Foundations Week 1
Click Marks the Spot
At the meeting we practiced making the clicker sound happen right when the leader's hand opened up completely. Our goal was to have everyone click at the same time so that it sounded like there was just one loud click. There are plenty of ways to practice at home. You could watch a basketball game on TV and try to click every time the basketball hits the floor. See if you can click every time the news reporter blinks their eyes. Here is a video example of practicing clicking when a friend raises her hand.
Click THEN Treat Mechanics
We discussed clicking only once, keeping the clicker hand still, giving one treat per click, not moving the treat hand until after the click, and returning the treat hand to a neutral position after treating. Sometimes a skill sounds like it will be so easy. When we try it we suddenly find that there is a reason it is called a skill! Watch as our friends try to master all of these aspects of click thentreat while dropping chocolate candies in a cup.
Charge the Clicker
In this video two people alternate giving treats to a dog when a third person, standing out of the camera's view, clicks. This is to condition the dog to associate the click sound with something good. The dog had not received any training prior to filming this video. This dog was so high energy and barky that the trainers were a little scared to take her out of the cage. See how the dog settles down while working out that a click sound means there is a treat coming. We can't initially see the dog's head when the handlers test to see if the click has been mentally paired with treat.As soon as the dog hears the click, it whirls around to see if a treat is coming. Success!
Name Game Exercise 1 - Check In
We can watch a dog learn to make eye contact to earn a click and treat. This is the same dog as in the Charge the Clicker video.