Clicker Training and Why it works better than other types of training
| Clicker training indicates precisely to the dog that when it hears a "click" for the behavior it just performed, it will earn a reward. The dog will repeat the behavior to earn another reward. When the dog reliably repeats the behavior, the trainer adds a cue, which might be a word or hand signal. Now when cued, the dog will perform the behavior and soon the clicker will no longer be necessary. A reward, such as a treat, however, will occasionally be awarded to keep the behavior strong. |  Clicker Training Tools: Clickers and Targets |
 Red clicker in hand. | Clickers are used to mark the precise behavior wanted. Using a flashlight instead of a clicker is useful for training fish and deaf animals. A target stick is easy for the dog to touch with its nose or paw. The dog then learns to follow the target to perform another behavior such as a spin. Once the spin is on cue with a verbal, "spin," the target stick will no longer be used. The dog will follow the target stick to another target, such as a mat, and the dog will now consider it's mat to be a target. Adding the cue, "settle," when the dog lies down will soon have the dog lying on its mat when cued. This is a helpful behavior as people enter your home, or when eating without the dog begging at the table. Clicker trainers do not use pronged, choke (except under exceptional circumstances which is hardly ever), or electric collars, nor do they push the dog into a sit, or knee the dog in the chest if it jumps on them. Why? Because it's unnecessary and those training tools and procedures hurt the dog. When the dog is punished, it's mindset is now how to avoid punishment rather than to enthusiastically take a chance and offer a behavior to be rewarded. |
| Clicker Trainers find a way to start clicking and rewarding the dog right away and then they incrementally build on what the dog is offering until the desired behavior is performed, put on cue, and reliable. As a result, the dog quickly learns to touch a target with its nose or paw, give the owner eye contact, settle on a mat, follow a cue, and offer new behaviors. In short, the dog quickly learns Foundations Behaviors, which will now be stepping stones to teach the dog ALL other behaviors. It is a convenient, fast, gentle way to train dogs, dolphins, whales, horses, cats, rats, and other animals. |  Terri P Tepper, owner of the Cultivated Canine, is a KPA Certified Clicker Trainer in the Chicagoland area. |