I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the concept, but clickers are used to train animals. While teaching them, you click in the moment they have to respond so that they get Pavlov trained to answer when they hear the click. Of course, this is coupled with positive-reinforcement by way of giving them treats when they do the correct thing. How many of you have bought one? Does it work? Is any prior knowledge necessary?
I bought one of these when I was training my Yorkie to follow commands such as sit and lay down. I bought it after I saw the dog trainers on Animal Planet use it on different dogs, and it seemed to work pretty effectively. However, my dog didn't respond well to the clicker at all. The loud noise startled him, and after I used the clicker when he followed a command, he would immediately stand up or run away. Maybe my dog is defective? Lol, but I wouldn't say that clickers don't work. I suppose it works well on some dogs and not so well on others. No prior knowledge is necessary at all. Good luck with training your dog!
hahhahahaha XD Well, it's interesting to see that it does not work on all animals -- the vids I saw tended to imply it would be automatic and apply to all. I don't actually have a dog, but a hamster, and I saw some videos of hamsters and rats performing a few tricks, and how (especially the rats) this was brought about with the help of a clicker. I wish I could have a dog, though!
I've bought several and I like the ones with the big button above the clicker. It's easier to hit. When training my rabbits, I usually put it in my pocket and pushed it from outside of my jeans. That muffled the sound but still made a distinct "yes" noise. I notice with rabbits and rats and some nervous dogs, it takes more practice to make the click sound positive for them. With my dog, it only took 10 click-treat pairs to have him looking for the treat when the click happened. With the rabbits, it took 50-60 click-treats over multiple days with really good treats before they were attuned to the click sound and knew it meant good things were coming. One time, I was telling my friend about clicker training and trying to explain how useful it could be and didn't have a clicker with me. I used a snapple cap, you know the metal kind with the top that pops when you unscrew it, right? Pressing the cap button made a distinct noise. That's really all you need - A distinct sound that's the same every time. A clicker works but so does a bottle top or a clack with your tongue in your mouth or "yes" said the same way every time.
To tell you the truth, it's the first time I have ever heard about such a device. I am familiar with whistles and other gadgets to train animals, but I haven't really come across a clicker before. I am sure it works well, as animals can be trained in all kinds of ways, such as snapping your fingers or even just gesturing with your hands.
I considered using clicker training with some of my horses as I'd seen someone else do it, but decided it was something I could do without. I didn't figure I'd want to have to carry a clicker around with me every time I rode, small though they be. Besides, if it's just a device that makes a specific sound why not make up your own sound using your own lips, tongue or voice.
They seem harmless enough, and quite honestly, some clicks are far less disturbing than someone blowing whistles repeatedly, so if you are trying to get your dog or other pet to respond in public settings, clickers seem to be more appropriate. This may sound kind of mean, and I suppose it is, but we would sometimes use a water gun to punish our dogs for doing bad things, like fighting with each other or digging through the trash cans and such. They would absolutely freak out if you sprayed them with a little bit of water. It wasn't a harsh stream like from a Super Soaker, it was just a small tiny squirt gun we kept on hand. I suspect our cats would be equally appalled by having water shot at them but we haven't tried the squirt gun on them yet. However they do freak out if I am walking by with a glass of water or iced tea and some spills on them.
