Clicker Training for Dogs | How to Clicker Train a Dog
How to Use a Dog Clicker
Dog training clicker method is a stress-free, efficient kind of dog
training.
Clicker dog training method is considered to be the most efficient among the
modern ones. Dog training clickers reveal new abilities and allow to train
basic commands and circus tricks with maximum accuracy.
Dog training method is based on conditional reflex, studied by
famous Russian academician I.P. Pavlov. It is a well-known fact. To
remind its nature:
1) Food is placed in front of a dog. The sight and smell of food
causes dog salivating. The reaction is reflex.
2) Sound signal is turned on, then the food is placed in front of a
dog. A dog is salivating. But because of the sound signal before
placing food, the conditional reflex is formed.
3) After frequent repeating of the same action signal-food the
signal itself will be enough for a dog to cause salivating.
As you have guessed, in our case the signal is click and salivating
will be substituted by happy state of expectation.
How to Clicker Train a Dog Step by Step
How to use a dog clicker?
Step 1. Beginning.
Find a calm and silent place for dog training with a clicker.
Make a click and give a dog treat for a dog at once (the time span
between click and treat should be no more than 1 sec.).
Repeat the exercise 15-20 times and then stop training and let a dog
rest.
Step 2. Exercising.
Here everything goes as well as at the beginning stage but the treat
is held not in a hand, but in a dog treats bag or at some distance
(on a table, for example).
Put a treat at a distance and come back to a dog.
Click, then take a treat and give it to a dog with a time span of 5
sec. Here you may change a time span.
This exercise is aimed to let a dog understand that even if it gets
a treat after a click, sometimes it has to wait for a while until
you get a treat. This exercise will help further in dog training
with a clicker: it will be enough just to click while training to
get the result.
It is recommended to repeat this action in various days and at
various dog training sessions for the dog to understand the meaning
and let it start looking for a treat after a click.
Step 3. Final stage of dog training clicker method.
When a dog studies all the described exercises, you may go forward
to clicker training for dogs itself. A dog understands the principle
"click - success with a treat to follow".
As an example, let's view a trick "Paw". Show a treat to a dog and
hold it in your fist. Keep the fist in front of the dog. Click at
the moment when the dog touches your hand and give a treat. When a
dog will learn to obey a command by a word or gesture, you may stop
using a clicker.
The success of clicker training for dogs depends of the right time
span between a click and a treat and motivation state of the dog. Do
not point a dog training clicker on a dog, it makes no use and does
not make training more successful or quicker.
Important Dog Clicker Training Tips
It is obligatory to read the rules how to train a dog with a
clicker.
►Do not start clicker dog training until the conditional reflex is
formed.
►Clicker should confirm the correct actions of a dog while the
desired behavior, in the order to prevent forming of wrong
understanding of actions and let a dog understand what is demanded.
►Clicker is not to be used to call a dog or call its attention.
►Desired action of a dog should be confirmed by a click. A dog gets a
treat after a click. Thus a dog itself may get a treat by its proper
behavior.
►If you wish to get bright results of clicker dog training, use more
treats and use more tasty dog treats. It is like 'Jack Pot' for a dog.
►A dog should have the possibility to get a 'Jack Pot' once in a
while. It will encourage a dog. Jack Pot is given after a great
progress of the dog in clicker training only.
►Often a dog comes up to get a treat after a click. It is absolutely
normal. Click finishes an exercise and it should be confirmed with a
treat.
►Undesired dog behavior should not turn your attention. Clicker dog
training is free of punishment. Absence of click means fail for a
sensitive dog, who is constantly trained with a clicker. That's why
an exercise should be devided into several small parts/steps in the
order for a dog to have the click-confirmation of its right behavior
more often.
►Clicker dog training is not intended to train a command. It is aimed
to form and train desired type of dog behavior. It is the greatest
advantage in comparison to an ordinary dog training, as in this case
a dog connects a click with its progress.
►As soon as dog action is controlled by a command, a clicker is not
used further.
