Pet Owners - Clicker Training?

[SunPony]

Oooh, it worked on your piggy too?  That's awesome, I have 3 G-pigs. 

I'm really looking forward to starting it with my oldest Holland Lop, he's super-smart already, he's a handful because he's so smart, lol.  And I have a brand new Flemish Giant that I want to train as well.  I'd actually like to try it on ALL of my animals...rabbits and non.

Thanks for all the tips so far!

<3 piggies!  I miss them.  The one in your siggy looks so adorable (the bunnies, too).  I should probably have mentioned that it took significantly more repetitions with the G-pig than with the dog, so my advice would be don't give up if it doesn't work at first.   

Another success I had was getting my dog to wear a cone (Elizabethan collar).  Now if I even pick up the cone she comes over immediately and shoves her head into it, she can't get it on fast enough, it cracks me up 

Keep us updated with your endeavors, I'd sure be interested to hear about working with a rabbit.

[barbgirl1999]

Right now Amazon is taking their dear, sweet time shipping my clickers, lol.  Crazy winter storm!

I watched so many videos last night, my flemish was just sitting on the couch with me, staring at the screen, haha.  I think he'll do well.

[FarDreamer]

Read "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor and "Excel-Erated Learning" by Pamela Reid.  There's also clickertraining.com

There's more resources too, but I don't want to overwhelm you.

Clickers aren't magic, they just make a unique sound.  All my dogs are trained to understand a click and the word "yes" as a marker (professional shelter trainer, I use my dogs for demos when I'm teaching volunteers).  Sometimes it's nice to have your hands free, like if you're doing agility or other dog sports.  ANY unique sound will work.  It's a mix of classical and operant conditioning.  Classical conditioning - the mark or click predicts a reward.  Operant Conditioning - the animal can work to get you to click.  Think of it like they're working you like a puzzle.  The sound tells the animal exactly what they did right, so it makes it really easy to communicate what you're trying to teach and makes the timing of the delivery of the reward less important.  At least with dogs, because they form such a positive association with the sound, you can use it to help with behavior problems that deal with the emotional state of the animal, although I never do that exclusively.  Anyway, that's probably getting deeper than you intended.

And yes, people use clickers with all sorts of animals.  I know someone who trained a goat with one and more than one person who've trained horses with them.  Check out Terry Ryan's chicken camps if you're curious:  http://www.legacycanine.com/workshops/chicken-camps.html

Hope that helps.   

[barbgirl1999]

Thanks for the input, FarDreamer!  The more info, the better...I know the clickers aren't magic, but the rabbits don't respond as well to vocal commands, up til now I've been tapping on the floor to prompt them, but there's not always a floor, haha.  So I think the clickers will be good for us.

Amazon FINALLY shipped my order, so it should be here tomorrow!

[spottedslug]

I clicker trained my cat back in college! It was surprisingly easy and intuitive. Good luck!