Clicker Training young pup for the house

[Mumpy]

I get my 8 week old Draht pup in two weeks and was wondering how everyone felt about Clicker Training for daily house commands such as Lie Down, Kennel, Sit, etc...

[Sharon]

Use it for all pups for house rules. Very effective.

[Nutmeg247]

Remember you can also just use your voice rather than a clicker. Minor pros and cons to either voice or clicker, but not that big a difference.

The term clicker training often implies, but doesn't require, "shaping" as a training technique, meaning marking some behavior the dog spontaneously displays with a "click" or verbal "yes," and rewarding it, and then slowly asking for more-refined or progressive versions of that behavior. Personally, there are some things like crating that I found easier by luring the dog into the behavior initially, rather than waiting for the dog to do some initial version of it.

[Sharon]

The advantage of clicker over voice is that the voices changes in intensity and tone and we aren't even aware of it. A click + perfect timing is always the same so pup learns more quickly.

"The click is not a reward. It is not only not an alternative to treats it USUALLY , but NOT ALWAYS precedes a treat. It is a behavior marker only. It is a clearer way to say "good dog" that is not impacted by body language, emotion, or lack of consistency."

[mountaindogs]

Also click vs voice: We use our voices all day long in lots of ways and dogs (like husbands) tune them out to a degree, but then jump up and run when they hear the cheese wrapper or cookie jar opened. This is because the sound is unique to that and it cuts through the background noise and snaps their brain to attention. Clickers do the same.

I love them and train with them often. puppies really learn quickly! I do also train a voice "Yes" in place of a clicker and use it as a fall back because it is always with me.

[Nutmeg247]

[quote="Sharon"]The advantage of clicker over voice is that the voices changes in intensity and tone and we aren't even aware of it. A click + perfect timing is always the same so pup learns more quickly.[...quote]

Yes, this is one of the clicker pluses. Interestingly to at least me, some agility and obedience trainers prefer their voice for just this reason, because they can give a stronger or weaker marker along with different amounts of reward. When I video myself, I tend to do all sorts of things I am not aware of, so don't know that I can use my voice with that precision, though.

There's also just clicking your tongue as your "clicker," which removes the issue of forgetting your clicker.