I was just wondering if anyone uses the clicker when teaching a dog to focus/make eye contact? For example... Kane knows that when I sat "look" to look me in the eyes... but the problem is trying to get him to "keep" looking at me. He usually rapidly looks back and forth from my eyes to the treat/toy/ground whatever. Can using a clicker help with that? If so when do I click? When he first makes eye contact or once he stares at me long enough? And how do I get him to focus on me longer? Not sure if this should be in the clicker section or the focus section... thanks for everyones oppinion in advance.

I always use the clicker for attention with puppies. It does take a bit of practise to get the timing just right. First of all I would buy a set of cotton tool pockets from home depot, and put your toys/food in that. Then at the first glance at your face, click and treat. Do a lot of really short ones, count to 1, click and treat, and do this for several sessions, try to have the dog be successful every time. If he looks at the food, or toys, take a step backwards and try again. You could also use a "uh-uh" at this point too. Gradually lengthen the time he must keep eye contact, but sometimes, reinforce for 1 second, sometimes 3, 5, 10.... Vary it so he never knows how long he has to look before the reward. If he breaks eye contact, move and start again.

Once I have the dog able to look at me solidly for 20 seconds or so, I hold a piece of food in my hand with my arm out to the side, as soon as he takes a quick glance towards my face, I reward, then gradually lengthen that out too. Once this is going well, I add a command, usually "look" or "ready" (which is nice for AKC obedience, you can repeat ready after the judge asks, and your dog locks on)

Louise

I have a question myself for you clicker experts. I have been experimenting with a clicker and my 10 month old GSD. I've been rewarding eye contact by an immediate click, then treat. However as soon as I click he breaks eye contact and looks at my hand with the clicker in it. Any suggestions?

One thing I might differ on a little with Louise is the part about associating the eye contact with the fact that the hanler is standing still. I believe its a better idea to do the same thing described, with handler taking little steps forward or to the side or back,just enough movement so the handler isnt standing still.I guess its no big deal how you start but I would start the movement as soon as I started getting eye contact.

John Hohman, you are doing this PERFECTLY! The click 'marks' the correct behavior as well as ENDING it by giving the reward. Usually they don't look at the clicker though, they start for the hand going for the reward/treat, as soon as the 'click' is heard. Since the sound of the click ends the behavior it shouldn't matter where he looks. What you will start doing is gradually increasing the time before you click and after he looks up at you.

You may want to read up on the sites I originally posted, clicker training is a fairly easy concept BUT there are alot of finer points that help the training really go fast. ( like IF YOU CLICK, YOU MUST TREAT!!!! even if your timing is poor and you clicked the wrong thing!).

Ahhh, makes sense! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> By the way I did check out the sites, and there is a ton of information there. My head was swimming afterwards. Anyway, I appreciate the info.

What do you mean, if you click you must treat?

Whats wrong with a good old pinch collor, praise, and the object of his drive? With this combination you can get your dog to do anything!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

If you click, you must treat The purpose of the click as a marker is that it's exact, precise, and clear to 'mark' a behavior you want the dog to do. The dogs are an active participant in clicker training with them wanting to learn and 'earn' the click/treat (which can be food OR play). While words can be used as a marker, many of us (me?) talk quite a bit while training, whether praising or whatever so for the dog to get the PRECISE instant of doing the correct 'whatever' is a bit more challenging to the dog to figure out. The reason the dog starts REALLY getting into the game and wanting to earn the clicks is the RELIABLILITY of knowing that when that sound occurs, they were brilliant and now WILL get the reward. It's like all dog training really, our timing is vital to catch the behavior and we need to be consistant and predictable with the rewards. If sometimes I click and the dog is rewarded, and sometimes I click and there is no reward, the dog will no longer be nearly as interested in the game and the learning is no longer clear with a known reward for learning behavior.

And say I have bad timing and click late/early? Hey, that's MY fault not the dogs, so they still get the treat. And then I fix it.

And Tim Leigh, you are right that the prong collar and praise does work. BUT the philosophy of the training is different. Instead of having your dog do something 'wrong' (look away) so that it is 'corrected' (with the prong/pinch) for being 'bad'................... It's about setting your dog up to suceed by 'rewarding' your dog when it does something 'right' (click/treat (toy)).

Will say that a combination of the clicker and prong can easily be worked in. First by doing the training with the clicker/treat so the dog has the positive and totally knows what you are asking. And then adding the prong with light pops as 'reminders' when they look away rather than 'corrections' so they learn.

I really have enjoyed STEPPIN' UP TO SUCCESS BOOK 1: THEORY, FOOTWORK, HANDLING, AND ATTENTION which is NOT specifically a clicker training book but for Obedience training. She does a great job of using praise, food, reward, clicker (if you want, not mandatory), AND prong collar to teach us to teach the dog in stages so it succeeds.