Clicker Training – Systematic Dog Training
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Clicker training for dogs is one of the more systematic methods in dog training. The method stems from behavioral psychology research and is known as operant conditioning. But you don’t need to know technical terminology in order to benefit from the method.
The method was first developed with marine mammals. With the dolphins, a whistle was used rather than a clicker. You can imagine how difficult it is to train a marine mammal compared to a dog. The clicker training method is based on positive reinforcement. It was very difficult to give a tasty treat to a dolphin at the moment the dolphin enacted the behaviour you wanted. However, you could blow a whistle immediately. Then you could follow that with a treat as soon as possible afterwards.
In order to positively reinforce a wanted action, you must reinforce it at the moment it happens or very soon afterwards or the animal will not connect the reinforcement with the action. The whole reward process is made so much easier and clearer by using a sound from a whistle or clicker to mark the action.
The first step is to positively associate the clicker sound with getting a reward. By clicking and following the click with a treat many times, the sound and the reward become associated. Once this connection is made, the clicker sound itself becomes a reward in itself since it’s so closely related to treats in the dog’s perception. This process is called charging the clicker by clicker trainers.
Now that the clicker is charged, you use the clicker when the dog does an action you want and you always follow the action with a treat. In true clicker training, you allow the behavior you want to occur naturally and click and treat. In order to do this more complicated behaviors should be split up into smaller pieces. A tool which assists the trainer in doing this is the target stick.
One of the first exercises in clicker training is to get your dog to touch the target stick with his nose. Once your dog accomplishes this, the stick can be used to get your dog to any place where you put the target stick. This is so helpful when training your dog in other actions.
Getting dog’s nose to contact the stick is easy. If you put it in front of his face, he will probably touch it. Then you click and reward. Be sure to allow your dog to touch the stick: don’t touch it to his nose! Repeat this for a couple of minutes. Then take a rest.
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It can take a while when a dog is introduced to clicker training, especially if he is an older dog. Patience is a requirement for good clicker training. It may take a couple of training sessions before it clicks for your dog. But once he’s got it, it will stay.
One other tool which clicker trainers find useful is a mouse pad or something similar that you train your dog to stand on with one of his front feet. You can train this easily by just placing it down on the ground near him and waiting for him to stand on it. Immediately, click and reward. As with the target stick, repeat until the connection is firm. As with the target stick, this tool can then be used to direct your dog to a spot in subsequent training.
In clicker training, a behavior is trained first as with the target stick and mouse pad and only then is a cue added. A cue means that you use a word or command prior to the behavior – for example, “fetch” or “sit”. You do this by saying the command just as you see the dog is about to do the behavior. As always you click and reward the action. Then, by repeating this, the cue becomes associated with the reward, just like the clicker sound is. Please note that when you start training with the cue, you don’t reward the behavior alone any more – it has to be preceded by the cue. You don’t click or reward when the dog offers the behavior without you having given the cue.
This is an introduction to the way clicker training is used. Obviously there is a lot more to learn. What I love about it is that it’s very systematic and all it requires is being patient and consistent. Read more about dog clicker training, a review of the top clicker training book, and also reviews of other dog training guides.
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