Bear and I started clicker training.

Yep we started yesterday.
He LOVES the clicker. He has always been focused on loud, clicking/beeping sounds but this clicker has stole his little heart.

We just started with sit and come. But he really caught on with it.

Does anyone have any advice on a beginner clicker or anything?
If so, I'd love to hear it. I have read the tons of threads here of c.t. but anything else yall have post here.

My sheltie loves the clicker When I get the clicker and treats from the cupboard, she's right under my feet and ready to learn.

The hardest part for me was clicking at the exact right moment. A couple of times I was a few seconds late. It's important to click at the moment Bear executes the behaviour you are looking for.

I trained Breezey to stand in a box and also to put her front paws on a phone book and move her back feet around the box.

I think I've read where some people have used a clicker to train their dog through the weave poles.

I click as soon as Bear does what I ask him.

This is how I am training come, but if its wrong someone tell me so I can correct it ASAP. (I will not continue training come with the click until I learn the right way to do it.)
I put Bear in a sit/stay or when we play I run from him and tell him come and when he reaches my foot I click/treat.

Please tell me if I am doing this right. He caught on VERY quickly with that method yesterday. He already knows come but not with the clicker, so I want to do it right.
TIA

My general rule is when in doubt click early, at least you rewarding your dog for starting the behaviour you want, its better to be early than late, especially when in doubt. There's a billion different ways to teach anything so as long as it's working and your dog is having fun then your deffiently on track

For future behaviours you teach try and develop the behaviour before adding a word to it, as in general dog tend to retain it better this way.

So for example lets say the next behaviour you want to teach is touch your nose to my hand or this hand held object ( whatever it may be). You could present your hand held target Click and than toss a treat (C/T) even for looking at it,present target again If he looks like hes moving towards it cool, you can wait a little bit longer and then C/T, until finally he's touching it with his nose. Once he's doing this reliably then just as he touches the target you can add a word ( maybe touch, or target, or nose or h*ll even watermelon would be fine) repeat 5-10 times as the behaviour occurs and slowly over a few more sessions start moving the word back from just as the behaviour occurs, to just before to a few seconds before.

Once you get here you can teach him to wait for the cue by only clicking and then treating when you give the cue, and letting un cued touches go unclicked.

Glad your are both having lots of fun with it Keep us updated or post pics of all of the fun new things he learns.

Kayla

Here's a method for off leash training with the clicker. I went out late at night to do this when the streets were quiet, choose your training ground carefully and make sure your dog understand the clicker/reward system first and is able to come on command.

The trick here is extending your dogs attention span. The problem with a lot of dogs off leash is that the world is a big exciting place and its so easy to get distracted. You're going to use the clicker to extend the focus of the dog by clicking the moment they start to stray.

Start by walking with the leash on. Give the command, "walk" or "walk nice" or whatever you want to use. Keep the leash short and every 10 yards click and treat, and repeat.

Now when the dog is walking while paying attention to you, watch your dog closely. The moment something (like a smell) distracts them, click the clicker. The dog will start focusing on you again which is the desired behavior, so you can reward your dog. Then do it again and again, hopefully keeping their attention a little longer each time. In this way they learn that the command "walk nice" means "walk beside me and pay attention to me".

Once this is mastered without a leash, you can move on to crossing the street and all the rules and patience required for that. Don't rush your dog though, let them earn your confidence in their behavior.

My dog really responded to this method. You could see in his eye that he understood what was going on and that he was proud to be able to do it and make me happy.

The only other point I'll mention is the need for a "halt" command. I use "stop" and my dog stop dead in his tracks. That's another post I guess, but you should work on that before any off leash training.

Thanks yall!

I don't know what other general clicker training advice I can give you, but I will tell you my trick with come: Call your dog, and as soon as he turns around and BEGINS to run to you, click. Like others have said, clicking early is much better than clicking late, because the dog thinks you're clicking the intention of the behavior, or even thinking about doing the behavior. So for recalls, as soon as he begins running to you, he has that intent, that's what you want to reward. Plus, as long as he knows what the clicker is, and you're not in TOO distracting of an environment, he will come to you to get the treat as soon as you click, so he will complete the behavior. And of course, you can still use verbal praise as he's running to you to keep him engaged.

Then if you want to add a sit or finish at the end of the recall, just treat that like a behavior chain - make sure that he knows both behaviors very well before putting them together, and click the last behavior.

Thanks LB.

Thanks adjort.