How Many Of You Use The Clicker?

[Doberluv]

It's mostly the training methods based on the principle of operant conditioning which have the most effect. The clicker is great to get an even more precise marker of a particular behavior. Some people use a short, quick word. If I don't have my clicker on me, I'll use, "yes!" And then praise/treat. It's just that the sound of the clicker is very distinct and really differs from our voices which they hear all day long. So, as a communication or as a way to mark a behavior out to the dog, the clicker is very clear. You can do both.

Of course, hand signals are great and IMO necessary also. And they're easy because 9 times out of 10, you're using them without realizing it when you show the dog or lure the dog with a treat and that just becomes the hand signal automatically. Like with sit or down. I just invented a new one for Lyric with his new trick to bow. I swing my arm down like I'm bowing...LOL and have my palm facing up. I'll get it more subtle later.

[Coco Puff]

LOL@ bowing.

I do say the "yes" ....well most times sometimes I forget and good boy comes out first. i'm gonna get the hang of this.

[Doberluv]

Yes, and how I started with that was when he streched on his own, I'd praise him and then added the word, "bow." Then I used a treat and lured him into that position to hurry things along. It's so neat how spontaneous training works. I love it. I'm working on "sneeze." He tends to sneeze quite a bit, sometimes a few times in a row. So, whenever he happens to sneeze, I say, "sneeze." And make a fuss. Eventually, he'll probably attempt to make somewhat of a sneeze, albeit fake, when I say the word, "sneeze."

Jose talks. I mean, he makes the weirdest vocalizations; long drawn out "ooooooo woooo" up and down the scale with a little "huff huff" inbetween and a little funny growly sound. It's when he's trying to get my attention. It's so cute, so of course, he gets my attention. So now, lately, when he's doing this, I've been saying in a squeeky voice, "talk to me." I'll pair those words up with his funny noises and some day he'll do that on command. I can usually get him going too if I do those same sounds like he does.

It's how I taught Chulita to high five. She'd paw at me just because...and I gave her the words, "high five" while she was doing it. And praised and treated when I had some treats on me. It wasn't a very good high five so after a bit, I stopped rewarding and then she would raise her paw up higher and better, then get rewarded and so on. I'd get her to do it by playing with her, not by giving the command until she had associated the word with the action. If you just say the word and they don't know what it means yet, they fail. And so the word doesn't mean anything to them. So get the behavior going first by some other means before you add a command word.

It's too cute how they can learn stuff.

[Saje]

have you been to this site?

www.clickerlessons.com

It's a good place to start.

[Coco Puff]

Doberluv I bet your dogs are just the cutest!

Thanks for the site Saje