Practice clicker timing by having someone at home bounce a tennis ball on the floor and catch it. Try clicking right as the ball hits the ground, they bounce at random timing. Also you can practice by having them make a fist and open wide at random intervals click on open or close. what was very enlightening for me is clicking my husband to do something. I had to pick something like touch the apex of the a-frame in the classroom with his right hand. i had to click which direction he walked and what he did so seeing his confusion and when I was clicking what made it very clear to me how a dog must see the timing and clicker input. it was also very funny... LOL
Juggling equipment is difficult but developing some tricks makes it easier. I have hand problems so I have lots of tricks. I hold the clicker and 7-8 treats in my right hand, and click with my small or ring finger so I can use my thumb to dispense treats. I hold the target stick in my left hand and pop it under my right arm if I need to or want to pick a treat out of my right hand with an unencumbered left and give the treat. I do hold the clicker hand behind my back. Preloading one hand makes it easier and not using that hand with treats to signal is less confusing. As well as my dogs know some things if I signal with a hand that has a treat in it they just follow the hand and turn off.
They also make clickers with finger bands and i-clickers have a raised button so they are easier to click than a box clicker which requires a finger inside. I used a phone cord type wrist band for my clicker. another option is a target stick with a built in clicker. I believe
www.clickertraining.com (also has finger band clickers) has them but other sites may also. I found this clicker on the target stick a little quiet so wouldn't use it in a very loud location.
other ideas a hands free leash or carabineer the leash to a belt, tether your dog (supervised only), loop a hair band through the hole on the end of the clicker for a easy finger band. use food or squeeze tubes and or canned squeeze cheese as treats. cake icing tubes or big durable ones are great for squeezing pureed liverwurst, meat/broth/applesauce/cooked yams/boiled chicken liver, liver pate, soft cheese. you just have to food process them until dip consistency that wouldn't break your chip and fill the tubes. it's nice for cold winder days too. The ones I like are at
http://www.petexpertise.com/dog-training-aids/dog-training-pouches-bait-bags/dog-training-food-tube.html?sef_rewrite=1 Though you can buy cake icing tubes at KMart etc I found that the caps came off if the goo wasn't liquid enough and I had to squeeze hard. I've hiking and camping stores also have good goo tubes designed for peanut butter and cheese for human hiking. The dog tubes are dishwasher safe so I liked that.
in training class we often take 6-7 pieces of treat and put in our mouths so you can teach the dog to catch if you spit one or just put it in a hand quick to give without fumbling for a bait bag. leave the treats on a cabinet out of reach/sight and just take them off with free hand as needed.
most of these ideas were suggested by someone else and they work great. sometimes the obvious eludes me. :dogbiggrin: