Today we’re going to talk about using a clicker to help your training. (A clicker is a small plastic box with a metal tongue that when pressed produces a “click-click” sound.) Don’t worry if you haven’t got an actual clicker because you can use anything that makes a click sound – a ballpoint pen, or your own voice.
Clickers are really useful for developing something you’ve already taught, or for capturing a behaviour you want. They’re especially useful for teaching complicated behaviours such as your dog picking up the corner of a blanket and rolling himself up in it. (Don’t panic – we’re not going to do that one yet!)
The click noise itself means nothing to your dog when you first use it. But it becomes meaningful when we link it with something that does mean something, such as food. So when clicker training, keep to this one rule:
Every click must be followed by a treat.
Here’s some useful clicker tips:
- Keep the treats small. Use your dog’s kibble, or sometimes delicious treats when teaching something new, e.g. little cubes of cheese, hot dog sausage, ham or chicken.
- Click once (in-out) as soon as your dog show the response you want. If you want to express special enthusiasm for a great response, increase the number of treats (treat : treat : treat : treat) , not the number of clicks.
- Keep practice sessions short. Much more is learned in three sessions of five minutes each than in an hour of boring repetition. You can get dramatic results, and teach your pet many new things, by fitting a few clicks a day here and there into your normal routine.
We’ve got a clicker help sheet on the Free stuff page on the website with more tips if you want to know more.
Your challenge is to use the clicker to help your develop the things you’ve taught this week – sit, down, stand and touch. I challenge you to teach your dog to sit, lie down or stand (most difficult!) for up to 5 seconds at a time, and to touch your hand for the same amount of time.
Build it up slowly. Start with half a second and only try for longer once your dog can do that easily. Work in short sessions – all this mental work is quite tiring for your dog and they’ll need to rest so their brain can process what they’ve just learned ( much like we do, too)
Check out today’s live video for more information. And don’t forget to post your training videos in the group – we love seeing them.
Meanwhile, you can email us at any time with any comments or questions. I love getting your emails – at least I know someone sees these emails then!
Keep training and keep safe,
Carol