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Clicker training has swept across the United States and become the in vogue training method. But is it really a revolution in dog training or just a gimmick that makes training more complicated? The clicker is based on a child's toy. It's a piece of metal in a small plastic box which, when pressed, makes a clicking noise (hence the name). Clicker training is not new. It was being used as early as the 1940's and the principle behind it is even older It's an example of using a conditioned reinforcer. This is a posh way of saying that the dog learns that the sound of the clicker means something good is going to happen. The sound of the clicker eventually becomes a good thing in itself. Humans have conditioned reinforcers as well. A pay slip has no value but it makes us feel good as we know it means we have been paid! Why use a conditioned reinforcer? Well, probably you already do. Dogs don't speak English so initially 'good dog 'means nothing. However your dog soon learns to associate the phrase with nice things. He's is happy to hear it, making the phrase a conditioned reinforcer. The clicker is just a shorter, sharper way of saying 'good dog - a treat is on its way'. So why not just stick to 'good dog'? There are several reasons. Firstly, we talk to our dogs an awful lot and, to be honest, most of our talking passes them by as a blur. In addition, the way we say words is not consistent. Your dog is more interested in your tone than your exact words. If we are too tired or fed up to say 'good dog' in a happy tone of voice, he thinks he's mucked up. A clicker's tone is always the same. If you have enough energy to press the clicker then you have enough energy to train your dog. Another advantage is that the click is very short, while a phrase, or even a word, is quite long. In the time it takes you to say 'good dog' your faithful friend may have sat down, licked his lips and wagged his tail. He will not be sure which of these behaviours earned him the praise and reward. In contrast, a click more accurately pinpoints which particular action earned the reward, so speeding up learning. Starting clicker training is easy. Clickers are widely available from pet shops, vets or online. The first step is to associate the clicker with something nice (though chasing squirrels is very rewarding to most dogs, they are a bit hard to produce on demand). For the purposes of clicker training, food is the most practical reward although toys can also be used. Every time you click, reward your dog. Repeat this until your dog is looking around for his reward as soon as he hears the click. You are then ready to go. Use the click to let your dog know he has got it right. This form of training is very clear and specific so there is no need to physically manhandle your dog into doing anything. Instead you can simply wait until he does something you like e.g. sits, and then click. Your dog will try and work out what he did that made the click go off. Very quickly he will realise it was sitting. Congratulations, you've got a dog who sits! Next you need to do is add a cue word ('sit' would be the obvious one) and only click when he sits after you have given that word. Things can be helped along by luring the dog with food to get the correct behaviour. For behaviours that are unlikely to be in your dog's natural repertoire you can use a technique called shaping. For example, if you wanted to get your dog to chase his tail you would start by clicking every time he looked round. Then you would only click when he looked round and took a little step and then when he took a couple of steps etc. until he was spinning around. Well done! You are now a clicker trainer. The more clicker training you do, the better your timing will get and the better your dog gets at guessing what made the clicker go off. This is just a brief introduction to clicker training. If you are interested in learning more there are plenty of books with tricks to teach your dog available from pet shops or online. Bear in mind, clicker training can be used with any animal. Why not clicker train your cat or rabbit?
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