Clicker Training With Vicky
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Clicker Training with Vicky |
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All about Clicker Training, in words, pictures, and videos! |
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The click sound, along with a treat, is given at the moment the animal does the behaviour you'd like repeated.
It is necessary that you always give the 'treat' when you use the 'click' sound. If you don't...soon the 'click' sound won't mean anything to the animal...and it will seem that clicker training does not work.
Clicker training is simple, but not easy!
Many of the photos on this page have videos under them. Click on a photo to watch a video. These videos have no sound. |
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Start by practicing with clicker and treats. Keep your 'treat-holding hand' absolutely still until you deliver the treat.
You do not need to teach your dog that 'Click' means 'treat'. Having your dog 'hang out' while you practice may allow your dog to figure this out, but really, it doesn't matter. Doing one of the exercises below, to begin with, will allow your dog figure this out. |
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Start with one of these two exercises.
Which dog sounds like yours? |
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The food driven dog "Help! My dog goes wild over treats, and won't work unless s/he gets one!" |
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The 'show me' dog "My dog Just sits and stares at me, waiting for me to tell her what to do!" |
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If this sounds like your dog, start with the 'Treat in hand 'Zen' Exercise'
Here, your dog will learn: "To get the treat, I must be willing to give up the treat!"
Get ONE yummy treat. |
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If this sounds like your dog, start on 'Targeting'. Your dog will learn: "Let's see if I can guess what my mom will pay me for!"
Clickers are LOUD! For a quiet clicker: buy a bottle of Snapple, and save the lid. A Snapple lid makes a great 'quiet clicker'. Place this 'quiet clicker' on a stick, as shown in the photo, and the video. Pushing the top of the lid down, with your thumb, will make a little 'pop' sound. Thank you to my great hand model! |
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| Close your hand... |
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Start with the target 1/4 of an inch from your pet's nose. Yes! That close! The instant the nose touches the stick, CLICK and hide the stick. At the same time...drop the treat in front of the dog. Start by doing ONE touch, and clicking and treating that. Take a 2 minute break, and then come back and do one more. |
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Turn your hand over...and hold your closed hand in front of your dog's nose...wait... |
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When the dog is easily doing 5 touches, you can begin to time these five touches. In Vicky's classes, students use a timer so that they can see how their dogs are doing. |
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| Your dog may at first, sniff, or chew on your hand, trying to get the hand to open. The instant there is the teeniest space between your dog, and your hand... CLICK the clicker, and open your hand so the treat falls onto the floor. |
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We skipped a few steps here (but not in real life) and the trainer is no longer holding the target. Now this dog can find the target from furthur away. This is the beginning of retrieving. |
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Click on the photo and watch the video Notice that the trainer is keeping her 'treat-holding-hand' absolutely still. As soon as the puppy's nose is .00001 of an inch from her hand, she clicks the clicker and opens her treat holding hand. |
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Targeting can be learned by any species. Here 'Sparkle' targets her ball.
Note: The clicker being used here has a lot of electrician's tape wrapped around it, making it much quieter than most clickers. |
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In these two 'zen' videos, the trainer is clicking the clicker and opening her hand, so that the treat falls on the floor, the instant there is a space between puppy and hand. Don't worry about anything else for now! |
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What's next? Open hand zen...stranger zen...food on table zen...food on floor zen...and these 'baby steps' in targeting can lead to retrieving...go backs...you name it! |
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Click here to talk with others about clicker training. |
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Contact Vicky
Order the Clicker Training video. |
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