clicker group class

[Bo Peep]

I'm wondering if it is going to be confusing to the dogs with all those clicks going on at different times? How do they know which is their click and which isn't. I've never used a clicker before and this is confusing to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Root Beer]

I don't really know how they know, but they definitely do.

 

Think of it this way - if you are in any dog class and the handler 3 feet away from you says "sit" very distinctly, your dog isn't usually going to sit - he's going to be zeroed in on you for direction. It's the same with the clickers.

 

I always demo on the first day of my clicker class and I have Speedy and Maddie in crates off to the side while I teach about clicker timing, etc. There are clickers clicking a lot, but they know that it isn't for them.

 

Once I get one of them out, though, that dog understands that the clicks are now for him or her. I don't really understand how it all works in their brains, but somehow it does. I guess if you think about it - if you had teams of two people scattered about the room, and one person in each team was clicking, you would be able to differentiate most of the time whether your own partner was clicking or it was a click from somewhere else. The dogs are better at perceiving sounds than we are, so maybe that's it, along with the fact that the dog is focused in on you in particular.

[Lenajo]

They not only quickly understand that only clicks from the person rewarding them are their own, they also learn to concentrate much better on their handler through the positive interaction.

 

Have fun!