Clicker Training Question

[hunterchristian]

I have three dogs. I would like to train all three of them. I am wondering how far I need to seperate them when charging and training with the clicker. If I am charging the clicker with one dog and the other two hear it in the other room will the clicker loose association with the other two dogs? Thanks for any help

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hunter Christian, that's a great question!

My answer may surprise you a bit because we know how important it is to maintain the potency of the clicker, but in reality the effects have barely an impact. Back when I attended my very first clicker training course, there were 8 of us training dogs side-by-side and we charged the clicker taking turns and the dogs just did fine. We then continued clicking left and right for an entire two weeks and the dogs didn't appear frustrated or confused.

 

Why is that? I have a theory. I think dogs are smart enough to understand that rewarded clicks happen only in presence of the owner, with the owner making eye contact and holding a clicker in the hand. Now, there are no actual studies conducted on this to provide you a more formal answer, but my personal initial anedoctal evidence continued then in the several clicker training classes I held and classes held by my collegues. Although, I must admit that, at times, there might be a brief period where you can see a dog is figuring things out before understanding the context in which rewarded clicks occur (close proximity to you, etc).

 

I would suggest though to keep each dog in separated rooms/crates mostly because they may get in the way of one another (especially with yummy treats around) and act as distractions when you want the focus entirely on you. Happy training!

Edited July 20, 2018 by Adrienne Farricelli