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froggy7 · Sep 9, 2007, 08:21 PM

Ok... I've signed Trinkett up to try and learn "retrieve" (yeah, she's a greyhound, not a spaniel, and I promise that I am willing to be patient... this is mostly just to see if she's willing to put her mind to work. It's a lot of fun watching her work her treat toys, so I'm thinking that mental stimulation is good for her.) However, you can't go into retrieve without knowing about clicker training, which we were at on Saturday. And I am having a hard time figuring out if she has "got" the fact that the click means treats. We've been doing the click/treat thing, and you are supposed to eventually let the dog wander away and click and see if it spins around and comes back to you for the treat.

Well... Trink never spins around and comes back to me for treats! In fact, as one person put it, she acts like they could be poison and very cautiously takes them from your hand. It's very endearing and dainty, but makes it hard to gauge her reaction to the clicker. She will occasionally cock her ear when she hears it and look at me, and if I do not give her any treats for a bit she will come over and nose the hand with the clicker. I've been using Tiny Tot treats (they are like jerky, and I break them up into small bits) and vienna sausages (also cut into small pieces, in the hopes that she would respond more strongly to those). Any one got any thoughts on how to tell if she has got the idea of the clicker? Or hints on ways to help her associate the two?

labman · Sep 10, 2007, 03:20 AM

Most of I have heard about clicker training is positive, but I haven't tried it myself. I am not sure anybody here is doing it. You may need to dig up a book on it. I believe the most popular is by a Karen Pryor (sp?), but I don't remember the title.

froggy7 · Sep 10, 2007, 06:48 PM

Hmm... I finally got some wet food for the cats again (they've been resenting that the dog gets treats and they don't... it's not MY fault that they don't like cat treats!) and Trink seems really really interested in the smell. It's the most interested I've seen her in food. So maybe I can find something else that is smelly that she may be more interested in, that's either healthy or not terribly unhealthy. (And now I'm feeling guilty the other way, since she is so interested in the smell and the cats are turning their noses up at the food. *sigh* There are very few kinds of wet that they eat, and those are off the market since the recall.)

labman · Sep 10, 2007, 08:14 PM

I don't know if my dog ''Let them starve'' methods would work on cats or not.

froggy7 · Sep 11, 2007, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by labman

I don't know if my dog ''Let them starve'' methods would work on cats or not.

Oh, it's not that serious. And cats will actually starve themselves before they will eat something they don't want, and can suffer actual physical harm from that (hepatic lipidosis). But they eat dry... the wet is just a treat. So I keep trying them on some of the other brands, waiting for the chunks type to get back on the market.