Clicker training is going REALLY well for us. I got some new tasty treats, and he's starting to retain what we worked on in previous sessions a lot better. Right now we're just working on house manners/basic commands where he has to give us a quicker response than 'when he feels like doing it.' We're slowly losing snow, and if this spring is like last spring, it'll all be gone in about a month, and I'd like to start bikejoring. BUT, I need him to know left and right. Anyone know of good drills for this using a clicker? I'm new enough to this type of training that I can't come up with the 'steps' I'll need.

I didn't really use clicker training, but I did use a click sound to train directions. I make a double click sound for left, and a triple click sound for right. At first all I did was label what we did whilst walking. When we made a left I double clicked and when we made a right I triple clicked. Not trying to get them to turn, just labeling the movement we made. At first they continued in the direction they were going, so I would just use leverage to make them go the way I wanted. After a week they knew what left and right was. After two weeks I could give a turn command and make them run into things.

I didn't use treats because I was working five dogs at once for this training. I found the group dynamic netted faster results.

Somewhere I had a lengthy post about how I did it. Complete with pics. I can't promise that I can find it today, but if you bump this thread tomorrow I will remember to dig around for it.

we worked on left and right (I'm using "over" for that one since when we start bikejoring it will be like "PULL OVER!!!" if we need to get off the road or stop) during our walk today. Then we added it in with the clicker training inside. What I'm doing right now is holding a treat in each hand and putting my arms straight out to either side while he sits facing me. I give him the command and he has to move to the correct hand to get the treat. It was pretty shakey, but I think he'll pick up on it within the next few days. It's great how I can see his brain working away to figure out WHY he didn't get the treat when he chooses incorrectly.