I've started clicker training and am hopeful for good results. But as I have not used this method of training dogs before, I have some questions. The main issues I have with Simba are: Jumping up and/or biting in attempts to play. Also mouths hands when greeting people or interacting with people, etc. Snapping/Grabbing at hands which reach in quickly for collar Resource guarding: growling, snapping/ biting Not crate trained well Over excitement (causing problem #1?) Not a good recall He is learning sit/stay and lie down and getting pretty good at those. Anyhow ... How many of these behaviors can I work on at once? Obviously I can't overdo it. I'm thinking that I should pick the two most annoying/dangerous ones to start? So I have started with trying to get him to stop reacting to hands with his mouth, and the crate. How many training sessions a day? Or just work on one behaviour at a time? How long should be training sessions be? 5 mins? 10? It would be nice to hear from others who have done clicker training and hear their experiences. I'm watching the Kikapup videos and they are helpful on the "how" but not the "how long" and "how many sessions" and "how many behaviours to work on".
Re: Clicker training questions Lisa I'm doing everything for the first time,any training nevermind clicker training. the basics where there when we got Dexter and hes great in our house and garden but even now I haven't got his full attention when we are out,so I Chose to just keep up what had already been started which felt enough at once for me,eg sit,stay,heel,lie down,down( down for not jumping up) I do 2( i was going to say 2-3 then ,but mainly it's 2!)house sessions for about 10- 15 minutes with the clicker,hes really good in the house and back garden,even his launches over the wall hes come straight back......hes not good enough to STOP though when i anticipate a leap!Ive moved training into the front garden now where there are more distractions and its going well.If spare time comes along in the day ill just pick something like the training I did to get him to stay on his bed at meal times and do a few practices at that,or teaching him to give me his paw...to .occupy him as much as anything else. additional to,that he has 3 walks a day and during those walks we do heel work,sit,stays,look at me,and the early and ,late walks when the parks quiet and we can let him off lead( it's not allowed in our park so we do it very surreptitiously)we practice our recalls.......all goes well until another dog or human comes along and I lose him but I'll just keep on trying. We just want an obedient ,well behaved pet so our focus is obedience and safety...and I feel like I'm training him towards that goal.i don't know if my sessions ( amount and length) are correct,as is usually the case my replies are just anecdotal to us ....I'm sure a lot of how much time you can devote comes down to how much spare time you have and you can fit it into your life.,there will be a standard as a guide im sure but it has to work for you....Simba' s concentration span / age at the mo will also be a factor. Going to be interesting to see what ill be going home to after 2 weeks away.....my sister says he's just been the same ,but I know he will have got away with murder so I'm expecting a fair bit of boundary testing. Loads of more experienced members on here will reply to you today. good luck x
Re: Clicker training questions I would work on all of the things on your list (athough if you do want to focus on only two initially then I agree that the mouthing and the crate would be the priority on the grounds that the mouthing is the thing most likely to get him into trouble and the crate will be a really useful option for you). You basically have the following behaviours in your list: - mouthing (or otherwise using his teeth on people) - jumping up - growling at approaches to the collar or things he wants - crate training If you worked on two things per 5-10 minute session, with two sessions per day you can cover all four things daily in formal sessions. They are all things that won't just be the subject of formal training though as most (apart from the crate!) are naughty behaviours that need a planned response whenever they happen. But having formal sessions during which you do an intensive bout on each of these issues is a great idea
