Thanks Jac and Cath for the welcome. Snowbunny - Just spent the morning looking through the archives here, found a good set of videos from Dogmatic (kikopup on YT) using clickers. We were a bit sceptical about whistles and clickers, thinking that what happens if we forget them when out etc but more i read the more i think they are great tools for training, and can be used injunction with Hand gestures and Verbal cues. This was also my girlfriends worry as well, same with the whistle but your right about voice as well, so maybe need to combine them all. Your right though about a "dog pack" that I have put together, which i can just grab for when i am going out. Just ordered two whistles and two clickers so we have some spares and tomorrow will start. Was having a bad training day yesterday with him, and he was really lacklustre in his training and didn't really seem that bother about his food (was using dried chicken / beef from a packet and kibble) and after a bit of reading here and on YT, i think the treats are not high value enough. Que a trial with banana today and boy did the training go up a notch! He loves banana and all commands he did well! Now need to experiment with a bit more high value ones... cheese is on next. Do you guys use fresh meat or dried pieces from the pet store? Apologies, i should probably post these in the right sections of the forum!
Fresh meat is much more desirable than dried meat Cooked fresh meat is pretty good too. My dog loves raw red meat and cooked chicken. It's a very good thing to try out lots of different treats to see what he really loves.
It is really easy to forget or underestimate the power of upping the treat value and plod along using the same old thing wondering why results have fallen off. Although, for my dog, nothing - but nothing - beats a ball or dummy or something to chase. That's the biggest reward. Apart from if water is involved. So asking for a walk at heel then throwing his dummy into the river can't be beaten in terms of a reward. But food is just so very convenient for "everyday" training. High value rewards for Charlie usually involve fish - so sardines really do it for him. It seems the smellier and messier the better, really. Cooked chicken is medium value for him and anything dried or biscuit like towards the bottom of the "must have" list.
OK got it.... I guess it is trial and error on what each one likes or dislikes and how crazy they go for it! Will try with some cooked chicken and maybe the sardines for the kongs... Was a fun day today with him, and definitely saw the difference in high value over low value treats!
I've not used either clicker or whistle training Juno, although I had bought both in preparation for her arrival, and have had no major problems with her, but I do acknowledge that she is a very easy, relaxed girl. For treats I've generally just used treats from pet stores but always have a mix of greats in my bag so she never knows what she's going to get next - works for us without going to great lengths to find high value greats. She also loves squeaky toys so often have a squeaky ball or whatever in a pocket. As Brody is still very young remember to keep training sessions to only a few minutes at a time with only a few repetitions of something, and end on a high. It's better to only do a few repeats and get the desired response and quit before the puppy gets bored or doesn't give the required response.....
Thanks Maccie. Yeah we are just doing 2 or 3 short training sessions with him. Good idea on mixed up the treats. Trying it as well and as we use part of his daily kibble, we mix this one with good treats. We shall see! Great fun though!
Welcome to you Stu and Brody from Mags, Tatze (2 year old black pet Lab) and Gypsy (one year old yellow GR/Lab Guide Dog puppy)
You're right about being able to use different cues for the same result. My two sit to three cues: the word "sit"; an upwards facing palm hand signal; a single blast on the whistle (which is a stop and sit, even at a long distance). For most things, I find the visual cue is a lot stronger than the vocal one, although obviously the dog has to be looking at you in order for it to work!
Thanks for the welcome Boogie/Joy Snowbunny - We have just ordered a clicker and a whistle Spent the morning scouring the internet and reading about the pro's and cons and what put us off was a bit of mis-understanding about it and that the clicker would replace the visual/vocal cues, which is wrong... or at least from what i have seen and read. Start with the clicker and then introduce the vocal cue. Or so i have read! At the moment for the recall, i am using high value treats, and setting Brody up for a recall that won't fail (he is almost about to come to us) before saying the word "come". Still need to read more on it and when to introduce whistle but at the moment, he is getting better for sure.
The clicker isn't a cue at all, it's just an "event marker" to let the dog know that he has performed the correct behaviour, or something approaching it when you're shaping. An example is a target touch. You'd put your target on the floor (or wherever) and wait. When the dog looks at it, you click and treat. Do this for a couple of times and the dog will start looking at it really quickly, knowing that it means a C&T. Then, when he's confident with this, you withhold the click. The dog will look at it and probably get a bit confused. You just wait. Eventually, the dog will take a step towards the target in frustration. You click that. Again, repeat this stage until the dog is confidently taking a step towards it. Then withhold the click again. he dog will take another step or, if he can reach it, will touch the target with his nose. Again, C&T this stage for a while. This is called "shaping". At this point, the target itself is a visual cue. But you want to put the touch on a verbal cue. So, when you can be confident that he will touch the target with his nose every time you put it out, you can start to introduce your word. So, you'd say "touch" and introduce the target. He'll eventually get the idea that touch means "put my nose on a target", so you can then build complexity by putting the target in different positions (high, low, left, right), at increasing distances, using different targets (target stick, hand, markers etc). A good book for clicker training is this one by Kay Laurence http://amzn.to/1HlN4af. It has loads of applications for clicker training and includes a DVD which is really useful. The Kikopup videos on YouTube are also well worth a watch to get some ideas.
Great explanation on it. I spent yesterday with the kikopup videos and thats what made my mind up. Clickers have just arrived today so thats this afternoon training session sorted. Quite a good channel she has, and there are some good playlists to follow. Makes it look too easy If i buy another book, my girlfriend will kill me Thanks again for the good advice.
Remember to charge it up first. Brody won't understand what it means until you do this. There are several different methods for charging, but this is the one I used: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/5-steps-to-charging-a-clicker/
I am just north of Frankfurt, in the Taunus. Can I suggest the Deutsche Retriever Club, for puppy classes and training? They have a group in your area. Positive training methods, friendly, fun...
Hi and welcome to the forum from me and 21 month old Harley I use the whistle for recall and also for stop/wait. My voice goes on a regular basis so works brilliantly for me. Hubby just uses his voice for recall and she responds to both. I started by giving 2 pips on the whistle as she came running towards me for any reason and rewarded her for it. I wore the whistle all day at home and proofed it in and out if the house. Now I pip twice and even if she is playing with other dogs or running in the woods, she comes running - her reward is her ball being thrown.....she isn't food orientated.
Hey Karen. Not too far then Will check it out, and we went through the club to find our breeder. We have another recommendation for one, who offered to come for free and check it out. Will also take a look at the club for the group you are referring to. Its a good call, thanks. Thanks Naya, just replied to your other post Yeah I also like the idea of the whistle, especially as i can "sound" grumpy in the morning
The Labrador Club Deutschland is also very good - rather more show orientated than the DRC, which tends to be a bit more geared towards dummy work and general gun dog work. But both are very good, reputable, Germany-wide clubs. I have a three-year old reddish-gold Lab called Poppy, by the way.
So is Brody a German-bred pup? Show line or working line? He looks quite chunky, compared to my girl as a pup at least, so I am guessing show line?
