Clicker Training

[Guest]

Has anyone tried clicker training. I like the idea behind the training, I was wondering if anyone has tried it and how it worked.

[bradl]

Interesting question. Hope someone with some real experience comes by. I don't know anyone personally who has done a lot of clicker training.

We've done a little and mostly just for small behaviors. We trained our boy to ring a bell to go outside using a clicker. I swear it only took about ten minutes.

As a sidenote, he learned by using his nose to nudge the bell, which led to a somewhat unpredictable clanging sound as the bell swung around on the leash that held it. Our older girl we had trained differently; she punches the bell like a prizefighter. So you could tell who was ringing the bell by how it rang. We stopped using the bell though when she started using it like a butler pull to summon us to the kitchen (with hopes of treats) rather than to go outside.

[Guest]

Brad....we have tried (unsuccessfully) to train our puppy, who is now 5 months old, to use the bell. We bought a 'jingle bell' and hung it right on the storm door using a suction cup. Thought he could hardly miss it there. Ha-ha...he scratches on the door everywhere EXCEPT on the bell!

I put peanut butter on it at first...and he licked it off, of course. Then, everytime he scratched at the door, I grabbed his paw and said"ring the bell" as I opened it. Still no luck!

May I ask what kind of bell you use and where you hung it?

I can't think of what to try next.

Thanks,

Cathy

[Guest]

I found this article on clicker training: Clicker Training with your toy breed dog. www.suite101.com/article.cfm/17552/98282 It says you can train very complex tasks. I started last night with getting Reb use to the clicker. I like the training because it is so positive.

After reading the article I can see how it would work with ringing a bell. I can't image teaching a dog to make the bed.

[bradl]

We found a large brass bell at an Import Plaza type store and used a leash to hang it so it was at nose level for the dog. (A cowbell also works just fine and is usually cheaper.) With our girl we just rang the bell ourselves every time we took her out or opened the door. Since she was a puppy we took her out a lot. I think sometimes we used her paw to poke the bell as we went past. We didn't make a big deal about it, just pretended that toucning the bell was as much a part of OUR opening the door as operationg the latch. We did this for a week, probably, so figure fifty or so trips outside. We also 'set her up' with toys near the door so that in the course of playing, if she bumped the bell, we would RACE over to the door, whip it open and lead her over the threshold and have a big party on the deck. If we got her in motion and following us we'd race out to the lawn and have a party. All she knew was that bell led to treats and they were delivered outside.

The boy we just used the clicker. He already knew click=treat. So we just set up next the bell and gradually tied the bell to the click. At first, if he even looked in the direction of the bell: click/treat. Then slowly raise the stakes. Looking's not good enough, touch the bell. In a couple minutes he's nosing the bell and looking for a treat. Then we just transitioned to nosing the bell = us opening the door and THEN he gets the treat. Then nosing the bell, us opening the door and running out to the grass to give him a treat. Done. We didn't really give any effort at all to the going potty part, but if he happened to pee while we were out celebrating a bell-ring, why another click and a jackpot of treats. In all seriousness, he was ringing the bell in one day to go out. No doubt he wanted to go out just to get a treat, but once he was out there, why nature often called