Dawg Unleashed # 11

Dawg on clickers

Dawg here: Greetings you lucky herding dogs and your BFFs. Again it is my chance to get down and dirty and share my expertise on the Dawg blog. So let's go!

Dawg on sheep! (Just kidding, I am going to talk clickers today.)

Things have been clicking around here lately. As you can see, I am all over clicker training. If you haven’t figured it out, Dawg here and talking markers this week.

My BFF keeps saying that a clicker is a marker. But how can it be both? I just don’t get it. But let’s start at the beginning.

As a wee pup I heard a “pop” that made me jump. What was that? I spun around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then Barb gave me a wonderful treat. Wow! I had no idea why I got the treat but I was ready for more. The next pop didn’t startle me and, truth be told, it would have been nicer if my BFF had used a quieter pop. I mean, my hearing was amazing even as a youngster.

She produced several pops, followed by smelly treats, my favorite kind. She told her hubby that she was “loading” the clicker but I didn’t see her load anything onto it. Besides, it was too small to carry anything of value anyway.

Those were wonderful days, pop – treat – pop – treat. Then the pops stopped and so did the treats. What was with that? I was happy with how things were going. I stood and waited but nothing happened. Hello? I’m still here! Still nothing. I got bored and sat down, then pop and treat! Bingo!

You can probably guess the rest of that story. I quickly learned that a pop meant a treat was coming and if I did more of the same, more pops, and more treats.

Life was good. I had figured out this new game and I loved it. Then Barb changed the rules. What is with her? Now she said “yes” instead of using the popper. Well, being a brilliant pup I quickly figured out that a yes was as good as a pop. In fact, there were several noises that were as good as a pop.

There was a yes, a quieter pop, or sometimes even a laugh that signaled that a treat was coming. Of course, there is more to life than just treats and we soon had rousing games of tug and my favorite game – “Get the Rat” or as Barb calls it Flirt Pole training. She is not very imaginative with her naming but hey, as long as we play together she can call it anything she likes.

All this to say that I quickly learned to love clickers or markers of any kind and excelled at the training games, if I do say so myself.

Later, Barb found out that loading a clicker was not necessary but she has always been a bit slow on the uptake. I could have told her that loading a marker wasn’t necessary, but why turn down free food? Two can play at these games.

So, if I had thumbs, I would give clickers or markers of any kind two thumbs up. Different markers work better in different situations. Who doesn’t want to hear or see a signal when they are doing something “treat” worthy?

You may work for money but I am all about food and play, among other pleasures. I still don’t exactly understand the difference between a clicker and a marker, but as long as they both signal good things coming my way, I am all in!

As usual, I implore you to buy Barb's book and keep her (and me :) happy.

Get the book here!

Until next time, tell your mates about this blog and...

Grow the pack!

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