Have you tried clicker training?

snownose, you don't carry the clicker around all the time, you merely use it to train a new behavior.  Once the dog knows the behavior and can do it on cue, there is no further need for the clicker.  But, clicker trainers often *do* carry one around because it is then sooooo easy to teach the dog new things.

I am not saying clicker training is not successful,  I am merely saying that I am able to do without, one less thing to worry about when I am on the go.[]

I have not tried clicker training and I doubt I ever will.  My dog does not really need it.

ORIGINAL: DPU

The clicker just brings up bad memories for me.  In grade school the nuns used the clicker to control behavior in their class.  The nuns also used to beat the hell out of us for inappropiate behavior.  You advocate one and are strongly against the other.  I know kids are different from dogs but excuse me but I may need longer than a New York minute.  I do want to do whats best for the dog and teach my little buddies in the most effective manner.

Yet another misinterpretation of clicker training - by the nuns.  [:@]

I'm really sorry your introduction to what should be a pleasant motivational technique was so twisted. 

I clicker train, didn't always, but now I will always use a clicker.  I find invaluble in teaching and shaping new behaviors. 
 
I am amazed at how quickly Dasher picks up new behaviors using the clicker.  Granted, he is super driven anyway, but the clicker helps me communicate recisely the behavior I want.  It has been worth its weight in gold teaching agility. 
 
BTW, I do not carry a clicker with me everywhere I go. (I can't think that far ahead [])  I use it during class and when teaching new behaviors.  I also use "yes" as my clicker word, so when I don't have my clicker and want to mark a behavior I just say "yes"

A couple of weeks ago, my boyfriend clicked the clicker like he was pushing a remote control. Murphy came running from who knows where, and Ellie, heaven love her, with her new hip, was struggling to get up. I was shocked. "You never click to get their attention! You only click when they do something right. Oh dear" I scrambled for a reward and gave it to them and things settled down again.
 
Whew. [] Lucky for me, no harm done.
 
BTW, I thought the clicker was silly, too, but it speaks volumes to Murphy. I am learning a few things, thanks to the clicker: I don't need to talk so much; Murphy doesn't always understand me anyway. He's very nervous about not getting hurt or into "trouble" so ignoring what I don't want is working well for him. This is a win-win situation that keeps me from getting frustrated and keeps him from getting frustrated, too. With a shy dog, the clicker is working wonders.
 
And for my fellow Rally classmates--you want to know who the best students are? The ones who were previously trained (prior to Rally) through reward-based/clicker training. They know way more thant the other dogs and are way more reliable in their commands/proofing than the other ones. The leash-trained ones take longer. And this is coming from somebody who was a leash-trainer prior to the clicker (recent addition).
 
Hey, when you're the student watching other students in class work with their dogs, you know whose dog is the best one in class.

Argh my husband thinks that's what the clicker's for too! I've told him about a million times, don't click that thing unless you're prepared to hand out treats! If you want to get their attention, just shake the thing on it's keychain because they know that sound quite well.
 
Though I think I may be actually teaching him finally. Someone needs to write a clicker-training book for husbands, I swear!
 
I seem to have gotten him more interested in beginning to cross over our traditionally trained older dog to the clicker. I had DH and Conrad set up to click with the box while making dinner the other night. It was heartwarming []

From the last two post, is the Clicker technique more a preferred method for women versus men?  Is that also a reason why I am hesitant?  I have to get trained and try it.  I just don't get the difference between a clicker and making a popping sound using your tongue, the roof of your mouth, and suction.  I referenced Click Training classes in my area using the 2 sites provided in one of the threads.  I was disappointed that it was only offered at our local municipal shelter and I live in the Chicago area.

ORIGINAL: DPU

From the last two post, is the Clicker technique more a preferred method for women versus men? 

my wife and i both love doing clicker training with our dogs. i dont think it is gender specific, but like houndlove and nfowler alluded to you do have to learn the technique whether you are male of female. []

Hey DPU, there's no difference between the clicker, making a clicking noise with your mouth, a whiste, a hand-clap, a word, or any other cue to let your dog know they just did something right. The clicker seems to make a sound that many dogs kind of "get", but there's nothing special or magical about it. I like it for Marlowe because I noticed early on that the human voice just doesn't seem to make his neurons fire. He's not a handler-focused breed of dog and no one really cared about making him compliant to human voice commands when he was bred, so it's not really a trait he has. So the clicker makes this weird sound that's really poppy and sharp and he can't mistake it for anything else. But for a dog like Conrad, who's much more handler-focused and verbal-oriented, the clicker wouldn't be as important, though I still use it because I have one and I like it. Another advantage the clicker has is that it can help people with their timing. Timing is really important in dog training and by the time you say "good dog!" the dog has exectued another couple of behaviors and they may be confused as to which one is getting rewarded. The click is something you can do without thinking and can be heard clearly from pretty far away if you're working on behaviors that require the dog to be 20 feet away from you.  
 
I'd really recommend that you at least put some time into reading about this kind of training because there are a lot of misconceptions about it out there. It isn't about bribery and ideally you shouldn't even have the reward visible to the dog at the time of asking for the behavior once you've captured a behavior a few times. You don't need the clicker (or whatever) forever, just for teaching a new behavior and then you get rid of it, until you want to teach another. It's a learning tool, like a book, but once you've read the book you don't need to keep it open on your desk any longer.
 
This is all testified to by the CGC class we just took, which was clicker-based. But neither treats nor the clicker is permitted during the test itself. So, the entire goal of the class was to learn the behaviors with the clicker, then get the clicker and treats out of the picture as soon as the dog was ready. I still intermitantly reward for good sits and downs and stays, but Marlowe hasn't been clicked for any of those things in months.

ORIGINAL: DPU

From the last two post, is the Clicker technique more a preferred method for women versus men?  Is that also a reason why I am hesitant?  I have to get trained and try it.  I just don't get the difference between a clicker and making a popping sound using your tongue, the roof of your mouth, and suction.  I referenced Click Training classes in my area using the 2 sites provided in one of the threads.  I was disappointed that it was only offered at our local municipal shelter and I live in the Chicago area.

Clicker training is not gender specific.  In fact, Gary Wilkes is nearly as well known a clicker trainer as is Karen Pryor.  What I think may be more gender specific is the desire to "show the dog who's boss" attitude that seems, at least in my classes, to be more prevalent in men.  Quite a few come in as skeptics, but leave convinced, when they see how their dogs respond to reward-based training.

Another reason why women seem to be more "into" clicker training than men, is maybe because they also don't have the same strength to physically control/correct a dog- especially larger ones. I'm only a little person and so the more hands-off training is for me, the better it is.
I don't like the idea of physically forcing complicance because I'm just not strong enough to push my dog around, or for my dog to pull me around. 
 
Not that other training methods that don't use a clicker are all like that (or that extreme), but I hope you get my drift.

I'll be honest--my dogs aren't big and I can pick them up, even in a hurry, but I like clicker training because it keeps my hands OFF my dog. I'm serious! I'm so used to grabbing, popping, pushing, etc., and this has worked to make me really think as I train. I don't want to react. And not to bring things up again, 'cause I really do like my previous trainer and I think he has a lot to offer, but to have had him feel comfortable enough to grab my little missy and throw her over a Rally jump (about 2ft high), and then to see her not even able to catch herself before she thudded on her hip (just replaced and doing very well, thank you) on asphalt was my catalyst for finding a new way to train. I couldn't keep on that path. If I'm her "mom" or "leader" why would I put her in a spot where she might get hurt? I can't do that.
 
So, I need to change my behavior and it's been great. Last night I clicked with my other dog, practicing "Go to your Place" from a distance and when he didn't get it, I had to spend a few seconds remembering what, exactly, I needed to do in order to for him to go back to his place. And it all worked. Nobody got upset, nobody got physical, nobody got touched, and he did it!
 
For me, the clicker is a more specific way to pinpoint, for the dog, the right thing to be doing. A leash correction was for me a way to point out for the dog the wrong thing to be doing, but my dogs didn't always get that anyway.
 
And like I said, just watching other dogs in Rally--those who were clicker trained prior to this class were the best dogs. As a student in there, I can't help but see that. I wonder if our instructor did, too . ..

I spent 7 years doing leash corrections with Cherokee to try and get her to "heel". All that did was make her a very determined puller. After maybe five times of walking her and "being a tree" when she pulled, then clicking and treating when the leash slacked, she hardly ever pulls on walks. She's not in the perfect "heel" position, but I don't care. I thought her being in front of me meant she thought she was the boss, but I don't think that anymore, so she can be in front of me, beside me, behind me, on my head, whatever, as long as that leash is loose, I'm happy.

I guess it's a good thing that I had never heard of clicker training before I came here and started reading about it from people like Anne and Calypso (speaking of whom..where is she??), and then I got a few books about it. I didn't have any (false) preconceived notions about it being "silly", or about how it works (i.e. you DON'T need to carry a clicker around with you everywhere!).

It's a pretty nifty tool, that clicker, and the clicker training principles are even niftier.

chelsea, Calypso posts on ourdogsonline.com now - some of us do, too.  I'm sure she'd love to hear from you that she made a difference in your dog's life.  I know I did)