diddy wrote:

And although clicker training is useful for many things, it seems most
useful for lower level stuff. But at some point, it fails. A dog becomes
immune to all the click reward stuff.. and finds something thatr interests
it more.

Really. Perhaps you should tell that to Sue Ailsby, who has trained dogs
(and llamas) to very high levels including extremely advanced service
dog work, scent hurdling, flyball, carting, agility, and obedience all
with a clicker. Funny, her dogs don't seem to have found things that
interest them more. Seems the clicker works just fine forever for those
who use it well.


Tuck was a mostly clicker trained dog. .. but he's failed test after
tracking test because he finds squirrels a lot more fascinating than any
track, or any cookie I might offer him.

I wouldn't click for tracking, it's one of the few things clicking is
not appropriate for, as tracking is all about the dog's interaction with
scent, not with you. Ditto, I wouldn't click to encourage herding
instinct. A dog has it or he doesn't. Clicking brings the dog to you for
a reward, which will pull the dog from the track. However, clicking
works a treat for gorgeous article indications.

If I was going to use a clicker to discourage the dog from paying
attention to squirrels, I'd be clicking for attention to me then using
the squirrels as a reward. In other words, I'd ask for attention then
release to the squirrels, then ask for attention again. The dog would
learn that paying attention to what I want him to do just might result
in being able to go after squirrels. As a result, I just might get
really intense, focused, excited attention. I can then build duration of
that attention and fade the squirrel reward to an occasional one,
because the act of giving attention becomes self-rewarding.

But then I guess I wouldn't get to come on a newsgroup and brag about
frying my dog. Darn.