But her idea is that a click from a door, or a click from a lamp will get them confused with the clicker for training. Any thoughts on that?
One thing to be careful about is clicking the clicker by accident. Sometimes when you're holding it, it just goes off. LOL. Always, always give a treat following no matter what. Even if the dog is engaging in some behavior you don't want. Treat anyhow, otherwise you lose your prime and the meaning of the clicker. You can always go back later and fix that behavior which you just reinforced.
The only time I correct him is I see him in action
Aversive punishment has no place in training/teaching IMO. There are way too many side effects. It is not necessary in order for the dog to learn. If he is making mistakes, it means he doesn't understand yet...has not had enough of a history of reinforcements for going outside or he's not quite physically mature enough. So punishment makes no sense to him. It just makes you scary to him and not to be completely trusted. It's hard on your relationship.
Six months is not that old. It's really about average for this. My Dobe didn't get it reliable till he was about 10 months. He was a late bloomer. LOL. Other dogs I've had got onto it within a month or two and everything inbetween. So, they do vary a lot. When Lyric would have an accident, I was MAD! Mad at myself for not watching him closely enough. I corrected myself...gave myself a good talking to. LOL.
I'm starting to hijack my own thread LOL