Zenith

Hi, I have two dogs who are clicker trained. My mini schnauzer was very nervous and shy of the clicker at first so I left him inside to watch through the window while I trained the other dog. It wasn't long before he realized that "real good things are happening when that clicker is around" and he came out to join in the fun. He now goes to a mark and lots of other things thanks to the use of the clicker which he learned to associate with yummy treats. Try putting your dog away out of "sharp sound range" to see what you are doing with other dogs. Hope this helps, admittedly, my dog does not respond to thunder but shied at the click initially. Cheers, Thanks :p

myszka - Sounds like its definately working for you. At my fiances previous home, Harley (the BC) used to rip down the fly screens and scratch at the doors and generally freak out whenever storms or fireworks were near. I think it was also heightened because my fiance (before we met) used to let him inside whenever he would begin to freak out, and would make a big fuss of him, which was rewarding his behaviour. The first time I experienced it was when there was a storm during the night and harley broke through the flyscreen and came into our bedroom. Firstly whenever there was a storm or fireworks, we would bring the dogs inside, and ask for sit, and then give them a food reward. Whenever he began freaking out we would ignore him. He would then settle, and we would ask for sit and reward and if he sat there quietly we would just give him a reassuring pat every now and again. We then graduated to sitting outside and doing the same thing. Its great now because we don't have to worry about him if there is a storm and we aren't home, he remains pretty calm (although he will sit as close to the door as possible). Even if there is a storm during summer when they sleep outside, he doesn't freak out or become destructive. I like your idea about playing a game with them whilst the scary thing is happening, that would definately work with harley now, but before we did any training, there was little apart from being inside and food that would grab his attention.

YAY!!!! Thanks for that - very clear, and easy to follow. I will report back as to how it goes over the weekend :D

Thanks Myszka and Ness Ness - I am using an i-click :D Glad to know I'm not the only one with a dog with a fear of clickers. Harley at present freaks out when I am about 10 to 15 metres away. If I try the idea with the food, would it be better to have him on a lead whilst someone else clicks?

Thanks again for the explaination - I think desensitising him to it like you posted above, would work. My only worry with not using the clicker as the marker, is that it may be difficult then to train him to have it as a marker later on. Although its not a major concern, I'd just rather not have him panicking each time he hears the click.

Thanks So I ask him to SIT, he does, so the other person 'clicks' and I reward with food. Slowly decreasing the distance over a period of time?

Thanks for the reply. I'm happy to use other methods, but I'd prefer to combat the problem (if possible without stressing him too much). The problem it causes is I can't train any of the other dogs in earshot of him otherwise he basically cowers as far away from us as possible whenever he hears the clicker noise.

I have done some initial training using a clicker with all of my four dogs. With each dog I have been asking 'SIT' (if they respond) CLICK and then food reward. Three of my dogs caught on extremely quickly and have moved onto doing tricks and other commands, graduating to no food reward. Harley however has a terrible reaction to the 'CLICK' - even though I have a food reward in my hand he tries to get away from me as fast as he can. He is scared of the noise, and even though I have repeated and repeated it the scare from the click still overrides his want for the food (he is a guts, and will usually do anything for food). I have been putting him nearby whilst I have been training one of the other dogs, so that he can get used to the noise, and also see that the other dog is calm when it happens. Although he just goes as far as he can away from us whenever he hears the click. I have also tried having him and another dog in front of me, and asking them both to sit -Click - and reward, but he tries to get away as soon as he hears the click. He also becomes nervous when there is storms or fireworks (but he's getting alot better, and we can trust him outside with no destructive behaviour), and he had a nervous reaction when we put the bug zapper on outside, he is slowly getting better with this too, and will basically just sit there when its on, especially if we sit outside and just ignore him and make no fuss (he calms quickly). Should I continue to try and desensitise him to the Clicker? Can anyone give me any ideas or exercises to try with him (I know its hard without seeing the dog)? ETA: Harley is a three year old border collie male (desexed).