Everything about Loading the clicker.
What is a clicker?
In it’s basic form, it’s a small plastic box with a metal strip inside, when pushed down on one end it makes a click noise. Clickers are used to tell the dog they did something right and they have earned the reward. We use treats and praise (”Good Boy/Good Girl”) as a reward. We always use a treat first, then you can praise. Clicker is a very quick and more efficient way in communicating to your dog that they did something right. Using your voice isn’t as efficient.
Why should I use a clicker instead of my voice?:
Dogs hear us talking all the time, they hear the T.V. and radio also, they start to tune out everything unless they recognize something they know, like “Cookie” or “Go Bye-Bye”, pretty soon everything else is tuned out, it becomes white noise to your dog.
Verbal praise is not always distinct. Words can run together, the tone of your praise can vary, praising can, a lot of times, bring on strong emotions in your dog, that make it more difficult to keep him focused on his training, that is, he gets excited, and switches out of learning mode to excitement mode. These strong emotions are what makes praise a good reward, but not a great form of communication.
Clickers are very distinct and easy to hear, it is precise, clear and free of emotion, with one click it tells your dog everything they need: they earned the treat, they did it correctly. To make sure it doesn’t become white noise, you always have to treat when you click, so be careful what you click, you will be rewarding certain behaviors you may not want to reward.
The clicker gives you a bit of leeway in getting the treat to the dog. Once they understand they did it right and that you clicked, they know clicking signifies the end of that behavior and a treat is coming, most of the time the dog will come to you or follow you to get the treat after they hear the click. So you have a few seconds to administer the treat after you click, (maximum of 3 seconds).
I am not very coordinated, Is it hard to use?
Don’t be intimidated by this. Everyone has to practice to become accurate, but most people get it pretty easily, also it is a very forgiving method of training, you might accidentally reinforce the wrong behavior a few times while in the learning mode, but it just means the dog gets a few extra treats. That’s okay, just don’t keep making the same mistakes.
Here are some ways to practice to become more clicker accurate, (dog NOT involved with this, put them away somewhere):
Drop a ball and as it hits the ground: click
Toss a ball in the air, as it reaches it’s highest point: click
Walk around, as your left foot hit’s the ground: click, then do the right foot: click
Loading the clicker (with dog):
Note: When training please cut back about 10% of your dogs food to accommodate the treats that are going to be used, and make sure the treats are as small as possible, somewhere between a grain of rice and a pea.
- When loading the clicker at home, use a non distracting area first, with less distractions you can always use their dry kibble, try it at dinner or breakfast time, take out 10 pieces of kibble and use it (they must like their kibble for this). Click then treat, click then treat, etc…with about 1 to 1 and ½ seconds between the sound and when you shove the treat/food in their mouth, do this with 10 pieces. That’s 1 session.
He doesn’t have to do anything, (make sure they aren’t jumping on you, please make sure the their feet are on the floor, they don’t have to sit to do this, just their feet needs to be on the floor), they just listen to hear the sound of the clicker and get a treat, don’t scare them with it, put it behind your back or under your leg.
DO NOT CLICK IN YOUR DOGS FACE. Do at least 3-4 sessions a day.
Wait, I have the clicker, the dog and a treat, I don’t have enough hands!
Have the clicker in the same hand as the leash or step on the leash so you’ll have 2 hands to work with your dog.
How will I know it’s “loaded” or my dog understands what the click means?
After 4 sessions, test your dog to see if he is loaded yet, when he gets distracted, have a treat, and click to see if he looks at you or comes towards you, if he does, give him the treat, if not, give him the treat anyway and you’ll need to do a few more sessions. Once he is loaded you can stop doing the sessions so much, just maybe do it a couple of times a day until the next class.
Note:
If you click you must treat. We don’t want the dog to start tuning out the clicker, if he doesn’t get a treat every time he hears the clicker he will start to tune it out. Also watch what you click, reinforcing the wrong behavior is something allot of people fall into without realizing it.
Example
My dog seems afraid of the clicker, what do I do now?
The clicker is NOT a remote control, don’t click in their face in the beginning, that will cause your dog to become fearful of this loud rude noise. Once they realize that good things (tasty treat) follow that noise, they will welcome that noise. You can put the clicker under your leg or behind your back, or wrap it in a towel to get them use to it.
If your dog flinches when you click, it may be sensitive to the loud click, wrap the clicker in a towel in the beginning, then gradually when he feels more comfortable, then start to unwrap it out of the towel slowly and gradually until you eventually have the clicker out and are clicking with joy. You may also use a ball point pen which is less noise.
A few tips about training:
: Dog is constantly ignoring you and playing keep away with you while you try to get them to you, you think “oh I’ll get the clicker and when I click he’ll come to me then” you do this, dog comes to you and since (IF YOU CLICK YOU MUST TREAT) you give them a treat, what behavior did you just click and tell them they earned a reward? Coming? NO, you clicked (told them they would get a reward for the behavior they were doing) and rewarded them for ignoring you & playing keep away. So be careful, clicker is forgiving if you make mistakes, but not mistakes you consistently make.Dog has to associate in their mind (loading it in their brain) that click means treat.
Dogs learn when they are in the act. They communicate thru body language and tone. So when we add the cue word it will come as the dog is in the act of doing a trick, and he must be at least 95% reliable in doing the action to add our English cue word.
In training, timing is important. By the time you have used a spoken word like “good boy” the dog may already be doing another behavior, if you get the treat to them a few seconds too late, you may be reinforcing a behavior other than the one you wanted.
It’s best to train when they are just slightly hungry, use low value treats first, then as they get distracted or tricks become harder, up the value of the treat. Also if they do something really fast or finally do what you’re trying to teach them a small jackpot (3 treats given one at a time) can be given. You click one time but you can give multiple treats.
You always praise AFTER the treat. Because you will be replacing the treat with the praise eventually.
You can also “load” a clicker with other creatures.
For being a very powerful training tool, they are relatively inexpensive, some fancier ones can cost a few dollars, the ones at Petsmart are only like $1.50 or something like that, you actually get one for free when you do an obedience class at the store. If you can find one of those plastic flexible wrist bands (like to put your keys on your wrist) to hold the clicker that helps even more.
Okay, now go get started using a tool that will get amazing results from your dog. Trust me, this is one of the most powerful tools in my training box.
