You wouldn't use a clicker for house training or sleeping through the night anyway. Maybe you're not fully understanding how the clicker is used? Its real benefit is in capturing behaviours very precisely. So, for capturing and refining a heel walk without physically manipulating the dog. For getting a straight sit to the side, in front etc. For making behaviours "snappier". For getting complex chains of behaviours. For stopping your dog running over to other dogs. The opportunities are endless. But, just because you use a clicker sometimes, doesn't mean you have to use it all the time. It just makes it easier for the dog to understand exactly what it was he's being rewarded for. If I don't want to use my clicker (if I'm already juggling too many other things, or if it's too close to the dog's head, for example), I use a word as an event marker. However, it's nowhere near as accurate. Have you watched the Kikopup videos? Here's one of her with a 20-week old puppy. These are all just "tricks" that she's taught him, entirely through clicker training, but you can see how vast the possibilities are for applying the same methods to wholly practical behaviours.
@Sim If you're not happy or convinced that a clicker is right for you, that is absolutely fine. It is not compulsory to train with a clicker, it is a training tool. The clicker acts as a marker for a behaviour that you like from your dog but you can mark that with a Yes! if you find it easier/better for you. The important thing to remember is if you click, you must treat whether you got the timing right or not as you condition your pup to receive a treat when he/she nears the click. If you're not sure how to start training some behaviours there's a really helpful little book by Jean Donaldson called Train your dog like a Pro. The training is broken down into multiple steps to help both you and your pup to learn together and provides help on how to move on and proof your training.
Thank you both for taking the time to reply, I've had a busy day today so only just getting chance t reply, we visited a different vey earlier for enjoys lepto 2 vac and it was pointed out that Enzo has an overbite, quite saddened by this and a bit unsure on where to go from here, I've been researching it and looking into it all day. Hi @snowbunny , I think I'm aware of how the clicker should be used, I know I'm not very knowledgeable about it and willing to learn more, thank you for the link. I will most definitely watch that now. The main reason I mentioned sleeping through the night was to show that Enzo was comfortable in his crate, I've read about clicker use to get within a zone of the crate and then click for going in the crate if your dog is not keen on it, also click for quiet in there etc that Enzo doesn't need. Although crying behind the baby gate he does enjoy doing !! I feel I'm quite old fashioned and a 'good boy' and treat seems to work so far, although I'm aware a clicker has been proven to be beneficial, maybe I won't give up on it just yet, I've charged it with him but never rewarded with it. @MaccieD thank you're the book, I will also check that out on Amazon shortly. Appreciate the replies guys
People have been muddling along quite happily without clickers for many, many years and have managed without, so it's definitely not something you "need". I find it fun and engaging for both me and my dogs, though, and I'm often astonished by how quickly they can learn some quite complex behaviours. I read, in the opening pages of one of my books, that the origin of clicker training was in laboratory rats. When the rat performed a certain behaviour, they got a food pellet, released by a mechanism into their cage. The technicians noticed that, rather than the rats immediately repeating the behaviour that the technicians (thought they) were rewarding them for, they would repeat the behaviour that they were performing at the time the mechanism opened, accompanied by a noise, which directly preceded the treat. This phenomenon was then studied, and it turned out that when the animal can accurately pinpoint the exact moment when it was performing the correct behaviour, they learn faster. They may still get there with a "good boy" and a treat given after the event, but using an event marker (whether that be a clicker, or a verbal event marker such as "yay", "nice" or "good"), definitely speeds up training. The benefit of a clicker is that it makes a consistent sound, which isn't affected by your emotional state, whether you have a cold etc and is a lot more precise. I use both a clicker and verbal event marker, depending on what I'm doing, and the clicker has a much stronger effect. But, of course, you absolutely don't need to use one, so don't feel you have to!
Thanks again snow bunny, you present your points very well and really encourage me to continue with the clicker haha
@Sim now that I'm using the clicker I'm kicking myself for not using it earlier. I was really struggling getting Xena to "leave it" whenever I opened the dishwasher. It's now getting easier day by day. It's helping enormously to reward calm around my cats and chickens too. And @snowbunny is right, it's fun! I can see how this clicker is going to become addictive.
I laughed at the dishwasher comment, they're soooo nosey aren't they haha. How do you get it to help around the dishwasher, would love to do that with my trainers I will stick with it after talking it through again
And Enzo also loves chasing the cat!! Even thought he's taken a few kitty jabs back! I need to discourage this before we get out in the big wild world
I trained this a different way (not saying my way is the right way, it's just different). The dogs wanted to get into the dishwasher because of all the lovely smells - and tastes, if their tongue got a good swipe when I wasn't looking! So I used the same method I used for stopping them barging through an open door; I'd start opening the door and, if they started to move towards it, I'd close it again. I eventually built up from having to close it immediately, to being able to open it fully and load the machine without two slobbering dogs being in the way! I do the same when I'm preparing their food; when I'm doing anything in the kitchen, they're not allowed past the threshold. It's open plan, so I can't close a door to make it easier on myself, but there's a very distinct border where the floor changes from wood to tiled. As soon as a paw crosses that line, the knife goes down on the surface and I step back, ignoring them. As soon as they step back, I start work again. They get treats every now and again (at first, all the time) for staying behind the line.
There's an article on the main site about stopping your dog from jumping on the sofa. I figured the dishwasher was the same principle. "Leave it" then c/t for paws on the floor and nose away from the plates/cutlery. This is much easier to do with clean dishes than with dirty ones, so I think I'm going to up my rewards when I put the dinner dishes in tonight. Might incorporate @snowbunny's approach too! It's so frustrating not being able to do the dishwasher quickly, but I'm determined!
Just remember these things take time. When I first started, it was as much as I could do to get a spoon in the dishwasher before I'd have to close it again! You have to have oodles of patience, but, in the end, it works. For things like that, which boil down to impulse control, I prefer to keep it uncued, so no "leave it". The default behaviour I expect is leaving it without being told
Haha, the tickets wouldn't be the expensive bit, it's the amount of booze you'd have to ply me with. I'm a rather nervous flyer!
Clicker training is extremely powerful - used properly, it is absolutely the most effective way to train a dog (or any animal). It's easy not to see the benefits of it immediately, particularly with a young puppy that doesn't 'get it' and also if you haven't used it before and seen how powerful it is. I'd really encourage you to stick with it, it's a wonderful thing when you and your dog get it.
Thanks @JulieT , I think I am going to rethink it and stick with it, so many of you seem to have had great results
I hope you do, you really won't regret it. My older dog has been clicker trained and it is such a joy to train new things with the clicker. My new puppy was slower on the up take than he was, and I found myself getting a bit frustrated that she was so much slower than my older dog had been to try things out to earn the click. But after 3 weeks she is really responding now and it's so joyful - how lovely to get a puppy to learn new things by thinking and getting clicks and treats, rather than pushing them into position or even luring. It's really a kind of magic*. * edited to add: it's not magic at all, of course, but lovely that it seems like it!
We have 3 labs, 2 are absolutely fine with chickens, we have some very special ones here, and have preservation status through defra. You can imagine our horror when our adorable young black pupster made it clear she would kill every single one. She has got into one of the runs twice, and if it wasn't for that fact I was there I am sure it would have been a disaster, it was bad enough, birds and feathers flying everywhere. Bramble literally would shake and tremble with excitement anywhere near them. Now we have made enormous inroads, she can walk past them calmly. I don't think I would ever trust her alone with them, but by clicker training for calm, we can manage.
@snowbunny , I've spent the last hour or so watching kikopup YouTube videos, although I didnt watch all of her videos to the end, the ones I did watch I enjoyed. Thank you. I then spent the last 5 minutes running around the house click and treating Enzo for not jumping up, I'm worn out, he's not! The only problem is even when I'm out of treats he still wants to chase me around for treats and starts jumping again, but it's a start Next up I'm going to follow your dishwasher technique with the front door to the house because I can't have him barging past me to get to the garden everytime I greet someone at the front door, there's also a carpet divide before the small porch, so again, following your kitchen divide line, I will try to get Enzo to sit behind this when I go to the door, that kind of behaviour does seem a long way away mind lol
Thanks also @Beanwood for your input, I will have to follow something similar with Enzo and our cat, he doesn't want to rip it to a million pieces quite yet but he has found his feet and his doing a lot of purposely bumping into and chasing around the garden which I need to stop
