# clicker training?!



## kittygirl991

i have just heard about this... so basicly, you use a dog clicker training thing to train mice, but how? D: if you know please tell


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## Frizzle

Keep in mind, your mouse needs to be HUNGRY for this to work. You start with simple things, like the hand nudging, then make it more specific once it grasps that action + clicker noise = food. Then you make it harder.

Nudge hand~> jump on hand~> Jump on then off hand
TODAH! You now have a mouse that knows it will get a treat for jumping up and down from your hand.

Next, you'll stick this in combination with another learned trick. And that is how you make a mouse do an obstacle coarse.


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## Fraction

You also don't have to use an actual clicker, fwiw. You just need a consistent, unique sound (not a word) that will filter to little mousey brains that that sound means food incoming. Something like a clicking sound with the tongue or kissing sound would work if you can't handle clicker, food and mice.


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## jadeguppy

Frizzle said:


> Keep in mind, your mouse needs to be HUNGRY for this to work.


No, no, no. They do not have to be HUNGRY. Clicker training is not about withholding food from an animal with a super speed metabolism and then forcing them to do something to get food. As posted before, a pen click will work. Dog clickers are too loud.

Use your search engine on google and you will find information. mouse-agility.com is a good source.


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## Frizzle

: / Not starving. Though if you see how they teach rats with a skinner box, wanting the food is a key component. Just like how one of the recommended times to teach a dog is before a meal, because it wants the food. Although I will say that I did not consider the high metabolism factor with mice.


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## jadeguppy

The high metabolism keeps them eating. A favorite treat should be good enough without withholding food prior to training. The mouse the kids were working on training figured out that the click meant it was going in the right direction without the need of food. Her curiosity was enough. The maze trial anouther group did was fun to watch as well. The mouse they choose figured out the maze on her own the first time and when run through it again significantly improved her time. Keep in mind that mice and rats remember things backwards, which is why they stop and think about where they have just been.


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## kittygirl991

well er ok... whats a pen click? ive looked this up before but found no luck


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## maddeh

A pen click is just when you use the click from the type of pen which you click the nib in and out to write with  
If you want to clicker train, make sure that you work on getting the animals to associate the click with food - this may take some time! Clicker training is also all about timing and consistancy, so have a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve with each training sesson.


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## kittygirl991

if i got a normal clicker ( i havnt got that type of pen  ) i could use it to train all my animals, my dog, cats, rats, mice, so i might get one, and there cheap


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## jadeguppy

Please read through the posts on all the threads you posted. A regular clicker that is used for dogs is too loud for mice.


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## kittygirl991

oh i see, so besides the pen what can i use? what bout for my rats?


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## Laigaie

Anything that makes a small clikky noise would work. A clicky pen is the easiest, but, say, if you have a cell phone that beeps when you push a button, that might work. You're just looking for that noise that's distinctive but not so loud as to be upsetting.


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## kittygirl991

i see, i will see if my nans got a pen like that, and does it work on dogs


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## Laigaie

For dogs, the clicker pen won't be loud enough to distract them from all the other things they're hearing, especially if they're outside. That's why they have the bigger clickers.


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## Fraction

Bear in mind it has to be a unique sound FOR THAT ANIMAL. If your mice are housed in the same room as your rats, you can't use the same marker for the mice as for the rats when in that room.

For dogs you can just use a verbal marker (e.g. 'super!' or 'fab!' - something you don't say in normal conversation) if you can't afford or get access to a clicker.


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## Laigaie

The unique sound for each animal prevents other animals who are also trained from reacting to or getting confused. With dogs, this is why we use a different clicker, since each one sounds slightly different.


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## kittygirl991

i tried the clicker training with a pen for my rat, works quite well, at the mo im teaching him "up" ( standing up on 2 legs )


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## Frizzle

Just wanted to say, I gave this a try. Within 15 min of clicker training, one of my 3 wk old mice has learned that touching a quarter will result in a magical hand that will shuttle her between the home tank and the training tank. She has no food motivation whats so ever! Instead of taking the treat, she climbed up onto me. A couple times of this, I figured I'd put her back into her tank. Where she hoped off, and climbed back on. Thus, a system, and upon being released into the training tank, it takes her between 5 and 10 seconds for her to correctly summon my hand.

First I did near the quarter, then touching the quarter. The inital transition confused her, but then she figured it out. I'm going to get more specific when I get home tonight, and make her use a specific paw.


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## kittygirl991

quarter? anyway... my rats become very good at the trick! ive tried training him before but he couldnt be bothered to stand up after 1 go, but with the clicker does it every time


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## jadeguppy

Sounds like you too are having fun. Have you ever tried a maze? My students put toast through a maze made of cardboard and paper. They timed her the first and second time to show an increase in speed. That was weeks ago. Today we had Ms. Phantom in the maze and decided to put toast in there too. Toast pushed, and I do mean pushed, past Ms. Phantom and went straight to the end of the maze. I was suprised that she remembered the maze and went through it so quickly. BTW, the maze was designed with several dead ends in it. I found that they like the clicker training.


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## kittygirl991

i have tried a maze... but normaly cant get enough cardboard or cant think of a good maze... normaly fails ;P but that was normaly with rats... i will try that again when i get some cardboard


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## Rhasputin

A quarter is a US coin.


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## Frizzle

Oh, I didn't understand why she was confused! Thanks.


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## kittygirl991

lol i see ;P i live in england sooo yeeahhh


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