Clicker Training - Yay or Nay???

[Training - Experiences, Challenges, and Mindsets]

What do you think about Clicker Training?  Did it work for you??? 

Would really appreciate your feedback.

Thanks.

[Vivian & Mojo]

I clicker trained my puppy and highly recommend it. It also was very helpful when my puppy had his wild time (zoomies) every evening, I would tell him to sit, click and treat and it broke the wildness and turned him quickly into training mode. I would throw a toy for him to fetch and click and treat over and over and he got tired out with a good training lesson done. My puppy is almost 2 years old and I still use it for the occasional times he gets wild when some one visits and barks and jumps up.

[Vivian & Mojo]

I have one and keep it in his treat bag that hooked to my clothing and take the treat bag with me wherever I go.

[Adina P]

Remember that with clicker training you don't click forever.  You use the clicker to mark the precise behavior and reward early on then fade the reward/treats.  You don't need to use it every time your dog sits after it has been trained and it is precise.

[Julie and Max]

I like clicker training for tricks but not for obedience training. 

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

I found clicker training to be very easy and very effective and one of the fastest ways that Kona learned new tricks when he was a puppy.  But I did abandon it pretty quickly because I just couldn't be counted on to have that clicker with me every minute of every day to be consistent in my methods.  So.....if you KNOW that you're the type of person who can commit to the consistency of using it, then it really can be a very effective method.  I can only be trusted to carry around my vocal cords, so I switched to verbal rewards and corrections and loving on him for rewards

[Deborah Brown]

I did not use it for puppy training but have recently started using it for some agility and mat work.  The big advantage is that the dog gets an instant reward.  It is also very specific and easy to understand for dogs.  Much of our verbal praise is just a big mishmash to dogs - think Charlie Brown's teacher, "wha wha wha".   Just like people, dogs seem to like instant gratification.  They know immediately when the do the correct behavior.

The downside, of course, is that you have to have a clicker in your pocket all the time.  This is exactly why I did not use it in the past.

[Dawn Ross]

I tried clicker training for a bit, but it was difficult for me to be consistent since I've trained dogs using verbal cues my entire life. I think clicker training works great if you learn to click it at just the right moment and are consistent with it. Otherwise, it can be confusing to the dog.

[Shanen Sadowski]

I've had dogs all my life and have always been huge on obedience training.  This time around, when we got our pup (now 6  mos.) I tried clicker training and can't BELIEVE how fast she caught on to everything!  I'd highly recommend it.  There are lots of great books out there on it but also lots on you tube.  I always say "YES" when I click, and I've found that at those times when my clicker wasn't handy, she now responds just as strongly to my yes.  Here's a quick example.  Maslow had her "Come" all perfected….until we were at a puppy playdate and I became nothing more than a distraction.  She mostly ignored me, but would sometimes look at me first (and then continue playing). I didn't have my clicker, so when I said "Maslow, come" and she looked at me the next time, I yelled "YES!" and she turned around and ran to me. It's so helpful for being able to "chain" small progresses toward the end result you want.  Good luck. :)

[Vivian & Mojo]

I like that idea Shanen and am going to add that. On occasions when I didn't have my clicker I would make the sound verbally of a clicker and it worked.

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

When I was doing the clicker training, I also cemented the word "YES!" right when I did the clicker for the same reason you did.  It worked great for when I didn't have my clicker.  I just slowly quit using the clicker (aka misplaced it) and used "YES!" as my marker.  

Speaking of "marker"....Dawn:  clicker training is nothing more than a type of "Mark", so if you google "Marker Training", you'll find a lot of good videos and books that will talk about marker training.  The "Mark" can be a click, a snap, a whistle, or a word.  You just have to be consistent

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Didn't work for me because I couldn't coordinate when to click - totally my bad, but I should have practiced WHEN the click was supposed to happen before I tried to do it with Ned.

[Kyoko]

I say yes. It gives them cue to what they are doing is right. I used it for obedience as well in the beginning. Later I used hand signal and the verbal.