As anyone worked with a clicker in detection work? I'm referring to using it as a marker of correct behavior during the alert. It seems most handlers I have worked with cannot seem to time their praise right or. Verbal marking is fine with someone who understands timing.

I'm just throwing this out there to try and start some discussion. This not meant to be a topic about whether you like or dislike clicker training.

I've never heard of clicker training being used, that of course does not mean it hasn't. Most detector dogs I've been associated with are either rewarded with the ball (toy) or food during training. We teach not to reward the dog during an actual search, which is why we use a variable reward system during training. Not rewarding during actual use is primarily a safety issue, and can be a training issue.

DFrost

Originally posted by Mark Connolly:
As anyone worked with a clicker in detection work? I'm referring to using it as a marker of correct behavior during the alert. It seems most handlers I have worked with cannot seem to time their praise right or. Verbal marking is fine with someone who understands timing.

I'm just throwing this out there to try and start some discussion. This not meant to be a topic about whether you like or dislike clicker training. Yep, it is becoming quite common. I have used it in the same manner as you are. I also condition a dog in the same fashion with the tone in a e-collar for cadaver work since often we're working at a distance from the animal.
One big difference from most clicker work is that i associate the clicker with killing prey, tug-o-war, and the prey item (loaded toys of various types) not a position.

One big difference from most clicker work is that i associate the clicker with killing prey, tug-o-war, and the prey item (loaded toys of various types) not a position.

Kevin,
What behavior are you marking with the clicker as correct? Is it the actual alert or the presentation of a secondary reward? I've not experimented with clickers in detection work but have only used them in teaching commands to puppies.
For the record I use prey items for detection rewards and do not use food. I don't want to be misunderstood in that clickers=food training only.
Mark

clickers are only a marker, or a bridge for the primary reinforcer. Food is usually the quickest and easiest thing to use because a tiny treat is quickly swallowed and the training can continue. But food is DEFINITELY not the only reinforcer you can use. I know I use food only initially because it something my dogs love but they can still pay attention to learn something new. Then I quickly add the toy as the reward for the click but it brings on alot more drive for the behavior I'm looking for.

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/index.htm#basic has more info than anyone needs to know about clickers!

I was kind of thinking along the same lines... I was just wondering today if I could use the clicker when my Basset gets to the end of the track and finds the glove. His article indication is weak...he just stops and sniffs the glove. I am not seeing any change in body posture or tail wag, etc. He is just now beginning to show some interest in the article when I pick it up and toss it after the find. I am trying to get him excited about it, so I can read him a little better when he gets to the article, and the end of the track. He is very laidback, a slow deliberate tracker, and just in the learning stage.
He is accustomed to the clicker in obedience, and responds to it well. If I am without the clicker, I find that I can fake it and just click with my tongue, and he still responds. I think I will give the clicker a try when tracking, and he has located the article. Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?

Kevin,
What behavior are you marking with the clicker as correct? Is it the actual alert or the presentation of a secondary reward? I've not experimented with clickers in detection work but have only used them in teaching commands to puppies.
For the record I use prey items for detection rewards and do not use food. I don't want to be misunderstood in that clickers=food training only.
Mark

I am using the tone or clicker in conjunction with the natural flushing behavior of the dog once the dog has made the association of the tone or clicks with thrashing a primary reward (read loaded toy/aid). When you take the time to really build the association along with the levels of drive you expect from the dog during the making prey portion of training you can then use it to essentially invoke the feeling the dog had while killing prey by the use of the tone or clicker. This can be a great boost in maintaining intensity in the indication while your handler is at a distance (or just a dolt).
I have also used the e-collar on a low reptetive intermittant to create some conflict and buil;d drive in the face of a find, but this is a bit of a different topic.

Kevin, does your dog do a behavior you want, then you click once, and then you give a reward (some kind of prey type thing I'm confused about?).

If you are not doing the above 3 steps, in seperate order (but can happen in a fast 1, 2, 3) then what you are training doesn't sound like 'clicker training'. Not that it won't be some kind of training that is working.

My understanding of clicker training is that it teaches the dog to think, because it knows it has to figure out how to earn the 'click'. Because only when we click does the REWARD come AFTER in the form of some type of reinforcer, be it food, play, a toy, or whatever you are using.

I may be reading your posting wrong though, sorry if I am confused!

Not answering for Kevin here, but Jean, in "clicker training", as opposed to using the click to signal the end of a behavior, the click can also be used as a "keep going" signal. The dog hears the click and because it's been classically conditioned to mean the same thing as a food or toy reward, the click itself is reinforcement. The dog knows that it's on the right track and should continue that behavior.