I did a post awhile ago on Honey’s blog which was all about the treats we use for training – here’s the link: http://bighoneydog.com/2009/06/training-treats/

Also, if you go to one of our recent blog posts and look in the comments, I just answered the same questions for one of our readers -- the link is here: http://bighoneydog.com/2012/02/moonlightcinema-mueslihunting-homerituals/#comment-31716

Hsin-Yi

There is no set number for training times or lengths -- it’s a bit like saying how many times should you teach a child to say “please”? Just make it a regular part of your day-to-day life. Try to have at least 1 session a day where you are interacting with your dog, which includes some training & playing. Keep sessions very short, especially if it’s a young puppy -- about 5mins. It depends on the dog’s attention span so you know your own dog best -- the key is to stop before the dog gets bored so you know best how long that is.

Clicker training isn’t something that’s “done” and ticked off and over -- so I can’t really answer how long you shoudl work on it -- it is simply a way of training & communicating with your dog and is basically a technique to be used throughout the dog’s life. Obviously, once the dog learns a command, you fade the clicker and only use voice commands & rewards -- no need to keep marking it -- it is really only for learning and for “tidying up” any behaviour that isn’t as consistent as you would like. You shouldn’t have to go around with a clicker forever in your hand. BUT I still use clicker training even now when I teach Honey NEW behaviours or sometimes if I want to reinforce existing behaviours -- it’s still good to use it to mark & reward behaviours your dog already knows every so often.

Good luck --
Hsin-Yi

Thanks,

Dovie