Karen Pryor, Getting Started: Clicker Training for Dogs Kit

Great bundle! The book is short and easy to read, and the cards while pretty basic will still give you great feel for exactly how clicker training works.At the recommendation of a professional trainer, I picked this up to help me with a 5 year old German Shepherd with little prior training beyond the basics, who we were training to become a full-fledged assistance animal.This was the jackpot. Beowulf is past his puppy years and somewhat set in his ways, and though he was progressing well, he was having a hard time overcoming a few bad habits, and also learning to behave in the calm and flawless manner that the public expects from a service/assistance dog. After trying several great techniques under the guidance and tutelage of a professional, it was this one that really struck home. Beowulf quickly caught on and understood the concept, and after that, it was childsplay to adapt the clicker into his existing training routines - and the results were stunning. He learns SO much faster this way, and is so much more eager and attentive. I can see he enjoys his training much more now, and is less confused about what I want from him - because the clicker tells him exactly what I want, loud and clear.It didn't take long at all to teach him what the click meant. After that, he started nailing all his training goals in just 2 or 3 sessions with the clicker. Things we've been fine-tuning for weeks, or even months, with this he understood what I wanted in a matter of days. It's like, after struggling to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language, I've suddenly learned a language he can understand, if not entirely fluently, still more than enough to be effective. No confusion. No frustration. Training is a game now, and we both look forward to playing it.At this rate, Beowulf will be ready for his public access test in a month or two, no sweat!

This is such a nice "starter set" for learning how to train your dog (horses and other critters are mentioned as well). Each new task is broken down for you in workable parts so that the task, overall, can be learned easily by your dog as well as by you! Yes, you need to know how to be a good teacher for your very best friend in the world!The set includes a nice clicker that is not too high-pitched or too loud so that it will not scare your darling friend. Yes, I got a couple of other clickers that were larger, really loud and high pitched such that it actually scared my sensitive buddy! Karen Pryor also has a nice set of 5 even smaller clickers at a very low price here on the Amazon site. Get them if you don't already have a few extra clickers so that you can keep them everywhere around thehouse wherever you go as well as one for your pocket when you go out of the house with your dog.The "Help Cards" are sturdy as well as attractive. These help to "remind" you of the steps and each facet of the training that you will have to do to help you as well as your friend to master each task. She makes it so easy.There is a small bag of tiny treats included (about 100 or so) to get you started. You need to figure out the "level" of treats that you want to use to train your dog. They go from "high" to "low" value. Basically, for simpler tasks and steps, you will use "low" value treats for training. Something your pal likes and will do the trick for the "usual" training sessions. However, there will be times that "high" value treats (hot dog pieces, beef stick pieces, or even a toy that your dog really loves to play with) will be needed when you want to train your dog to do more complex tasks and to keep her attention throughout the process. I have learned to use food treats less and less and to use high praise and breaks after so much time (every 5-10 minutes). Some complaints about "clicker" training is the food reward all of the time. I prefer not to use food as a reward. I am the only person who feeds him and, when I do, the words "Roo-roo" get him going, he perks up, is excited while I prepare his raw meat and is more than happy to get his one meal each day and the 1/4 cup of meat kibble to gnosh on during the day. He loves this time and I strive to keep food and performance as separate as possible. It works very well. Also, this is a great help to those of you who have heard that a food reward for everything that your dog does for you (from step-by-step rewards to a reward for the task itself each time it is completed satisfactorily) is not the best thing in the world.The book is fantastic and it should be your "FIRST" clicker training book! I then recommend another book, which is a compendium of many more task, as a follow-up: "Click for Joy! Questions and Answers from Clicker Trainers and Their Dogs," also by Karen Pryor!I wish you the best for you and your dog. My dog has achieved a greater level of confidence from doing these tasks, learning them, and the deeper relationship that he and I have developed through this process. He is more of the dog he can be as a result and you will be proud of both yourself and your dog as you both achieve the learning of each task!

The book is the heart of this package and it's simple, friendly, easy to read, and covers everything. It spends more pages than it needs to on selling you on the idea of clicker training: the whole first and last chapters, and periodic paragraphs in between throughout. Maybe some people need to be reassured more than they need to be taught how to do it, but I found it a little unnecessary. Even so, it's a brief book you can get through in a few hours and yet it has everything you need to begin clicker training.The quick start cards are in some ways more handy since they get right to the point. They are necessarily brief, and I wonder if some people might be tempted to work just from them and thus end up frustrated since they don't explain some of the finer points. But even if you did go just from the card you could likely do pretty well as they do cover the important details.The clicker is a little large and doesn't have as crisp a sound as the other one we bought, but it's quite serviceable. The bag of treats is perfunctory; it's not enough to do anything, and they might as well not have included it.This package will definitely get you started on clicker training and give you everything you need (other than buying more high-quality treats!) to get good results. Clicker training works. (However, I would still recommend a basic obedience class first: clicker training builds on the basics rather than replacing them.)

I get the concept, I am just not coordinated enough to click and treat at the right times. We are having good luck training the pup, but the clicker is just too awkward. I have the dog at the end of the leash in one hand, the clicker in the other, how do you hold the treat to dispense in a timely manner. A person needs a third hand. Sorry. The idea is great, reward with what they call a "marker" something that triggers the dog to to the trick without the treat.