clicker training

I'm always looking for new ways to train bella I've decided to buy a clicker and wanted to know the best way to introduce  it to the main reason I got it is because she won't listen to the word come she listens when I'm training her and she knows I have treats but when I try and get her in the house  she just does what she wants I've tried a training lead but she just goes back to ignoring me does my head in especially  when I let her out just before I go to bed  will a clicker work to get her in the house

Liz uses clicker so i'm sure she will be with you shortly to help

Qui, moi?

The clicker might well work as they get to know exactly what it means and it's such a clear sound. You have to introduce it well though, and then you can have all sorts of fun with it.

The first thing is to pair the click with a high value treat. The treat always, always comes after the click, so that they learn when they hear the click that something good is going to follow. By extension, the click itself becomes something good.

A lot of people start with just clicking and treating. I personally start straight off with a target - every dog and horse I've worked with has understood straight away. So this is how I would do it.

Arm yourself with a clicker, a treat pouch full of small, high value treats, and a target. It just needs to be a stick of some sort with an obvious end, and something they can't hurt themselves on. You can get special ones that have a ball on the end but you can equally use a wooden spoon or something.

Hold both clicker and target in the same hand, your treat pouch will be on the other side. Hold the target out near your dog's nose and you will almost always find that the dog will sniff it. The second she does, as she does really, click then treat straight away. Present the target again and you should get the same thing. If she doesn't sniff it straight off, you might need to make the target smell nice. Ideally, you want her just to touch it with her nose, not lick it or anything.

As of about the third time you do this, you should find that the penny drops and she starts to work out that it is something she is doing - nudging the target - that gets her the treat. That's the essence of clicker, that they work out that they have to do something to get the treat. The click is the 'yes' that says to her 'that thing that you are doing now is what gets you the treat'.

What you will possibly/probably find is that Bella then starts trying different things to see what works. She might nudge your hand, for example. It is really important that you only give her a click treat when you have asked for something, and when she has done what you want. Otherwise it can become very random and then it's less clear for her.

Once she is happily nudging the target for her click-treat (that's usually a couple of minutes), you can make it harder by holding the target further away, the other side of her, above her head (without encouraging her to jump up), etc. And from there you can start using in for all sorts of things!

The idea usually is to set your dog up to perform the steps towards a final goal naturally, and to reward those steps as they come. Every single task can be broken down into smaller and smaller chunks, and we can usually set things up so that a dog will do something accidentally. Click-treat what you want, ignore the rest. The dog will then see what direction to think in, what works and what not to bother with.

There's an example I did with Chaos here. The objective is to teach him to go an sit on the mat (or carpet tiles!). It starts off with a little targetting so that he knows we're doing clicker, and from there I mainly just click treat anything that's 'warm' - so looking in the right direction to start off with, moving the bar as we go along. You might find it self-explanatory, but ask if you want more explanation.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t63636-chaos-doing-clicker#979738

The other bit of video I've got is of Millie (little pup that she was then). This is more of a real life scenario, trying to teach her to be brave about putting her head through things.

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t60863-millie-does-clicker#929272

Before I ramble on any further, see how much that makes sense (or not!).

Hiya liz the clicker came a few days ago and gave ur post a quick look chaos is beautiful and millie is to things seem to be working well just teaching her a few tricks how would u encourage her to come into the house when I tell her she knows the word come but just ignore me when she is I'm the garden

I'd probably not focus on getting her to come in at all. Just the fact that it has become such an issue is likely to be causing the block. Instead, work on party trick sort of stuff near the doorway and, when she's having fun doing that, then call her to do those, still outside. You might need to start a little way from the house as she won't know to expect anything other than you trying to get her in, but you should soon be able to move your game to right outside the door.

When you've done with tricks, then walk in, throw a handful of treats and leave her to follow you. Praise when she comes. If necessary, you could even start feeding her after she's been out and placing her bowl just inside.

Tricks can include learning to give a paw, then both paws separately then together, going to sit on something as in Chaos' video - a low cardboard box or a mat for example - you can do things like leg weaving, little jumps, nudging an object with her nose... the list is endless! Some of them you could then place inside and start teaching her to go to her mat when you send her there, even if that means her crossing the threshhold.

Have fun!

good luck with the clicker training