has anyone ever used clicker training for their dog, and if so was it successful?
Friday, April 9th, 2010 at
5:20 pm
i had never heard of this before, so i was just curious. once you use a clicker, do you always have to use it? can you only use this method on puppies, or does it work for older dogs? thanks in advance.
Tagged with: anyone • Clicker • ever • Successful • Their • Training • used
Filed under: Dog Clicker Training
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I’ve never used it for my dogs but I have used it quite successfully for my cats and rabbits. You can eventually phase out the clicker just like you would phase out the treats with any other kind of training.
Yes and Yes … puppies no idea … find more dog owner reviews at the below source.
you can train your dog with any noise as long as you are consistent, and this does not mean weeks, sometimes it take months and months to get a dog used to something let alone have it stick.
Vet tech
I have used clicker training with a stray dog I worked with. What you do is click immediately after you see what you want. Then you say “good” and give a treat. After awhile, only use praise. The clicker just reaffirms the good behavior exactly when it happens. When you feel they’ve mastered the command, you don’t need to keep using the clicker because they will already know they did the right thing. Then just keep up the praise!
I use clicker training and it’s a great tool for training any age dog. We use it in my obedience competition classes. And you do not always have to use the clicker. Eventually, you wean off of it. just like if someone used a lead to train “come” eventually, they wean off the lead and the dog will still come if properly trained. I have recently done an obedience match, with training that was clicker based, but did the match with no clicker at all. It’s not difficult to wean off a clicker when your dog understands what you expect with each command.
What I feel is an important advantage to using a clicker over your voice is that the clicker is a consistent sound, where you voice isn’t always going to be. Any change of tone in voice can give different signals and confuse your dog. A clicker will always sound the same.
We still do “corrections” in class, but the clicker has been very helpful in reducing the need for them.
There are some good books on using clickers in obedience training. One is by Morgan Spector, I think it’s called Clicking for Obedience. Very helpful book.
ADDED: you would typically phase out the clicker first, then phase out the treat reward second. And I have never had a problem using clicker training in a class environment either. My dog knows that the click has to come from me in order for her to get the reward.
um for my dog i dont find it works but it does for many at the biginning u dont make them do anything u just click and treat until they get that click meens treat then u start teaching them to do somin and every time they do it whether by choice or u force them to they get a click and treat then you can slowly take out the treat until they know they have done a good thing when u click eventually u can slowly stop clicking tooi just dont use the clicker just treats and she has turned out a pretty good agility dog
I have used clicker training for my older Lab and it worked for a while but got in the way of the hand signals we used for training. It is difficult to use a clicker when you need both hands to assist in training the dog.
I clicker train and it is highly successful. No, you do not use the clicker forever – only when introducing and shaping new behaviors or shaping old ones into a new/different response. see links for more on clicker training.
Yes and yes.
The clicker is really used to “mark” the behavior. like when your dog sits for you, if you don’t get him the treat within 3 seconds, he won’t connect the reward with the bahavior. BUT, if he knows the clicker means reward, and you click when he sits, he knows he will get a reward soon, and he knows why because you clicked at the right time. It’s just a way of communicating better with your dog.
When you use a clicker to train, you don’t have to keep using it. It is typically only used to teach a new behavior. Once your dog knows the behavior, you don’t have to click for him to know he’s doing the right thing.
You can definitely use this method for puppies. Any positive method is great for puppies (as well as older dogs).
Yes, clicker training is very successful. Remember that the clicker is just a marker. If you prefer, you can use something else as a marker. I’ve used the word ‘yes’ used in a particular way (saying ‘yeessssss’) to mark behavior. The clicker is more precise but using a word instead or in addition means that you have more choices. The clicker does not mean you always have to use it, the clicker is a way to show the dog what the correct behavior is so that you can then label it. Once the dog knows the label of the behavior you don’t have to click it although intermittent reward with treats will help. For learning more about clicker training, i recommend this book http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=1000&ParentCat=162&string=101%20things%20to%20do%20with%20a%20box
I have to say that i’ve used the 101 things to do with a box trick (in this book) and it’s great to see the dog thinking of new ways to get me to give him a treat.
i used a clicker and it worked really well. ive never used them with any other animal, but ive heard theyre good for all ages and types of animals like cats, dolphins, rabbits, horses, birds, etc. you can phase it out and everything, its great.