# Scared of the clicker



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

There are clickers that aren't so loud, that might help. There is one on the Karen Pryor website that is battery operated, it has a cricket sound, the click, and I think a chirp.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

That's odd since Ben was okay with the clicker at first. I would definitely bring it up with the trainer. Being that scared of a the noise is a little extreeme. Is he ever that scared of anything else?


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Lexi was a basket case when I first started using a clicker ...run, hide the whole works...
If you have a box clicker you can layer pieces of duct tape on the metal piece and it will soften the sound a lot.

The other thing that really helped was working another dog (or even the cat or one of my kids) with the clicker and lots of verbal praise and the word 'cookie'. ;-) 
Her curiosity and desire to get the praise/cookie drew her out and when she would come peeking from around the corner I would click and toss a treat to her...I did not force her to come to me to get the treat..

It didnt take long...and she quickly came to LOVE the sound.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

If you try it again, wait a day or two, and do your first session outdoors (sometimes indoors the sound bounces around and is super loud).

If youre using a box clicker you might want to ask the instructor if you can borrow a button clicker (a lot less sharp sounding, I use these indoors at home but not the rectangle box shaped ones). The product mylissak talked about is another option, but it's not currently for sale or in production, a new/similar/sorta product will be available later...probably next year.

Be sure you're using the best treats possible.

Muffle it as recommended above .

Or go to a kid store and find something else that you can make a little beep or buzz with. 

Depending on what the goals are (for your dog or for your learning experience) you may want to work up to being able to use the clicker or another marker. In my experience, we've found clicker training students to progress more quickly and with stronger behaviors than those who did more of lure-reward training, similar curriculum used, modified only as little as needed to accomidate the lack of clicker.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

jackie_hubert said:


> That's odd since Ben was okay with the clicker at first. I would definitely bring it up with the trainer. Being that scared of a the noise is a little extreeme. Is he ever that scared of anything else?


He has a pretty strong startle response with any loud noise. New Years Eve some neighbors set off fireworks in our driveway, so now he's terrified of thunder. (He was okay before that.) When we are outside and the heater goes on, he jumps, though he's gotten a lot better about it after four months. Gunshots in the distance scare him. The pipe manufacturer up the hill drops big loads occasionally and he jumps. Even a really loud truck on the highway will startle him. Last night his stuffed toy hit the heat register with a loud ding and he jumped, dropped the toy and was afraid to walk past it at first. 

The clicker is a plastic button type that the teacher loaned us. Not that loud really. But our house is quiet. I will try it again with higher value treats.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

I'd highly recommend getting the _Agility Right From the Start_ book just for the chapter on noise and movement!

I think those activities and exercises alone would be of great help for both of you.

Try the clicker outside, muffled, with high valued treats. Or better yet, someone further away clicking it, then you feed....and gradually have the person come closer if he's showing 0 signs of stress about the noise.


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## The_Artful_Dodger (Mar 26, 2009)

Before you can work on teaching anything with the clicker, you need him to associate it with the reward. In the beginning it should be click-treat-click-treat-click-treat-click-treat no matter what he is doing. He will probably be looking at you anyways if he knows you have a handful of yummy treats. He should think it is fantastic to get fed a whole bunch of treats one after the other. If you are using really good treats it shouldn't take long for him to loose the fear response. Once he has made the association between the click and the treats than you can start using it to teach him things (like attention). Are you throwing the treats to him? (You said he couldnt figure out where they were comming from). Maybe it would be less stressful if you hand feed them to him for now so that it is more controlled? Also make sure your body language/voice is calm and steady if he is scared. If you show excitement or baby him (what I did to the lab I had) then you could be reinforcing his fear of noises.


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