Hi , Oscar has been her for a week tomorrow , and tomorrow is his big day at the vets for his check up , first injection etc . Now he is all settled it's time to start training .
We have all the toilet training more or less sorted so we are now on to basic training.
I have a clicker for which i also had instructions via email but email all got lost :(
Is the clicker the best method of training?
Any tips etc would be gratefully recieved. Oscar is a labrador if this helps.
Speak soon , thanks in advance.

Hi

Sorry I know nothing about clicker training so can't help there :(

When we got Bailey (lab) we just started his training by making him sit for his dinner and then introduced down. We got the positions by using food lures.

To get sit we would slowley raise the food above his head and said 'Sit' as his head comes up his bum goes down! And once he was sitting he got the treat :) He soon caught on to this!

We then taught down by slowley lower the trat down infront of his nose.

HTH a bit

Tracy

Labs are food orientated !!! Mine responded best to vocal commands and a titbit, then weaned her off the titbit. I've heard you can get good results with clicker training, but only seen it used on problem dogs ie. excessive barking and hyperactivity - hope someone responds to you who has used it for normal training. Have you tried the search option on the message board and seen if this topic has come-up elsewhere? :-)

Hi i had a clicker but didnt do any good he would rather me use a tidbit but every dogs different so it may work good luck :)

We use a clicker, and have seen brilliant results - the thing to remember is that you still have to give a reward tho!! Do you know of any pupy classes near by?? Really, i think if you are going to use clicker training, you need to be taught by someone who has some knowledge of it in order for it to be effective - other wise you might just end up confusign your pup!! Its marvellous when used right though!

I took Heidi to a training class using the clicker method, I found it was great while we were using the clicker with treats, but soon as we started to cut the treats down and praise her only, she started to lose interest for some reason. We then put the clicker away and left it for a week and started training her again just using plenty of praise and the odd treat at the very beginning of teaching her something new and this seems to work fine. I did stop going to the class at this time because of illness and a personality clash, so I might not have been doing it right.
I must add though that I followed the advice that John has written for gun dog training the second time, and this has worked perfectly for us.

Robert

p.s I've put my name down for the book, any chance of a flattering picture and a brief life histroy in side the dust cover John. It would be nice to put a face to the postings

There will be a life history section of John's very long and distinguished life and maybe a picture in the book! :-). John wasn't very forthcoming with some of his own mugg shots , more of the lovely 'Flower' ! Don't know why as he is a very handsome young man !!

Lucy

Only just seen this bit! Photos of me! I'm the doddering old fool with "The Flower" in the book! I was told by the photographer to stay in the background in case I broke the camara!

John

It's a shame the majority of responses here sound so disappointing regarding clicker training because if used properly it really is a great method - of course the dog is eventually weaned off the clicker if used properly.

Do a search for clicker on the site and you'll find lots of good threads.

Wendy

I knew someone who used it on their pup. The pup was 8 weeks old and my friend was building a fence using all sorts of noisy equipment (technical talk :) ). Everytime the dog would look at where the noise was coming from (acting a little anxious), my friend would give a command (sit) and when the dog listened he received a treat. It took only 4 such repetitions and the pup just flopped on the ground paying no attention to the noise.

I use clicker training with great results! The clicker takes the place of a word such as 'good', it lets the dog know instantly that it has done what you wanted it to. Once the clicker is heard the dog knows ( because it is tuned into the clicker - simply click and treat a few times so that the dog learns the association) that they will be treated. This is based on operantt conditioning and shaping. The dog will then try to find what behaviour activated the clicker in order to get the treat. the more times the behaviour is paired with the clicker with more certain the dog is and is able to offfer the behaviour consistently. The clicker doesn't take the place of praise, it simply acts as a marker, is something which is always consistant, the noise doesn't change and can pinpoint the behaviour instantly. You can shape any behaviour by clicking when the dog offers anything like the behaviour you want, then once the behaviour is learn add the name. I was skeptical at first but after research and through use i found it to be excellent - I am doing a psychology degree and found that the technique follows the rules of learning perfectly. Once the dog has learn't the behviour you then add a word to it so that the dog can can learn to associate it with the behaviour. Once again I would recommend joining a class that uses clicker training. I don't think you should have any problems as labradors are higly intelligent and very motivated to work for food treats. I have three labs in my class at the moment and they seem to be the quickest to progress.
Good luck, and please ask if you need any advice on clicker training.

Hi
Thanks for all your replys , will be doing a thorough search of the site today . I bought the clicker from a lady on ebay , she also sent me the beginnings of how to train but obviously the more info the better . Going to do lots of training with the clicker this week , and will post progress next week . (gonna be hard , all kids on easter holidays AHHHHHH).
Psychology degree - cool im doing this but with the open university.Hard work . Am taking a break year this year . We had a timed wriiten piece last yr , have become so used to typing everything , i could hardly write with a pen and my arm ached after 2 seconds. Surely they should make it optional to use a laptop or something.

Just thought i should add that im not sure if oscars hearing is quite upto scratch , unless i click right next to him he either does not hear or does not respond , he does not really respond to much noise. I have one of the bug clickers.

It might be an idea to get his hearing checked just to be on the safe side. It might just be that he doesn't understand what the sound means, once he knows it means food I think he might listen more carefully. I agree with the laptop idea, writing with a pen is murder!!
Good luck with the training, keep me posted!

I dont think thee is a "best way of training" .
Different methods suit different dogs and different people . Think its just matter of finding what suits you AND your dog
Lel

Being hard of hearing is not usual for a Labrador although I do try to check out any puppy i'm interested in just in case. Snap my fingers behind their head when they're not looking. Selective hearing is a more normal thing for Labs ;)

Training dogs is always a matter of experiment. The training of a Yorkie by a 6ft 15stone person would pose a totally different set of problems to the training of a Great Dane by a person of 5ft nothing and weighing 7stone!

Sometimes our dogs learn something which is totally opposed to what we were trying to teach. Bad handling? Maybe but it happens! The answer is to find a different way of teaching the exercise. This is usually easier than trying to undo the original training and starting again.

Best wishes, John

Hi John
what you have just explained makes alot of common sense but i never thought of it like that i crouch down so our puppy is more confident but definatley Labradors suffer from selective hearing the food dish rattling always brings them running i have ordered the booked based on the advice you have given on here i have had labs for 22 years but i have learned alot

David

In retrospect, I don't claim that clicker training is the 'best way of training', however i have had a lot of success with it, and seen many others do the same. the basics of all training is the same, you are teaching dogs asssociations. no dog speaks human language and you are teaching the dog through repetitions and associations. the clicker is just an aid. in theory you could take away the clicker and just use praise. however it is a better alternative to any form of learning through punishment snd has proved itself in being useful in training dogs, horses and dolphins.

Could not agree more Lucyandmeg. Years ago training was called Breaking and that was exactly what it was! Thankfully we have moved on from those days and now try to use brain rather than brawn.

Best wishes, John

Hi David. I hope you enjoy it. I've had so much fun with my dogs over the years I thought I would try to pass some of the fun on and at the same time help Labradors in rescue just a little.

Best wishes, John

I'm sure I've missed the relevant post, John...where is this book available from? :)

Sorry Jan but it is not released yet and as I wrote it I think under the terms of service, for me to give details would be advertising so I'll email you.

Regards, John

;) Thanks, John. :)

thankyou everyone for your reply.
John - could you possibly offer advice on teaching Oscar to not go on the sofa - i say the word OFF and take him off the sofa but he will get back on again ? At a loss with this one!

I know i am not john but i read this in a book once. Spread a sheet of tin foil on the sofa cushions. When the dog jumps on it it makes a startling rustling noise that prevents them from trying it again. Never tried it but i thought it was a very good idea.

Thanks for that will be trying this today to see if it works and will post results later . Though hes that intelligent he will probably notice the minute i take it off lol.

Rustling sound for a Lab means only one thing.........food !! :D Wouldn't deter my lot !! Persevered with training them to be invited when asked !!
Lucy