Clicker training?

[stavrast]

I want to buy a clicker for my boy's training. Do they work as well as I have read they do? Of course, it's all up to the trainer...But do they work well, more or less?

[Sansano]

Try the archives. Lots of GREAT discussions.

[Laura]

I'm am no expert but I think that it is not a matter of working better, it's just another tool to use when training. I use it when I am doing distance work so she knows a treat is coming when I can't get to her quickly. I'm sure someone will give you better info on the subject.

[DNeff]

I find clicker training very helpful. It tends to help clear up what you are rewarding the dog for and allows you to train new behaviors very quickly.

It also works very well in isolating a small part of larger behavior that you would like to reinforce seperately.

I love using a clicker, especially now that we are in utility. Which involves lots of complex behavior chains. I recommend them to everyone at any level of training or competition.

Dawn + Osa
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[Rott-Wiley]

I feel the same as Dawn about clicker training. The clicker is an excellent way to mark a behavior and communicate that to the dog. When teaching your dog, a click right at the appropriate time can reinforce exactly what you want your dog to do and when. Without a clicker wise dog, it is very difficult to get that.

[spidey]

Another clicker trainer here, who's a "crossover trainer" from more traditional methods. As a clicker training friend of mine says, the clicker seems to "go right into their brain" to mark the correct behaviour. It's not a magic wand, you have to learn how to do it properly (read lots of books, watch some of the very good videos available and try to find a clicker class near you), too many people try it and claim it didn't work for them when really they just didn't do it properly, I've heard people clicking ten times as if the click itself is the reward, that is not clicker training - if you're going to do it, do it properly. When properly implemented, there is no dog who cannot be clicker trained (including deaf dogs, whose trainers can use a flashing light as the click), it's based on sound scientific principles about animal learning, and has worked for decades on all kinds of animals (including sea mammals and zoo animals). I've found it to be a very rewarding way of training, both for my dog and for myself, and the speed with which my dog learns now (at 7 months) is just amazing, and he is so into learning that he comes to get me for training sessions. Karen Pryor, Pat Miller and a few others have great books out about clicker training.

Personally, I feel that if you learn how to do it properly, and just do an experiment with training a simple behaviour (like pushing a cup around on the floor), you'll be amazed at how much fun it is, and how into it the dog gets (it really gets the dog to buy into the training). I've also found that my dog learns new behaviours much faster now, because he understands the process, because we've been through it so many times already. Also, in case you're wondering, you phase out the clicker with learned behaviours, so you're not clicking things the dog already knows and has proofed, unless you want to refine or adjust them. And you place behaviours on a "variable reinforcement schedule" as quickly as you can, so that you're also not treating (or rewarding, if you use games or something instead of food rewards) every behaviour every time (you do still treat on occasion, as a "paycheck", but not every time). Feel free to PM me about it if you like, I can point you to some resources, and Dawn and Rott-Wiley are much more experienced than I am.

[LynnS]

I have used the clicker on and off with Bella. On the whole I find it much easier to teach new behaviors....

I always fade out the use of the clicker after she understands what a command means...