Advanced Clicker Training Game for Dogs

Once you’ve mastered beginner and intermediate clicker timing games, it’s time to focus on improving your timing when clicking small movements for complex behaviors. Yes, it’s time to push your clicker training skills even further.

Touch Your Arm (You’ll Need a Partner)

You’ll need a friend to help with this game. Ask your friend to touch your forearm with one finger. As her finger touches your arm, click. Basically, you’re teaching your friend “touch with one finger.”

Now, I’ve watched people try to cheat during this game, but they were actually learning to click too late. Instead of watching their partner’s finger, people have clicked once they felt the touch on their arm. Well, that’s clicking too late. If you click after “feeling” a touch, you’re probably clicking your friend for moving her finger away from your arm. Don’t believe me? Spin around and watch. 🙂

VIDEO: Improving Your Clicker Training Skills – Advanced Game

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Pause Button on DVR

By far, this is my favorite game to improve clicker timing! When watching TV, choose a specific behavior you want to “click” for, such as the below examples. Press your DVR pause button to freeze during a specific moment. Basically, you’re using the DVR pause button as a clicker. You’re clicking the pause button to capture a specific dog behavior.

• Person drinking: Placing glass against her lips or setting glass down on counter.
• Animal running: Pause when an animal’s four feet are off the ground (fully extended).
• Person talking: Pause when mouth is open.

You can choose anything to pause (click) with a DVR–use your imagination! Shoot, you can even pause blinking, pausing when a person’s eyes are closed.

VIDEO: Using a DVR to Practice Your Clicker Timing

READ MORE: Teaching a Dog “Look at Me:” Capture It

Improve Your Clicker Training Skills

Dog Clicker Game

Practice does make perfect or pretty close to it. Using a clicker to teach your dog new skills is easy and super quick, but your clicker timing (yes, you :)) must be spot on. Now, mistakes happen. I’ve made them many times and you’ve probably noticed them on our videos, but mistakes are a valuable part of learning. To improve my clicker timing, I play a few games, which I’ll share with you. I recommend practicing these games before a dog training session–think of it as stretching before a run. 🙂

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Hand Game

Check out this easy game that improves your clicker timing. This is perfect for beginners! We play this game during class usually during week one of puppy or basic class, and repeat when needed.

In this video, you’ll click when I fully extend my hand. We’ll move slowly and then pick up speed so watch carefully. At home, you can practice with a friend.

VIDEO: Improving Your Clicker Training Skills – Beginner Game

Make the Game Harder

Once you get the hang of it, ask a friend to make it harder by moving her hand faster. Also, when playing the game, drop a treat into a cup every time you click. This makes it very realistic because you always give your dog a treat after clicking.

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