STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Drew · Gucci

A Better Way to Train Your Dog, Cat... Goldfish!

luckylily · Gucci

I'm sorry to hear about your rottie.

I trained our dog Mitch w/ a clicker and it is awesome! It's super easy and fast. He picks up new tricks and commands rediculously fast. We don't use the clicker much anymore because you phase it out once the dog knows the command. I'll definitely go back to it w/ my next dog tho, and I would highly recommend the clicker training system to anyone.

brazilian · Dooney & Bourke

Ive heard of clicker-training, but have never used it. I might have to try it mith my growing pup.

Whats the "regular" way of training? NO training should leave the dog fearful. Ive always used treats and postive reinforcement.

Drew · Gucci

^ For example, when you teach your dog to sit by forcing it's rump on the ground. Even if you give the dog a treat, it is still a form of coercion, which is not the best method of training. Another example is using a choke collar to train a dog to heel, or when horse trainers/riders train a horse to turn by pulling in one direction or the other.

All of it has negative consequences for the dogs/other animals.

I hope you will check out clicker training since you do have a pup. You can start right away and it is super easy and super fast.

Elle · Hermes

IMO clicker training works, and is a great choice for breeds that tend to be a little stubborn especially. We decided against using a clicker, but our trainer gave us the option to do so. In both clicker training and 'regular' training, you load the clicker or a word with a reward. Once they make the association that when they hear the click or a particular word, they've pleased you and get rewarded, subsequent training goes quickly! It's not a remote control though, unfortunately

. Anyway, IMO you can achieve the same results w/out a clicker, but some people find it easiest to stay consistent with the clicker. The consistency is really the key to any training!

The reason we chose not to is that I personally found the clicker cumbersome to use in every situation we would have needed it to, but many people find the opposite to be true and think it's much easier to give a consistent click than remember to say a specific word. You also eventually faze out the clicker, and we preferred to use a method that we'd be able to use all the way through.

The literature on clicker training is really interesting, though! Even if you don't want to clicker-train, the principles and techniques are really great and can still be applied to training. Just replace the click with a word ... we use 'Yes!'.

brazilian · Dooney & Bourke

I do my training mor like Elle. I dont use a clicker, but I believe I follow the same rules. You can also just click with your mouth, or use any noise that grabs their attention.