Training Days - Clicker Training - Phase 1

I'll admit, I've been an on and off fan of clicker training for years, but I just couldn't break my old habits and come over to the 'clicker side.'  After reading Teamwork I and Teamwork II and going through the Leerburg site and watching the streaming videos on training with markers (clickers), well I decided if we were starting over anyway, why NOT give this a shot.  What I was doing was clearly not getting the desired results - what harm could it do?  (Shameless plug:  Barbara Handelman works a lot with clicker training assistance/service dogs - she has a great website with videos and great articles and a yahoo group to boot!  I highly recommend checking her out.)

Last week we worked on the 'click/treat' portion.  You associate the clicker with a reward (treat) - so the dog starts to make the two synonymous.  This way, when you click it begins to think 'yes, that's what she wanted!'

This week, I'm working on 'attention.'  Every time he freely offers up looking at me (giving me his attention), I'm clicking and then treating.  Its easy in the house where there are no distractions.  He looks, I click, I treat - I've got his undivided attention.  I keep a treat pouch on my body or at my side and a clicker on my wrist so even when we're in the house - he looks, I click, he gets a treat.  Again, easy to do in the house.

The challenge comes when we work outside each morning.  We spend about 20 minutes out there doing our clicker training (which also drives my dad's dog crazy - but what can I do about that!?) - during that time there's almost certain to be at least 1 or 2 cars drive by, a kid on a bike, a mailman... combiations there of.  Heck even a tweet of a bird can have him snapping his head around.  So I sit there, patiently waiting - saying nothing - and as soon as he looks at me - I click and treat. 

Clicker training is *not* about immediate gratification; its about consistency.  There are no short cuts you can take to get your desired behaviors.  The dog has to think and figure it out.  Sometimes that means going through every 'trick' they have in their book (sit, down, stand, bow, ... ) until they figure out what it is you want.  They know they have it right when they hear the *click*. 
Jessica and Ranger
Lunar K9s Service Dogs Team #2