My dog isn’t responding to clicker training any advice?
Hello everyone I have a 14 month old german shepherd he is lovely and generally well behaved. I have had him since he was a puppy and he is an awesome dog we have a great bond he is one of my best friends. Anyway we joined a german shepherd training club 2 months ago and he works really well considering that short space of time. But there are bad habits he has picked up from a puppy when I tried to train him myself for example when walking to heel he will not stay right beside me and when I ask him to sit he doesn’t sit on the spot he takes a few steps back and then sits this is a pain when he is supposed to sit right in-front of me so I looked on the internet and thought I would try clicker training to mark the exact behaviour and apparently it works really well in teaching new tricks/behaviors any way bought a clicker and armed myself with a mass amount and variety of his favorite treats and as it said to do 1 click-treat-click-treat-click-treat I did this 15 to 20 times then supposedly he is supposed to look when he hears the click because he is anticipating the treat well he doesn’t take any notice! i’ve been trying for 2days now repeating that same method at least 4 times throughout the day it said the dog understands quickly! I don’t know what to do now I need some advice and will be grateful for any help and tips thank you very much 
Im not expecting miracles i just wanted advice on how if possible to make it work better i wondered if i was doing something wrong or if there was anything i could do better and if you read it says i take him to GERMAN SHEPHERD TRAINING and this is the advice the professionals gave me so thats why I am trying it and i realise i did it wrong in the first place but now i am trying to make it better and i am doing the right thing now and we have made alot a progess and if i obviously dont know what i am doing then how come he is so well trained and such a good boy that we are competing in a nationwide gsd interbranch competition in oct he is trained fine i just want to break some bad habits thats all
and the training club is brilliant there are 3 professional trainers there all with different ideas to help with training i couldnt ask for more the people are really nice, friendly and helpful they have done wonders in helping me with my dog but i will ring up some other trainers and ask for there advice
and the training club is brilliant there are 3 professional trainers there all with different ideas to help with training i couldnt ask for more the people are really nice, friendly and helpful they have done wonders in helping me with my dog but i will ring up some other trainers and ask for there advice
what i mean is that he hasnt accociated the click with a treat and thats why he doesnt take any notice i know that the clicker shouldnt be used to get attention and only as a reward for doing something but in order to do that the dog has to make the connection that the click means a treat but my dog doesnt lol
because there really busy running this massive dog show and i didnt want to bother them i thought since they real busy i would just ask on here to see if any1 could give me some helpful advice and some one did
Tagged with: Advice • Clicker • isn't • responding • Training
Filed under: Dog Clicker Training
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Simply – find a different method of training to use. Not every method works for every dog.
You have a GSD? Excellent. Contact your local Schutzhund club and ask for a recommendation for a trainer in basic obedience. The trainer will help you find the most effective way to train your dog.
ADD: If this “german shepherd training club” is so brilliant, why on earth are you on here asking us how to revamp your clicker training when you have those brilliant trainers to ask?
Advice: Find a method that actually works for your dog or stop expecting miracles in such a short amount of time.
Some dogs don’t respond to clicker training. I suggest using just treats and praise…lure him into position and give him a treat when he does what you want.
If you don’t know what you are doing (and from what you’ve written it is obvious you don’t) then you will cause more problems by trying to train a puppy yourself. You already say the pup has learned bad habits from your earlier attempts.
I would strongly suggest you take the pup to a professional dog-training classes so both the puppy AND YOU can learn to do it correctly.
You maybe doing something wrong. Have you contacted a clicker trainer to show them what you do?
It’s also possible you’re doing it right and he’s just taking longer to understand.
have you tried using a verbal cue instead of the clicker?
my dogs could give a care less about the “click” but do understand verbal cue “good” and anticipate food then.
it can take a lot more than 15-20 times for a dog to associate something.
also, you might want to look into another training class or club, if this one isn’t doing it for your dog.
Ive just finished Temple Grandins book “Animals make Us Human”. Its really good, I highly suggest it. She covers clicker training a bit and seems to be a fan of it. You cant confuse the dog by just clicking randomly to get his attention. Thats the wrong way to go about it. Yes click means treat but you wouldnt just give your dog a treat when he doesnt do anything to deserve it (if you are training him that is). Give him a click when he does something right. If he has connected the click with a treat properly, and you only click when he does something correct, he will start to connect that action with your click. Clicking to simply get his attention isnt going to work. Hes just going to be confused and wonder what he did to get congratulated.
I really am not trusting of a site that says that he should look when you click…ya he might, but you should click when he looks. That way he knows thats what hes meant to do.
Some animals (including ME!) don’t like the sound of the clicker. Their ears are even more sensitive than ours. I use a verbal bridge..just a sharp tongue cluck.(.kinda the sound you would make to tell a horse to giddyup)
Here are some good videos on teaching the basics:
http://www.clickerlessons.com/sitdownstand.htm
http://www.clickerlessons.com/stays.htm
And here is ‘heel’.>
http://www.clickerlessons.com/heeling.htm
I like to use homemade training treats, such as tiny tidbits of dried liver or chicken breast. I also find that high quality kitten kibble works well, and is not messy.
Couple of thoughts:
You may need to make sure your timing is right. It is VERY easy, especially when first starting, to make timing errors. The proper procedure is click, then begin moving hand to pocket, bait bag, wherever, then giving the treat, all ideally in around 1-3 seconds. If your dog notices you moving your hand toward the treat, that becomes more salient, and overshadows the click, making it less relevant to the dog.
I generally don’t bother charging the clicker anymore. I start with either hand targeting, or bathroom downs, or approaching and interacting with some object, teaching the behavior at the same time as I introduce clicker training. One of the issues I have with charging the clicker is that it only teaches half of the meaning of the click (a promise that a treat or other reward is coming, which dogs generally get pretty fast, your issue notwithstanding) and ignores the other half (my action makes the click happen) and it may be harder for the dog to figure that part out once you’ve already had him learn the first half without any relation to his actions.
For some good articles on clicker training, I suggest http://www.clickersolutions.com and to join the list group if interested,