[ Post a Response | Ripley's Retreat ]
Posted by ednaz
on 1/1/2009, 3:43 pm, in reply to "Clicker training and breeds?"
I wonder if the real deal is that the kind of owner who seeks out a dog like an aussie or a bc is the kind of person who's more likely to latch on to clicker training, where those who seek out other breeds with other personality types don't find it to their liking.
My wife hates clicker training, loves the results but just doesn't have the personality and orientation to do a good job at it. She also was always a golden retriever or collie owner, and found Sam to be way too challenging for her to deal with until he'd gotten his basic training. She loves his personality, all the fun things he does and can do, but hasn't taught him any of them. She thinks clicker training is a pain in the butt, requires too much attention and focus and somewhat resents the intrusion on the way she'd like to be.
I've had dog park experiences that make me think about this also. Owners of breeds that can either be highly entertaining and interactive or the biggest pain in the butt of any dog you've ever known - working breeds, some of the more curious and interactive terriers - have followed up on discussions I've had with them about clicker training. Other people, who complained mightily about how untrainable their dogs were, and then saw me click them into some behaviors they swore they'd never seen before, ended up telling me later on that clicker training just didn't work for their dogs. (Worked wonderfully for the 10 minutes I engaged... but of course, that was only 10 minutes, etc.)
I guess I'm speculating that the same personality traits that drive dog choice may be what makes clicker work or not work - its the human, not the breed. And those clicker-oriented human personalities, given any breed, will get good results with clicker approaches regardless of breed, or species.
My only failures with clicker type training have been with my son... or maybe he just didn't care that much for the liver treats I tossed him when he took out the trash.
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