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Charging your clicker not working

3K views 35 replies 15 participants last post by  robk 
#1 ·
So I have watched a few videos on charging your clicker and what I see is that you click then treat about a second later. You just do this until the pup understands that when I hear the click I get a treat. Not sure if he's getting it or not cause I can click but he doesn't make any type og gesture that sais he understands. Granted we have only done four sessions. How longdoes it typically take to charge your clicker?
 
#3 ·
I don't know if I'm 100% the way the videos say to do it... but I do like 10-20 times of "charging" the clicker. I click, treat, click, treat, click, treat, click, treat, etc. And then immediately go into a command. For a young puppy, I start training the sit. Sit, click, treat. Charge once or twice (ONLY if they are still sitting), and then get them up, and try to sit again. Add the command, the pup sits, then I click and treat. And continue training the sit, clicking as soon as the pup touches the ground with their butt. Charge a few more times, etc.

Not just sit there for 10 minutes and click and treat click and treat. Since I want the dog to understand that they have to do something in order to get the click and the treat, not just click and "ooh! treat!".


For me, doesn't take long. I don't use a clicker with my pup, I cluck my tongue. She now will hear it and look expectantly for the treat.

Your pup right now probably thinks that you're making clucking noises and giving treats... not necessarily that the cluck means he's doing something you want so he gets a treat.


Just a thought...
 
#6 ·
I both clicker and marker train.

They aren't the same thing, but I do a mixture with my own animals.... clicker helps the animal (as I do it with my cat and my horse as well) know it's doing the right thing, and marker helps it know how to do it.... to an extent. :p
 
#8 ·
Maybe I'm not thinking in the same terms y'all are. Marker training involves some sort of marker.


Or... wait... no. I'm thinking of target training... using markers.


Gosh... so many terms. I mix a lot of different methods into what I do... I can't keep up with all the official names of stuff....
 
#9 ·
When I'm talking about marker training, I have a marker. Could be my hand, could be a ball on the end of a stick, could be something on the floor, depends on what I define as "marker" or "target". And then use that to lure the animal into positions, like "sit" or "down" or "circle" or whatever. And clicker is what I use to confirm the correct action.


I just mix in whatever works best for what I'm doing/needing...
 
#27 ·
as others have probably said by now, this is called "target training" or "targeting".

Marker training is simply using something to "mark" the behavior - a word, a sound, whatever you choose. I use "YES" as my marker.
Clicker training is just marker training using the clicker to mark the behavior
 
#10 ·
Lol you sounded so sure in your first post and then you went and confused yourself. Leading the dog with your hand or a ball is called luring. Clicker/marker training is the same to me except one you have to carry around a weird looking tool everywhere. I was being fetcicious; your post about charging the clicker was spot on.

Terminology doesn't matter except when you give advice th wrong terminology might confuse people
 
#13 ·
The clicker is a crisp noise that sounds the same all the time. You can do that with your voice but a lot of people have trouble with consistency.

I was recently told "NO is NOT a two syllable word!" Hey, I live in the South. The point was I was saying NO but by tone of voice was saying please.

Well, that's my two cents. On charging it, the video is a great idea.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Here is what I'm betting is happening. You're performing an action before you click that the pup is seeing as a predictor of the click and resulting food and ignoring the click as a result.

Also consistency with the sound if a yes a no or good doesn't really matter that much over a relatively short amount of time. A flat yes a happy yes and a shrieking yeeeeeees! The dog is gonna learn to come get that reward really quick. Yes, bess, fess, mess and that dog is coming because it's (close enough). Especially for a reward release marker. Carrying around a clicker is kinda silly.
 
#15 ·
To each their own. I see a difference in how fast they learn with the clicker vs. marker training. I can mark the action with a clicker faster than with my mouth.

The thing with clicker training is it should be used to get the dog started on something. Not forever. I only use it to teach what I want and then I use markers Yes!. When my dogs here that they are excited. And Bailiff is correct, it doesn't matter if I whisper it or yell it. They know they've done something right.

OP - just keep clicking and rewarding. Do that several times and then click and wait a second. See if he turns his head even the slightest towards you. Reward any small movement even if he is not looking all the way at you. that should tell him that looking towards you is what you want. When he finally fully looks at you, click and give him a jackpot. Many treats in fast succession and make a party of it. You can do it again to reaffirm it for him and then put the clicker up and let him think about it.

When you are teaching something, don't beat it to death. How did my breeder put it to me this last week...You should be done before he is!
 
#16 ·
I use both clicker and marker training, but specifically use the clicker for training things like the out of motion IPO exercises. My training partner is also geared with a clicker, and as I am heeling my dog and give the command, he is able to click the exact moment the dog performs it correctly, while still presenting the normal "trial like" picture to the dog. No movement from me to check and see if my dog did it right, no second handler walking backwards down the field to give me the thumbs if when its good, and no verbal cue of "good" from my second handler either. Trial picture all done with a silly box :)
 
#17 ·
a click is just a mark. I really don't think it matters what a person uses in the end. I don't measure my training by the first 2 weeks, but by the end result and they aren't all that different in terms of performance or time.

I like verbal marks, if i am not consistent in the beginning, though I think I am consistent enough the dog can pick it up really freaking quickly, they learn to read me and my voice and all the variables that are going to come up later. So sure, in the very beginning stages, being mechanical and sterile might help, I think any perceived "advantage" is short lived over verbal marks. longer term, I think the verbals offer advantages to me at least, in terms of that variability because they learn that I am variable too and how to read it. Maybe I'm just biased because I haven't figured out how to make a clicker click :)

I never "charge" anything. They always have to do something for me :) I'm a real prick that way. It takes them a little bit to understand, but that's ok, i can't think of any training that doesn't. They look at me, mark....reward. They come to me, mark....reward. Lure to sit, down, to heel, mark....reward.

It doesn't take long before they are learning all the things I want them to. To test if they know it, which is usually just a week or so depending on the particular situation, i get them doing something that allows them to completely ignore me and when I see them off doing something else, not expecting any sort of training to be happening, I mark, and they always spin around and come running so fast to get their reward. I know it's conditioned.
 
#21 ·
Before I ever used a clicker, I used to think "why are these stupid things so popular?" Then I had to learn how to use one for our class. My "stupid" was more about being unfamiliar with it (big surprise, ha) and being "popular" doesn't always mean gimmick, lol.

I think they're awesome for precision marking, when timing is everything. For example, clicking when the dog's jaw releases to teach "Drop it" worked for me in under 5 minutes. Like most dogs out there, seeing the 2nd ball would make him drop the 1st one, and it was so easy for him to make the connection because his action was simultaneous with the click. It was so clear to him what he was doing right that he was doing it on cue in no time.

I would much rather just use a verbal marker, but most things that he's learned aren't so dependent on actual precision timing, because it's an overall action - like handing me something, or jumping over something, etc. I can't compare the two now, because they seem to each have their own unique applications, IME.
 
#28 ·
Yup... I had a couple drinks last night (at home mind you) and wasn't thinking totally clearly. But yes. Already pointed out, it's "target training" or "luring". I was thinking "marker" as in the target/marker.

Not marker as in marking the behavior... which is what I do since I don't use a clicker, but a tongue cluck.

But yeah. :p I really do know what I'm talking about in regards to the action of it... terminology just screws me up sometimes.
 
#29 ·
I would say offer the treat faster. Have the treat in your hand, where he can see it. Show it to him, click and give. Within a couple seconds he should get the idea

after watching your video, I'm thinking he does have the idea. You click, he looks at you, you give the treat. He knows that click = treat coming.
 
#33 ·
I actually don't bother charging the clicker anymore, I just do what you're doing in the last video - he looks at you and you click and treat. That's called "capturing" a behavior - you haven't actually given him any kind of cue beforehand, he just offers up eye contact and you mark and reward it when he does.

The more you do this, no matter what the behavior, the more he will offer it. (He is ADORABLE, BTW. :D) Works for sits and downs, eye contact, coming towards you (the beginning of a recall), etc. Once he's consistently offering something, you can name it by using your command right before you think he's going to do that behavior, wait until he does, then immediately click and treat to reinforce it.

The only thing I think I might change in your video is to put the clicker in your right hand, and the treats out of sight to your left. It does look like he's looking at you and not the treats, but having the treats beyond his line of sight would make it even clearer.
 
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