I discovered this site because Lily made a comment on an article of mine about dog clicker training, one that I had posted at ezine articles.(That’s a site where you can get articles for your own dog blog, or write ones for other dog bloggers to use, by the way.)

She pointed out the importance of teaching dogs what the clicker means before using it to teach any specific behaviors.  I hadn’t really divided things out that way, and it makes sense. So I took a look at her site.

So for more on clicker training, do visit her site! She also has a free email course on, what else, clicker training.

Just Found a Great Site on Clicker Training Dogs is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

A step-by-step training booklet comes with the clicker, and if you haven’t already downloaded my free ebook on dog clicker training, get it at the link!

I haven’t used this particular clicker myself, so I read through the reviews. I am always amused by how one person will love something and another person will hate it,  but most of the reviews gave this five stars. Someone mentioned using it for horse training, and someone else did warn that for a noise-averse clicker, the iclickers from Karen Pryor might be better. They are what I use myself, and here is a link: Karen Pryor i click clicker – RED, for Clicker Training — you can find other colors too.

If you haven’t tried clicker training, I love it! I don’t ALWAYS use it but it’s a great dog training method. See my ebook for more.

The StarMark Clicker Dog Training System is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Here are three top picks of theirs. I’m sure any of these would take you well beyond what I cover in  my free ebook on dog clicker training.

Clicking on any of the book covers below will take you to the pages at Dogwise, where you can learn more about each book.

Click N Connect by Teah Anders. This has got to be one of the most beautiful dog training book covers I have ever seen! I would be tempted to judge this book by its cover but luckily we don’t have to.

Here is a short review of the book, from a top clicker trainer, Kay Laurence: “This is more than a book about dog training. It encompasses an holistic approach to living with canine friends based on a heartfelt respect, understanding and experience. Teah brings together practical advice based on the scientific principles and great examples in an easily readable style that energizes you into interactive time with your dog. By following the step-by-step processes in the book, you will develop a new perspective of your dog and cannot but benefit from the time invested in your relationship.”

Karen Pryor is the main person who got clicker training for dogs started, so you can imagine that it’s quite an excellent book. It is. I have an earlier edition myself and have referred to it many times.

No surprise that Dogwise says Clicker Training for Dogs by Karen Pryor is their best selling beginning clicker book.

Click and Easy, by Miriam Fields-Babineau, is another easy to follow introduction. Here is what Dogwise says of it: “Noted dog trainer Miriam Fields-Babineau explains clicker training techniques step by step so that all dog owners can use the approach. Whether you want to train your dog to obey basic commands, perform tricks, compete in performance sports, or do service work, clicker training gets results and enhances your relationship with your dog.

Focusing on actual techniques rather than theory and science, this book explains how to: Use the three-step pattern: lure, click, reward; Use an appropriate tone of voice and the right verbal cues; Incorporate visual cues, with suggestions for signals for specific actions; Distraction-proof your dog, teaching him to focus on you (and the clicker) even when there’s lots of commotion.”

So click through and find out more about dog clicker training!

Three Beginning Books on Clicker Training Dogs is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

So now Terry has made a five-hour DVD based on a workshop she did.  I quote a bit:

Why Train a Chicken?

• Trainer’s are not “bonded” to their chickens.
• Chickens do not have big brown eyes.
• Trainers do not have bad (or good!) chicken training habits because they’ve never trained a chicken before, thus avoiding the baggage often taken to dog training workshops.
• You will not be showing your chickens at the next performance event, nor will you be taking them home, so there is no pressure on what will happen in the future.

If you click on the image, it takes you to Dogwise… Amazon didn’t have this. Even if you have no plans to train a chicken,  it’s fun to see the little snippet of video from the program. I found the first part of it a little confusing, but after a while I caught on that the chicken was going in figure 8s in one situation and  in an oval in another. A couple of times I caught it glancing at the trainer in the very same way our dogs glance at me to assess whether I am about to click and treat!

It just happens that Kelly and I have had chickens a couple of times, in different places, and not long ago we were chatting about maybe getting them again. Hmm… if we do, I think I will have to get this DVD myself and play around with it!

Clicker Training… CHICKENS? is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Listen to a short audio about this method:

If you would rather read than listen — or want to do both — this audio is based loosely on this page of my website: Dog Clicker Training.

And if you would like to download this audio to listen to on an mp3 player, for example, here is the direct link to it. Just right-click or the Mac equivalent to save it to your computer:

http://www.training-dogs.com/sound-files/dog-clicker-training.mp3

Clicker Training Dogs is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

I was very pleased to see that Morten and Cecilie, the authors of the ebook, take the same view I do that crate training is not something to be rushed!

They point out – as I could have said myself – that "most dogs like their creates if they’ve just been allowed time to gradually grow accustomed to them." It’s when people force their young puppies, or dogs of any age for that matter, into a crate and lock them in that dogs become resistant to ever using a crate.

So how do they suggest you use a clicker for crate training? By using targeting. Never heard of it, or not sure what it is? It’s very simple, the third thing they teach you to do in  Clickertraining. In a nutshell, targeting is getting your dog to touch a target stick, or post-it note, or whatever, by clicking when he touches it and then giving him a treat. As the dog gets the point, you can move the stick around and he’ll think it’s a great game.

Here’s one example of how easy targeting can be to teach: I did one session several years ago with my LarryDog, the dog in the logo at the top of this page. I was clicking and treating, and using a ruler in my right hand as my stick. (Dog training supply places sell nicer sticks. I’ve got one now but I didn’t then.) Then something came up at the library where I worked and I had to put in some extra hours. I didn’t get around to doing any more dog training for quite a while, but LarryDog thought the target "game" (as he saw it) was so much fun that he started following my right hand just in case I would give him a treat. So I did sometimes. To this day, with no more planned training on my part, LarryDog follows my hand sometimes!

Bit I digress. Back to the crate training process. Well, once you have a target-trained dog, it’s just a matter of putting the target just outside the crate and clicking and treating. Next, you go a bit inside the crate… and click and treat. You get the picture. Before long, the dog is entirely in the crate. And then it’s not hard to extend the time, gradually, with attention on how long the dog seems content inside.

To find out more about clicker training from this useful, enjoyable, and comprehensive ebook, click on the book to see its website. I’m learning something  from just about every page.

Crate Training with Clicker Training is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

In the past, have answered the first question by saying that you can use  a tongue click or some short and distinctive word as a clicker substitute. As for clickers in pockets forever… well, at the times when I have been actively clicker training a new puppy, I have had clickers in my pockets most of the day, but only for a few months.

I thought I’d see what Morten Egtvedt & Cecilie Koeste said in their very useful ebook, Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer. (The link takes you to their website.) After all, they have had way more experience than I have at clicker training dogs. And sure enough, they took my thoughts further.

They suggest that when you train a dog to understand that the sound of a clicker means something good is coming – a process that is called “charging” the clicker – you should also charge a word in the same manner. They suggest “yes!” but certainly you could use any word that is easy to say quickly, one-syllable, and not similar to the dog’s name or the name of anyone in the family. (If you or anyone in the family habitually says “Yes!” as a single word, I think you might rather use a different word, but the dogs are smart enough to tell when you’re speaking to them directly.)

They say that training “yes!” as well as a click is important to do because you “always carry your voice around with you.” So that gets away from being doomed to have clickers in your pockets forever.

Once you choose the word and start training it, you will always need to treat it as you would treat an actual clicker sound. That is, you can’t just use it with the dog when it does something you want to praise but you don’t want to go find a treat at that moment. For example, if you are sitting watching a TV drama and your dog does something you like, just say “What a good dog!” or something like that.

When I looked up what Morten and Cecilie had to say about this, I found myself in a section of the ebook where they make the comments I have drawn on here. And while I was there, I made a screenshot of a very handy training chart that was right there too. By this point in the ebook, they had already written a whole chapter on step 1.1, finding rewards the dog likes, and they had explained the other steps more fully. I’m showing it here because I think charts like these are a really great way to keep yourself on track as you train, and also because it shows that they are giving equal importance to your training the “yes!” as well as the click. By the way, this chart is the first of 30 such charts in the ebook.

If you’d like to know more about Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer, just click! (Sorry, saying “yes!” won’t take you to their website.)

Clicker Trained Dog – But No Clicker in Your Hand! is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

I was pleased to discover a new book on clicker training. Actually it’s an ebook, which to my eyes is even better because you can download it instantly after purchase and be reading it within a few minutes, no matter where you live, it can have links embedded in the text, and it’s way more ecological. Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer is by Morten Egtvedt & Cecilie Koeste, a couple with a lot of experience in clicker training dogs. (Clicking on the image or on the title above takes you to their website.)

At 213 pages, it will take you more than a few minutes to read it, but that’s with wide margins and big print. (You can read it on your computer, or print it out. I soon realized it was such a useful book to refer to that I would want it on my bookshelf, so I printed it out and put it in a 3-4ing binder, where I could take a few pages out at a time.) In the beginning, Morten and Cecilie do tell you, ” We can’t deliver miracles –just  pass on the principles of effective dog training. You have to be prepared to devote time and energy…”  That’s true of anything worthwhile, but I’ll add that once you master the basic principles of clicker training dogs, you have a very useful tool for the rest of your life.

I enjoyed their analogy that reading the book without trying out clicker training is like buying sheet music and not playing it. They further extend this analogy to say that you can use the exercises they provide as things to improvise on, as a jazz musician would. They also predict that you will enjoy the process, and that any mistakes you make in the beginning won’t matter.. they are an inevitable part of your learning something new.

I laughed out loud at the “For the Dog” section of the introduction. Here’s just one little bit: “Clicker training an owner really is rather simple. It’s all about
making the owners click, because every time they do that we get something that we want.” It stretched my mind – in a very enjoyable way – to look at clicker training from the dog’s point of view.

So What Is In Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer?

The book starts by telling you what clickertraining is and isn’t.  I didn’t expect to learn much from this section and was pleasantly surprised when I did. One point was that since clicker training has become so widely used, you don’t necessarily know how people train if they say they use clickers. They could be using the methods originally developed by Karen Pryor, their own (jazz) variations on them, or something not that different from the more heavy-handed “ya gotta dominate” approaches with some clicks thrown in.

The book naturally divides into three parts:

The first chapters explain clicker training in general. You may not be familiar with everything on this list, but they explain things clearly:

• What is clicker training?
• Positive and negative reinforcement
• The 4 secrets of becoming a supertrainer
• Find an effective reinforcer!
• Conditioned reinforcers
• Training techniques
• Target training
• Stimulus control
• Backchaining
• The retrieve
• Generalization
• Crossover dogs and horses
• Five common syndromes

The second section is a very useful guide to 30 specific training  situations and tricks:

1. Charging the conditioned reinforcer
2. Eye contact: look at me
3. Targeting
4. Following you
5. Loose-leash walking
6. The recall
7. The sit
8. The down
9. The stand
10. OK!
11. Offering you to put the collar on
12. Handling
13. Polite greetings – for the eager dog
14. Polite greetings – for the warier dog
15. Waiting alone
16. Crate training
17. Puppy biting
18. Getting used to different environments
19. Holding an object (retrieving)
20. The retrieve
21. Switching the lights off and on
22. Shutting drawers
23. Riding in a wheelbarrow
24. Go to a family member – the postman game
25. Go to mat when there’s someone at the door
26. Getting the newspaper out of the mailbox
27. Doing the laundry
28. The spin
29. Choosing the right tool
30. Getting a soda from the fridge

The ebook ends with some last words, references, and more. I could say more but this is long enough. You can go to the website of Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer by clicking (think I’ll skip the obvious pun) on the picture of Morten Egtvedt, Cecilie Koeste, and their dogs:

Clickertraining: the 4 Secrets of Becoming a Supertrainer – A Review is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

This dog training tip uses clicker training methods. if you aren’t familiar with clickers, you can get a free copy of my ebook Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog by subscribing to my weekly email newsletter. The link takes you to the page where you can find out more and sign up if you wish.

Put a clicker in one hand and a small treat in the other. For most dogs, the treat can simply be a piece of their dry kibble.

You and your dog or puppy should be alone in a place without distractions such as other dogs or people. Indoors is generally less distracting than outside, but a quiet yard is fine. You want enough room that you and the dog can move around.

You also want to be where you have a small container of the treats out of reach of the dog, so you can grab another one easily.

Your dog should be standing up or walking around as you begin this process. Show him the treat in your hand, close enough that he can smell it and at about eye level. He may move forward to sniff it or he may just watch you. In any case, raise that hand with the treat up higher than his head and back over his head… so he has to sit in order to keep watching you.

The very instant that his rear touches the ground or floor, click the clicker. Then open your luring hand – that’s the one with the food — and let him take the treat from your outstretched palm. (This is a much safer method for your fingers than giving him the treat right from your fingers! I always give treats from my palm.)

Now, what if the dog doesn’t sit when you try this? What if he jumps up for the treat,  moves away as you raise the treat, or does something else? You don’t click or reward because he hasn’t done what you want. You can say something like “Too bad!” if you want to, or just say nothing. Then create a bit of a timeout, for example, turn around or just stand looking out at nothing for a few seconds. Then try again. Normally, dogs get the sit quite quickly, as it comes naturally to them to sit in order to see the treat. If you still have trouble after a try or two, be sure you are moving the treat in a way that would naturally make the dog move into a sit.

After the treat has been consumed, walk to a different place in the room and repeat the process. Do this quite a few  times in a session, but I wouldn’t go more than about 10 minutes, and only 2 or 3 minutes for young puppies. You can do several sessions a day. 

Dog Training Tips: The Sit, Part 2 of 3 is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Here is how they did it in a study in the UK:

First, they showed a professional dog trainer teaching an exuberant dog to sit with the clicker. This was basic clicker training, very much like I describe it in my free ebook, Seven Steps to Clicker Training Success with Your Dog — the man clicked when the dog sat and then immediately gave her praise and a small tasty reward.

Next, they used an apparatus on the floor,

essentially a box maybe a foot high and several yards long, with several small openings where the researchers could put things that the dogs could smell but not really get to. Food of some sort was put in only one of the several openings, and the dog was clicked and treated for sitting at that opening.

Once the dog had the idea, the study moved to a situation where a sample of urine in a plastic container was the thing the dog had to sit for. This urine was taken from a man with prostate cancer, and the other holes had nothing in them. Once the dog understood that, they added urine samples from men known not to have prostate cancer in the other holes, and again the dog was clicked and rewarded for sitting at the right opening — which it mostly did.

The dog might have been picking up cues from the trainer, so next they corrected for that. There were numbers on the wall for the openings and the trainer didn’t know which sample was the correct one. A research assistant who had placed the samples closed himself into the adjacent bathroom so the dog couldn’t see him. When the dog sat, the trainer immediately called out “three” or whatever the number was where the dog sat. If the assistant called back “correct,” then the trainer immediately clicked and treated. When the dog didn’t get it right, the trainer did nothing and the dog was free to sniff around some more.

Clicker training was so effective in getting the dogs to understand what the people wanted them to do. I loved it.

It was very exciting to watch the dogs getting things right, but sometimes they didn’t. This documentary had the date of 2005 on it, so perhaps research has continued since then. It had been hard to get funding, though. In one research program in Florida, dogs were able to detect down to two parts per trillion of some samples. That was a different form of cancer; I don’t remember which.

The show had a real-time personal experience, where a woman had a lesion on her leg. One of her dogs paid it no attention, but her Miniature Pinscher wouldn’t leave it alone, and kept licking it and licking it. Finally the woman decided she might as well have it checked and went to a doctor. It turned out to be pre-cancerous and she had it taken care of.

I don’t think I will be clicker training LarryDog or Lola to sniff out cancer, but I must say that if any dog ever starts paying undue attention to a mole or bump, I will get me to a doctor! The program was called something like “Can Dogs Detect Cancer?” and is worth watching if you come across it.

Clicker Training Dogs to Detect Cancer is a post from: Training Dogs Blog