Clicker training question

Hi all ,
when MissyMoo is doing a pee or a poo , if i click at the very start which i believe is the right way she just stops to come get her treat and i have to wait for her to start again ( not a problem for me to do ) and then finish to bring her in , if i wait till shes finished and click have i not passed the golden clicking moment ?

Also , if i see her randomly playing ( biting -tugging ) with an allowed item which is one of many she has , if i click could she mistake the click to be just for the behavior and not for using the correct toy , hope that makes sense .
Cheers
BRIAN

Hello,

As you know the clicker marks the exact moment your dog is doing something you like, and tells them "yay you did it, you're now going to get an awesome treat!" - so if you click at the start of her weeing (which is obviously what you're going to think to do, because when you teach other behaviours (such as sit) you click exactly when their bottom touches the ground, and timing is essential, right?!) the dog is happy and excited because they've done good and they're getting a treat, so they stop peeing and come to you.

For toilet training the best time to click is just as they're finishing their business - those last few drops of wee for example! That way she knows she has done well whilst weeing, but she also gets it all out

I don't see a problem with clicking her for chewing or tugging her own toys, that's very similar to how I taught my adult Staffy to play tug of war with me (she has never been interested in interacting with toys *and* a person at the same time). Although just the act of tugging / biting her toys could be the reward, too. So you could tell her to get a toy, praise her and have a happy game of tug, then (if she doesn't already know drop) hold a treat to her nose and click her for letting go.

So you can most certainly reward her for playing with the correct toys, and if she finds a 'naughty' item the important thing is not to forcefully take the item from her (which can encourage resource guarding and make her feel scared of you, eg. "if I have something I like I have to keep my eye on him as he always takes my good things!") but to swap it for something better.

Oh, one more thing, you also don't need to use the clicker to reward her every time...for example if she's quietly chewing a toy or just being calm in the house, instead of clicking her (which can distract / excite her) you can just quietly praise her and drop her some treats next to her.

Sorry, I will shut up now, and I apologise if you already know all this...I think I am excited to find a forum based on Staffies haha  

As above Saves me a load of typing lol!

Great stuff folks , onward's and upwards ! !

The only thing I'd add to Red-trainer's excellent post is that you need to teach them what the click means first, otherwise it's just a noise. If you haven't already, you need to do this before you start using it as a reinforcer for real, otherwise you could end up confusing her as to what the click means.