We got our pup home on Saturday... We are crate training. He was intrigued by the toys in his crate and had so much fun he tired himself out. He hasn't had trouble going in as we try to make it pleasant every time. I wondered about treats - I haven't really given treats or tried clicking...he's only 8 weeks old! Do I start right away??? Advice welcome. We are repeating commands like Kennel up, go potty, sit, come, go get, and bring back so perhaps clicking might help him retain the behaviors. Another question - are we labeling too much too soon??? We lost our old guy in May - he was almost 15 and I can't remember the details of how we trained him!
You can definitely start using treats right now The basic concept behind training is to make something nice happen when your pup does something you like or want. That will encourage your pup to do that thing again. Food treats are a great 'nice thing' that you can give your pup when he does something you like - whether that's sit, or come to you or wait at the kerb before crossing the road or not jumping on people or laying down quietly....anything really. So, as soon as he does the thing you like or want, give him a treat. Your pup will start to do more of the things that earn him a treat and less of the things that don't earn a treat. It's basically that simple. A clicker is useful for pinpointing the exact moment that the pup does what you want (and then you immediately follow up your click with a food reward...or something else really nice like a game with a toy). A clicker helps to tell the pup exactly what he did that then earned the reward. It can make training easier as its really clear for the pup, so they understand what you want faster. There are a lot of articles on the main site about that so I'll try to find a few
This is a really good clicker training article to start with: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/clicker-training-whats-it-all-about/ That article gives links to other articles about using a clicker in training.
I'm an absolute amateur here, but I'd just like to say yes to clicker training! I waited until 12 weeks to introduce the clicker (I thought just using a marker word like "yes" would be enough) but I wish I'd introduced the clicker immediately. Of course you still need a verbal marker but clicker training is great
Thank you - have read some articles on Clicker training and will start today. Working on socializing - things like meeting the vacuum cleaner and the garbage truck. Such fun!
One more question about Clickers -- if I am consistent but my partner/rest of the household might not be, is clicker training still effective?
The clicker is a very powerful tool when used precisely. If other members of your household can't be trusted to use the clicker accurately, then they should not be allowed to use the clicker, or it will lose its meaning. They can still interact with pup, and even try some training, just save the clicker for when you can guarantee the handler's precision.
There are lots of information about clicker on this site... I will not write about it, as far as it is long and well explained... I would just call some attention on a different topic.... Clicker is a nice tool, to teach precise behaviours, but I would make some reflection on how important is that our puppy understand a lot of clues, agains she/he understand what are the rules of the house: where can you stay, where you can't, what can you bit, what can't, where to sleep, how greet to a new person, how to be calmed when your "beloved boss" is not present, how to avoid atent agains furniture or personal objects... I mean that clicker is grate to teach things, but is not just click, it's also about put consistent limits to the puppy, and to educate him, to be "one family member". I think is very important to use tools, click and reward, consistency, fun and play, give love, fair treatment, use motivation (food, toys, whatever...) to build a bond with your puppy. Clicker is just one tool. It has to be used to achive targets to get to somewhere (have a well educated dog), but not leave the rest, work with feelings, to change states of excitment, to calm your puppy, work with comunication (non verbal comunication) to learn to "read" your's dog's signals, (fear, happyness, shy, fun, playtime...), and also to avoid undersirable behaviours like food-guard, or resources-guard, which could end with agression. Not just "teach" the dog but "understand" the dog. Summary: Clicker, yes. But also the rest of tools, including comunication. Regards.
Thanks -- we are learning to 'read' him, as you suggest. We are working on basics, like sitting and waiting (maybe 5 seconds, gradually increasing) before eating, getting him used to things around the house, calming him down, etc. It's a lot of fun.
