Hi, Can anyone tell me their thoughts on using a clicker/whistle as an early puppy training aid. I have read that they are an excellent training aid. But my concern is that once the puppy becomes an adult and throughout its adult life, that it would not then respond to voice commands and only ever respond to the clicker/whistle. I personally would rather rely on voice commands once the dog reaches teenage to adulthood, as it then becomes a closer bond between the human & dog relationship. Your thoughts on this please, and thanks in advance. Lexi, the little girl in question
Hi there, whistles and clickers have different functions. Whistles are cues that tell a dog to respond, clickers are event markers that tell a dog he got something right Have a look at this article http://thehappypuppysite.com/whistle-or-clicker-dog-training-signals/
Oh she's a cutie. it's so difficult to remember that they were that small once , so enjoy . There are many advocates for using a clicker to train your pup. Very briefly the clicker is used as a marker which signals a desired behaviour to the pup and that a reward (a treat most often) is on it's way. You can pair the clicker with word or hand signals and then gradually fade the clicker leaving the voice and/or hand signals. It is not essential to use a clicker to train your pup you can use 'yes' or 'good girl' instead. There are some useful videos to watch from Emily Larllham https://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup Also if you have a look on our sister site you'll find lots of useful information http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?s=clicker
Most people use a combination. It's sensible to teach one first and then add the other, for any given cue. Whistles are great for distance work, because they carry much further than the human voice, and another benefit of a whistle is that it is very consistent sound so that the dog quickly learns what it means. Using voice only isn't what builds a bond between dog and trainer, it's the interaction between them, the reward history, and the time they spend together that does that - more on whistles here http://www.thelabradorsite.com/should-you-buy-a-dog-whistle/
A clicker is not a cue or command it's a marker to tell the dog they've done the right thing. You can use voice, whistle or visual cues such as hand signsls for your cues or a combination thereof. The great thing about clickers is they're very accurate and unambiguous. Because you're rewarding the good stuff it's a fairly low pressure way to train so great for dogs of all ages
Clicker training is great, and great for pups. There is no point in using a clicker once the behaviour is on cue, although you do see people doing this, it's not necessary or even particularly helpful. Once you have got the behaviour (helped by a clicker) you associate that behaviour with your cue, then just ditch the clicker. You don't keep using it (unless you want to, but it's a bit pointless).
I use both verbal and whistle for recall. Trained verbal first, then read Total Recall and added whistle. I use either when out and about to keep practice up. Coco isn't perfect, so if one fails, instead of repeating I use the other. This seems to work for us. The whistle carries a good distance, so if he's off through the trees it's brilliant. I also use a clicker in training - it just marks the desired behavior, like saying "yes" or "good". I find Coco picks things up really quickly using a clicker. It's a great training aid.
I use verbal, whistle and hand signals, teaching first one then adding the the others. I also use a clicker to mark the behaviour then stop using it once Dexter knows it. If I don't have my clicker with me, I'll use his marker word 'yes'.
