Help..my lab pup is starting to scare me!

I like this too. I love the idea of a clicker, but never to seem to have one in my pocket. Using a specific word instead means the "clicker" gets carried everywhere!

Having said that, for really tricky behaviours, the clicker is more precise and works better. Once the dog "gets it", then it can fade into "good" - at least that's worked for me.

I agree with @snowbunny , what's the difference between "no" and "wrong" (the "Oreo" example she gives above is perfect)? That the trainer has been insisting on this type of "no, no bad dog" command to your dog sets off red flags to me.

Just because a trainer calls themselves a trainer (and could be a very nice person too) doesn't mean they are all-knowing or even very good at their profession. I've been to trainers who were better at marketing themselves than they were at actually helping me and my dog - it can be really confusing, especially if you like the person. It may be helpful to take a look at overall how what she has been teaching you has worked and consider other sources for training help.

 

How right you are.

 

I use the marker word of "yes" which works well for me and Cass, but I feel these days I'd like to have a go with a clicker. Sometimes I get fed up with hearing my own voice

"Yes" is all well and good until people are watching sport and get excited and shout "yes" -- a certain black Lab starts looking for her treat

 

It is incredible how Harley picks cue words out of conversation and then looks at us expectantly. Try the clicker Selina, I have really enjoyed it.

 

I use clever or good but to be honest I think the tone of voice and the expresion on my face says it all. I often look at Rory whilst saying clever and see his big happy smiley Labrador mouth grinning back he's happy I'm happy.they watch us all the time I've noticed there reactions over the years and they even react to when ive had upsetting phone calls. the level of empathy is amazing.

 

I think clickers are great, very precise and effective when used correctly. An example, I have a sweet, collie x WCS as a house guest that we picked up last night. He is about 18 months or a bit younger. Not house-trained, just off the transporter, and as you can imagine a bit frazzled by everything!
I didn't want to put him straight back in his crate after his walk this morning so tried a couple of minutes of target training with the clicker. Boy did his focus snap on me! Kept it VERY easy and short, just touch my hand buddy that's all... and look what happens! He then started looking at me, and waiting...he became still, and focussed on the job. Just a couple of mins then popped into his crate with a kong.

 

I just say good in a voice that if it was too a human would be really patronising and over the top.

Stanley loves it though and gets dead waggy tailed and smiley.

 

I took the clicker to the shelter with me today. I've been doing a bit of hand targeting and using a "yes" event marker. I thought I'd compare the efficacy of the clicker with these dogs. After just a couple of minutes of charging it, it was impressively superior.

Negreta, the black bitch with the huge ears, reacted negatively to it at first, bolting at the first click, and maybe for twenty more after that. But she pretty quickly learnt that click = ham and, even though the foreign noise was still a bit startling to her, she started moving towards me immediately after each click. Far more quickly and far more brightly than she had with using "yes".

Her kennel-mate, "no name" (no-one there seems to know what she's called ), loved it and let me stroke her for the first time today

I'll definitely continue with the clicker with all the dogs there now I've seen the difference. I think, for our bold dogs who already know how to learn, it doesn't make a huge amount of difference, but for these shelter dogs, the nature of the clicking sound is so unlike anything that they normally deal with that it's almost like they can trust it more than they can a human voice. I'm probably anthropomorphising, but that's what it felt like to me.

 

Makes sense to me.

 

Great work Fiona

 

I have found the clicker vastly better with dogs that are unfamiliar with the normal tone and cadence of my voice, probably sounds like a lot of white noise to them!

 

I agree completely - but, apart from not being allowed to use a clicker - I'm too disorganised to have one always to hand!

 

Very interesting! I did go on a clicker course once, but decided against going further with it with my particular dogs. But I can completely see how it might really particularly help the shelter dogs, removing the human voice which might have negative associations... I personally don't know many people who use a clicker, but I can see the logic and sense in it.