[JimmyHas]

Hey everybody, I'm starting to click train my 9month old female AMbully. Her name is Diamond, I thought I'd give you some resources that I found useful for training.

So.. get yourself some clickers - little toy-like devices that make a fun click sound. If you prefer (or while you are waiting for your clicker to arrive), choose a "bridge word" instead. I suggest "Yes!!" - it is short & happy! Say it briskly, in a rather high pitched, & very excited voice. I will be using the term C&T in the lessons, meaning to click & give a treat. If you are using a bridge word, just say it & give a treat whenever I have written C&T. I do recomend the clicker over just the word most of the time, however. It seems to be processed more quickly by the dog's brain and the consistency of the click sound is also good.

And don't worry - you won't be clicking forever... they are only used in the training phase of any new behavior!

Okay, go in a quiet room with your dog & have a bowl of really tasty treats. Food such as hot dogs, chicken, roast beef, etc. works really well, so do high quality (all natural) dog treats such as the Oinker Roll or Natural Balance. The treats should be cut up into very small pieces & be soft (crunchy ones take too long to eat). Or have a large chunk that you break small pieces off of.

Now, as long as your dog isn't doing anything naughty at the moment, click your clicker (or say your bridge word) and give him a treat. Then click it again & again give a treat. We are NOT asking for a behavior (such as sit) here at all... just making the connection needed for the clicker to be effective. (A few dogs are frightened by the click sound. If your dog is, then try muffling the sound by having the clicker behind your back or in a pocket, or by using a Snapple beverage top - pushing in the raised button in the center makes a softer click. The fear shouldn't last long! )

Repeat 5-10 times. You'll know when you can stop - you'll click & your dog will immediately look up at you, "There is that sound, so where is my treat?".

I'll give you a few minutes to go do this...

There! Wasn't that fun? Excellent job, trainers!

AN IMPORTANT NOTE! To really succeed with this method of training, it is essential that the bridge, whether it be a clicker or a word, ALWAYS be followed by a terrific reinforcement. It is usually referred to as "click and treat" for a reason. That is one danger of using the bridge word.... I found that I said "Yes" to my dog at times when I wasn't necessarily training & didn't follow through with a treat (or something equally rewarding for her).

Source-Greenwood Dog Training School

[casinoboneerer]

I thought people on here were against clicker training

[husartrof]

I thought people on here were against clicker training

Why

[casinoboneerer]

Because many of you said it was for lazy owners. Unless I read wrong

[husartrof]

Maybe? I haven't heard that before...but ok... - I clicker train...and it works...I don't know how that makes me lazy?...I suppose its all how you do it. I just use it because I'm not professionally trained and my reward timing sucks.

---------- Post added at 05:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 PM ----------

But, then again...I think I might be a fur mommy or whatever...So, I might not know what I'm talking about. It works and it doesn't hurt my dogs. Thats good enough for me.

[Slonopotam845]

I've never heard anyone say clicker training is for lazy owners..... Clicker training, or marker training, is nothing new. It's been around for a long time. Before clickers, people simply used their voices. For example, when I don't use a clicker, I use the word "yes" to mark a correct behavior. You don't want to use the word good, because good is usually used in praise rewards. You don't want your dog to associate the word 'good' with food, because that's the opposite of what you're doing.
There's also already a sticky on this forum explaining how to 'load' the clicker:
How to load the clicker - Training Behavior

[husartrof]

I was under the assumption that if you don't mark appropriately i.e. word choice varies,tone of voice varies, timing is varied, then clicker training is helpful as it is easily more consistent. Are we saying the same thing?

[Slonopotam845]

I was under the assumption that if you don't mark appropriately i.e. word choice varies,tone of voice varies, timing is varied, then clicker training is helpful as it is easily more consistent. Are we saying the same thing?

Pretty much that's the point of a clicker. People claim that a dog needs a consistent tone/marker to note the correct action and believe that a human's voice is variable and too inconsistent to be used as a marker.
To an extent I believe this to be true, in that you can't really go wrong with a clicker. But I don't believe that you have to use a clicker to get the desired results. I, for the most part, do not use a clicker, because I find it cumbersome. The only times I really use it are when I'm outside teaching 'leave it', where I need something louder than my voice to clearly mark the correct action.

[husartrof]

Agreed - But I am preeeetttttyyyy sure that you are more experienced than I meaning that if I could go wrong, I will...Enter clicker...

[Slonopotam845]

Thanks, but I have no formal training, just my own personal experience and the knowledge that's been bestowed upon me from a couple awesome trainers.
From my experience, whichever method you use should be the one you're most comfortable with. When you are comfortable, you can more easily convey your message to your dog and remain focused. And as always, keep it fun!

[husartrof]

Still jealous - we're 2 hours from any kind of reputable trainer as far as I know.

[Slonopotam845]

It might be worth the drive. The relationship I have with my current trainer is invaluable. She really goes the extra mile to help me out. I unfortunately can't take her winter class, but want to stay on course (novice OB training), so she's going to send me all the information on each class session, and I send her videos of our training sessions at home.
Needless to say, if you find a good one, it's very much well worth it.

[husartrof]

I don't want to hijack this thread - but i think I already did - apologies to op.

BUT, how do you know you've found a good trainer. I've got all the recommended books etc. I know NILF, and I know general OB stuff - clicker training etc. But, how do I know who to trust? Do you have a do and do nots list?

[Slonopotam845]

I'll pm you so we don't derail this further .

[husartrof]

[ChrisGoldstein]

I do clicker training with both my dogs. My lab is much more responsive to it but it does help my 'pit bull' catch on to things faster because I think I have better timing (along with consistancy of sound). I only use clicker training for 'pit bull' when Im doing sessions where I plan to teach him something new, Ill just continue using it the entire time as his refresher. My lab I tend to use it everytime Im having a training session with her because she is super stubborn and over all a bitch and she will just randomly decide shes done and stop working and using the clicker seems to help keep her motivated a little longer lol

[E4qC1qQ5]

I'm a hard core positive reinforcement trainer, I don't think there's a behaviour that cannot be trained with PR training. It's all in timing, shaping, and working with a variable reinforcement schedule. My 9 month old dane has been clicker trained since day one, and is very close to being competition ready. When I had my "pitbull" type foster pup last winter he had a rock solid obedience base by the time I found him a home at 15 weeks. I highly reccommend reading Dont Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor, or at least googling Karen Pryor Clicker Training.

[casinoboneerer]

Guess I got mixed up with shock collars

[freddystone]

Guess I got mixed up with shock collars

I look forward to learning more about clicker training as what I know now (not much to be fair) seems to lean towards it being a trainer aid rather than a training aid. I focus on visuals more than sound so I keep the dogs attention & use a whistle to get attention when required, which may work the same way as a clicker.
I do believe in the easier the better with all training.

[Slonopotam845]

A clicker isn't used to get attention. A clicker is simply a tool used to mark a correct behavior. Take sit for example. If I'm teaching sit with a clicker, as soon as the dog's butt hits the ground, click and treat. The click has to be very precise, as the instant the dog does the correct action it has to know THAT is the action you are asking of it. I can't think of any kind of training in which you don't mark a correct behavior. Some people say yes, some people say good, some people pat the dog on the head. Regardless of what you do, you are marking that singular behavior as the behavior that you want, and rewarding the dog for that behavior. The clicker simply makes this marker consistent and universal, allowing it to be easily transmittable to any training situation in which a new behavior is being learned.