Marker/Clicker training

[Robk12]

whats your take on marker/clicker training? I have been playing with both a lure and free shaping with different dogs. Does it have a place in the foundation training system as a different method of teaching an exercise? Thanks for your advice.

Rob

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Clicker training and marker training are both great. They plug rigth into a lot of phase 1 training. The biggest difference is that the clicker can be replaced by just praising at the same moment you would click.

The great thing about clicker training is that it gets people to pay attention to the timing of their praise (which the clicker basically replaces).

But,if someone is disciplined they can just say"good boy or good girl" and you can always do that, but dont always have the clicker - also it naturally flows better into more advanced training.

[Robk12]

Thanks mike i really appreciate these opportunities to pick your brain about dog training. i really think the website is a great idea and I'm picking up a lot of great stuff.

For me the marker really helps me get the timing. I mostly use a verbal marker because like you said you don't always have the clicker. I use a short high pitched "good" and that releases the dog to get his reward food or prey, and praise for me has always been to maintain engagement and they may be rewarded with food or calm physical affection but they are expected to maintain the behavior. The mark is a release much like I'm seeing you using "Free" i think. So i think it is fairly similar to what I'm learning here.

so just so i know i get it... if you were rewarding the dog for a behavior with a game of tug or fetch lets say would you say Free or good boy/girl? or both?

Thanks again for answering my questions,

much appreciated,

Rob