Clicker Success!

So after a certain person suggested clicker training to me, which I totally forgot about and havent managed to get on with it in the past...I tried it - but only in the garden with the boys, my girlie is already trained to a good standard, so we went out on the road.

I tried it with all 3 dogs so on a scale of 1-10 in my books I'll share how well they did.

Louie - off lead - 6/10

- Eye contact - not perfect he kinda looks me up and down then looks at my eyes :/
- Still needs work on sitting by my side not in front of me.
- Still he sat when I stopped
- Didnt get distracted by the noisy church kids going on an outing
- Now knows what the clicker means
Overall I think he's coming on and I only introduced it to him last night - he must be a clever dog.
He still needs to learn that when I turn in circles he's to follow all the way round, not half way then sit.

Benjie - off lead - 4/10

- Got distracted by noises
- Didnt understand the clicker at all (I introduced them all to it click=treat repeatedly)
- Begged when I wanted him to sit
- Sat when I stopped - needed encouragement to follow me though.
Overall he did alright to say that he's never met the clicker before. Same with the circles as Louie.

Sadie - off lead, on the road- 8/10

- Learnt the clicker really quickly - who says old dogs cant learn new tricks.
- Heeled beautifully, although she has a poorly foot so lagged a bit.
- Sat when I stopped.
- Eye contact perfect

She's never got stay before, she is my shadow and hates leaving my side (although on walks and in new places she hates being at my side she wants to zoom everywhere) so I tried stay from 10 feet, perfect then 20, perfect then I went all the way up to about 50-60 feet - absolutly brilliant! And she came and sat perfectly in front of me. I trained her recall so she sat in front of me - she never got the heel bit where she's supposed to jump to the side, however she will do a circle if I've stopped when she's gone a bit in front of me and I've told her to come back.


SO overall todays session when great, going to let them have a zoom about on the park later then show Adie how to use the clicker with them...easier said than done

So glad it's going so well

With only glancing up at you, try and get your timing right at the point he makes that eye contact. If you need to practice your timing, scatter treats on the floor, get Louie to 'find them' and try to click right at the point he snaffles up a treat, on every treat.

Timing is the hardest thing about clicker training, once you get that right, the dog gets it.

With Shiloh, he would never make eye contact for any length of time, but once I was right on the point with the clicker, I managed to get him holding eye contact for longer and longer.

Some dogs are quicker than others though. Skye and Shiloh are Welsh Sheepdogs so it figures they should pick it up so quickly

I'm really pleased for you hun, sounds like Louie's gonna be a star and Sadie already is

Keep us updated with their progress!

Sadie's border collie cross so I knew she'd pick it up, Louie picks things up pretty quickly, he can get into a pedal bin...But just now on our walk, Adie decided not to be consistant and I might as well just not train them.

I've been working with all three all day, indivdually, and I know Sadie and Louie can walk perfect and Benjie with Sadie and I can get them all to do as they are told but he lets them do whatever they want and whenever I tell him either to change his voice, or to do something...I'm moaning at him I'm nagging - Sorry I'll let them get run over, I'll let Benjie attack another dog, I'll not walk them, I'll let them get took off me - becasue I cant control them thanks to your inconsistancy!

Sorry about the rant there. He just doesnt get it. And I've told him I didnt want Benjie if he was going in the armed forces (he'd be going back to his parents) and as a last bid to make him happy and to keep Benjie with me, I'm trying to re-train him and I might as well flush my head down the toilet because he doesnt listen.

Anyways the second session we did about an hour ago went well, we did it on the driveway where there are lots of distractions, my girlie did just as I expected her too - even with Adie. Louie tried to do it with Adie but decided his mummy knows how to work him properly and Benjie - lets just say there was improvement.

Adie's not struck on the idea of clicker training and finds it boring - no wonder I'm having a hard time with the dogs.

Ok, well after getting him to focus and his eye contact perfect in the house and garden, I thought I'd try it out on the field and walking, Springer x Lab nose got stuck to the ground. So Louie didnt do so well out in the field

Remember to move slowly. I'd get him perfect indoors for more than a few days and slowly build up to a field full of smells. You may feel silly but even if it means going to your driveway or the pavement just outside your house, it's another little step - little steps are the best way forward IMO.
Edit: Whoops, just read more and saw you've done the driveway. Is there somewhere slightly more boring than a field? Fairly empty carpark? A friend's garden where smells will be different but it's still fairly boring visually?

We're going to our house later so I'll do some there, it's practically a field but he's been before so it should be boring we're at his "grandmas" atm so I'll see about it later, I took him out for some recall training and it did work a little bit but birds are more interesting I guess :/

If he relies on his nose for entertainment, could you perhaps buy/make some really smelly treats so that his focus is half on you/your pocket rather than the other interesting smells? A bit of liver cake, or something similar?

We're using hotdogs atm and schmackos I would try sardines because he loves them but ugh they stink

You can try warming the hot dog in the microwave to make it smellier. You could try making liver cake with sardines instead, it will be smelly but not be as nasty to handle as just sardines.

Great job! IMO, you're doing great! I LOVE clicker training, but one of the great things about it, is if you're doing it and Adie isn't, it really wont matter much. With that clicker out, you are the most important thing. Now, once you've trained a behavior with the clicker, and you're no longer using it for that behavior, you'll want to see some consistency from your OH, but he should have no issue with a dog already trained, just make sure you do some reminder training sessions

for off lead training, i start them on lead, so I wont lose my dog's attention at first. I also keep sessions short, then let the dogs have play time. BUT what's great with the clicker training, is when, say Louie, is off lead running around being a puppy, when he comes back to you on his own, you can catch that behaviour with a click and treat, then let him go off and play again, you dont have to have regimented training sessions all the time. Catching the appropriate behaviour when the dog is not expecting it makes for a lot more thinking from the dog, if you know what I mean!