Houndman]

As has been said many times before by people, I always think you are best using your voice rather than a clicker. The dog interacts with you better personally and you don't need to remember to have the clicker with you constantly.

 

[Teaselmeg]

As has been said many times before by people, I always think you are best using your voice rather than a clicker. The dog interacts with you better personally and you don't need to remember to have the clicker with you constantly.

It is possible to say 'yes' or another word or make a clucking noise yourself, anything that marks the behaviour that you want is good.

 

[JillA]

The main difference is the clicker is always consistent - there are many many voice tones and ways to say Yes or Good, but if you can keep it consistent enough and not use it at any other time it works just as well. That is a big if though.......

 

[Burtyler]

The sound of the clicker is "heard" by a part of the brain quicker than words so it can be used to mark a behaviour more specifically. So it can be more effective in early stages of training. It is also quicker to use than saying a marker word(as our timing is not always great!), its consistent and easily identifiable by the dog.
Yes, we can and often do use our voices but as a training tool the clicker is very effective! You don't have to always carry a clicker as it should, ideally be used in the early stages of training a new behaviour then it can be phased out once the behaviour is learned.

 

[stargirl88]

Difference between voice and clicker is mostly down to the accuracy - clickers are better for advanced behaviours where you need precision. Otherwise you can get away with using a short sharp verbal word instead (I normally use either 'yip!' "yes" or "good" depending on what feels more natural for you to do).

Anyway - have fun! Clicker training is lots of fun your dog will love it