Got dog. Got clicker. Got treats. Help!

[Natch]

Ok, so I have a minor training glitch, having been very successful with various horses in the past with clicker training, it seems we are in danger of falling at the first hurdle here with Bracken, the wimpy black lab.

Got dog.
Got clicker.
Got all kinds of treats.

Step 1. get your dog used to the clicker noise equals a treat. Click clicker. Dog jumps out of skin, but is food orientated enough to be pleased to receive a treat. Repeat: dog jumps a bit further out of skin, and has to be tempted back for treat. Repeat until dog jumps further and further away from the clicker, and now no longer wants to come back to you for even the most tempting morsel, 'lest the scary clicker go off again.

um.... help? i'm not entirely sure how to proceed. Do I flood her with it until she realises it is not a LabradorEater, or click it randomly throughout the day (which seems to work and she isn't frit but I'm not sure if this is desentsitising her, or even if desensitising is the right thing to do or not?)

Do you think with a dog who can be so nervous and highly strung as her, its partly at least about picking the right moment? I had the clicker hidden in my pocket today, and she took great delight in having the odd carrot peeling treat and no notice of the noise At elevenses time she saw the clicker on the side and that was enough to illicit a self-imposed spooky jump and hairy race around the house Last night when I tried click = treat she would sniff it to begin with, but ended up refusing to look at it.

Don't want to do much more until I've had some advice, as don't want to do any more damage! I am sure that if she could get over this fear of the clicker, she would ace at being clicker trained - as far as I am concerned, she has an ideal food orientated, wants to please, will experiment to find out what you want attitude for it.

Over to you experts! pretty please!?

 

[Brownmare]

I'm not particularly into clicker training but if it's what you want to do why not start off with a voice marker instead and introduce the clicker later when she is more confident about the whole idea. Or if you really want to use the clicker you could use it to announce dinner time and nothing else for a few days.

Thinking about her reactions maybe she is feeling pressured by you in some way. Try putting a treat on the floor in front of you (and click as you put it down) while watching tv or something relaxing to chill out her responses.

 

[gunnergundog]

Some dogs can react to the sound of the clicker....so, why not use something else such as a retractable ballpoint pen? Or just click your tongue or snap your fingers??

One way I've used to 'charge the clicker' in the past is to smear some cream cheese on the back of my hand. Present back of hand to dog, dog licks and you click. Keep moving the hand around and repeating. Eventually when all the cheese has been licked off, you get the dog to nose touch the hand, click and then toss a treat to the floor. You then have the start of a visual recall cue, to which you can build distance and add verbal/whistle cues.

Good luck

 

[soloabe]

Abe was scared of the clicker when we first started buti had other dogs here using it so i had to get him use to it.
I spread some chicken all over the floor and just clicked clicked clicked as he ate it and i did this a few times then when he was over the sound i started with the loading the clicker again.