obdience, agility, and clicker training

[dab_20]

Thanks everyone! Jessika, once I do that click 20 times a day thing and get a treat for a week, when I train him do I still use treats? Or just click the clicker?

I am going to put Sam in Obedience first, then we will start agility. Hopefully I can put Molli in obedience so she can be more socialized also, and learn more commands. The only commands Sam knows so far is he can sit (still working on it, though) and I can walk over to his kennel with him and say 'kennel!' and he will walk in and lay down.

[Jessika]

When you train, you will still use treats. Charging the clicker only tells them that they will only get a treat when you click the clicker. So instead of anticipating a treat, they will anticipate a click instead (but will still expect a treat)

[Dixieland Dancer]

I strongly recommend reading up on clicker training before you start using it. It is easier to teach the correct way from the start than to have to retrain a unwanted behavior later. Check out clickertraining.com with Karen Pryor. She is one of the original clicker trainers (even teaching fish to jump through hoops in their fish tank).

If you are enrolling the dog in an obedience class, perhaps they will be clicking and you should follow the instructors lead. Clicking helps shape the behavior faster because the click is a consistent sound the dog becomes conditioned too. You do need to know how to do it properly for optimal results.