[puppylove2009]

Just started Clicker Training today but our one dog is afraid of the clicker? How to make her not fear it? ?

Its the noise.

I know she has really sensitive ears and she is a bit skittish (I just don't want to do anything to make things worse)

But we were advised by two trainers to try clicker training with her and so we are going to.

Our poodle responds well to it (thats a first he has never responded to training well but he is a generally good dog)

This is to teach them not to bark when we say not to. If you get what I mean.

(We live in an apartment)

Our mix is also scared of moving things (skateboards, cars, bikes) so we are trying to desensitize her to those things

Our mix though poor thing is scared to death of the noise the clicker makes.

We are doing the whole treats + Clicker = Good

What can we do to help her

(I've noticed lately that a lot of sounds seem to hurt her ears, both dogs are 1 years old)


These are the dogs (our mix (not the poodle) she is the one that is afraid of the clicker)

[puppylove2009]

Here is one other photos of her

The Karen Pryor "i-Click" clicker is not as loud as the traditional "box" style clickers. You can also put the clicker in your pocket before you click. Use GOOD treats like hot dog and keep a little distance from your dog. Click the clicker and toss the treat. The lower volume from the i-click, clicker in pocket and/or slight distance should help. I had a yorkie puppy in one of my classes who was affraid of the clicker and having the owner click the clicker in her pocket fixed the problem. Good Luck and nice to hear you are using clicker to train your dog! Humane training WORKS!!

[puppylove2009]

Yeah she went through training classes when she was younger but since we moved its been rough on the pups so we just had some behavior to correct and modify

thanks for the tips

Two thoughts:

My trainer has us using "yes" as a vocal "click" so we don't have to fumble with a clicker, leash, treats, etc. Seems to work pretty good.

I have seen Victoria Stilwell use a "touch" method where the dog is taught to touch a hand or the tip of a stick to get a treat rather than a clicker. This seems like an interesting concept and I've since seen a few other trainers using this method. It might work as an alternative to the clicker for sound shy dogs.

Oh, and on Victoria's website she has a CD that is supposed to help in training sound-shy dogs to overcome their fear of those sounds. So, if your dog is sound-shy in general, that might be something to look into.