Clicker Training © 2001 Jennifer Jones All rights reserved.

What Is It?

Clicker training has been used with marine mammals, captive species, horses, dogs and even cats. Clicker training involves the use of a noise making device to mark correct behavior. It is used in conjunction with many other forms of positive reinforcement based training techniques. What you first need to understand about clicker training is the importance of the marker in learning any new behavior. If you were to ask for a sit from your dog or your dog happened to offer you a sit at just the perfect time, you would need to give some type of feedback immediately. If you were to wait five to ten seconds before giving this feedback, your dog would likely have stood up, lied down, or even done something completely inappropriate such as barking for your attention. You would not want to reward this behavior, but since you had not rewarded the correct behavior immediately you were stuck with this behavior instead. Instead, you wanted to reward the sit behavior that was offered first. This is where the marker comes in. The purpose of the clicker is to give your dog feedback about their behavior before the have a chance to offer something else.

In scientific terms, the clicker is called the secondary reinforcer, because it comes directly before the primary reinforcer. The primary reinforcer is the reward that you normally use, such as a food treat, a toy, a belly rub, a walk, etc. The clicker is meant to predict that a reward is coming, thus marking the behavior and telling the dog that their performance was correct and that a reward will follow soon. The great part about the clicker is that it is quick, sufficiently loud, it carries over distances, and is distinguishable. When a dog is learning a command, the clicker is much more useful than our voice because it never changes in tone or duration. If we were to say the words "good dog" instead, our voice tone would be likely to change depending on our mood or even the time of day. Adding clicker training to your positive methods will often increase the rate of learning and make the training process even more enjoyable.

How To Introduce The Click

To begin incorporating clicker training into your routine, start by sitting on a couch or chair and clicking and treating your dog with small bits of food just for simply paying attention to you. What often happens during this process is that your dog will become more and more focused on you, and will sometimes begin offering specific behaviors such as sits or downs. You should repeat this click and treat process many times per day over the course of one week. After one week, you can begin clicking and rewarding your dog for any type of correct behavior. For example, click and treat your dog when they are sitting quietly in the house, waiting patiently for their breakfast, or any other type of everyday good behavior. Try implementing the "nothing in life is free" policy.

Ask for sit before your dog gets anything in their life that they want, such as getting in or out of the car, being allowed in or out of the house, receiving their breakfast or dinner, or before having the leash put on or taken off. Eventually your dog will begin offering sits to "ask" for whatever it is they want at that particular time. The clicker can also be used with this policy, by clicking and rewarding your dog either when you ask for the sit or when they offer the sit behavior. The reward can come in one of two ways. You can continue using a food treat as the reward, but you can also use whatever it is they are asking for as the reward itself, which is referred to as a "life reward". For example, if your dog offers a polite sit just as you grab for the leash to take him or her on a walk, you can click and then have the reward simply be getting to go on the walk.

How To Incorporate The Clicker Into Your Training Program

Clicker training can be incorporated into any positive training program. Clicker training involves waiting for the correct behavior to be offered and then clicking and rewarding that specific behavior. This process is completely hands-off and it teaches the dog to offer behaviors spontaneously, which makes learning any behavior a process that the dog initiates. In my classes, I instruct owners on how to both wait for correct behaviors, and "lure" their dogs into certain positions using a food treat, use the clicker to mark the behavior, and reward them with the food lure. Clicker training and the use of lures and rewards are great ways to teach any obedience skill, from simple behaviors such as "sit" and "down" to more complex behaviors such as "stay" and walking on leash. Most of clicker training is dependent on three very important items: timing, rate of reinforcement, and consistency. Therefore, anyone can learn how to teach manners and obedience skills as long as they can master those three items.

Another fun way to use your clicker is to teach your dog to perform tricks, using both luring and clicker training. The food lure can be used to lure your dog into the correct position and the clicker can be used to mark the correct behavior. A process called "shaping" can also be used to teach more complex tricks, such as retrieving. Shaping involves clicking and treating the dog for a portion of the correct response, and gradually asking for more and more until they have learned the entire behavior. For example, you can click and treat your dog for simply grabbing the object you would like for them to retrieve. Then, start clicking and treating only when they grab for the object and hold it for ten seconds, then only when they grab for the object, hold it and walk with it in their mouth. Continue this process until they can pick up the object, hold it, walk with it in their mouth, and then drop it into your hands.

How To Wean Your Dog Off The Clicker

The clicker is meant as a training device. Once you have worked on any particular command for a couple of months and you are positive that your dog understands the command you may begin weaning your dog off the clicker. This is done by varying between using the clicker as a predictor of the reward, and using "good dog" as the predictor of the reward. Eventually switch to only using the words "good dog" or "yes" and an intermittent reward as reinforcement for correct behavior. Your voice tone and duration does not matter as much at this point because your dog is already comfortable with the command. Always remember that the clicker can be utilized in the future whenever you teach any new commands or behaviors.

About The Author: Jennifer Jones graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, specializing in animal learning and behavior. She also spent two years studying Animal Science with the University of California in Davis and has been training dogs for companionship and competition for over ten years.