Understanding the essence of Clicker Training

Successful dog training requires that we understand what works and what doesn't. That's where opinions of dog owners come in real handy! For example, if you were to conduct a survey you'd find that Clicker Training is one of the hottest training methods and that people are going nuts over the positive results....It does work wonders many times, but it's important to realize that it's not magic and one needs to understand how to use it effectively.

Every method of training attempts to coordinate two fundamental aspects of behavior -- information and motivation. The most efficient methods provide the animal with the necessary information in order to understand the task, and link the behavior to some motivation that insures reliable performance. The advantages and disadvantages of a method of training become clear when viewed from this perspective.

Now, lets try a little experiment shall we!

First, Take a ball and hold it around arm's length. Now drop the ball and try to quickly say the words, "Good Dog" at the exact instant the ball is at the half-way point.

Now, if you had issues connecting the praise to the mid-point of the ball's descent, don't blame your timing. In order to mark the precise instant the ball is at the half-way point you have three selections - and two of them just don't work. First, you could begin saying "good dog" before the ball hits the middle. Second, you could start the phrase precisely at the mid-point and end about a half second after the ball hits the ground. Third, you'd have to say "good dog" incredibly fast!

When forced to adapt to the new necessity of timeliness, most people immediately try to shorten the length of the signal that marks the correct behavior. And that's the first major reason that I use a clicker -- it's quicker and potentially more accurate than verbal praise as a means of transmitting information.

You see it's extremely important to have an effective information signal when you are teaching a new behavior to an untrained dog. In the early stages of learning any behavior, a dog is dependent on the trainer for clear signals that identify which part of the behavior "caused" success or failure.

The most common use of verbal praise is to provide motivation, for correctly completing a behavior. We intuitively understand that applying this praise immediately after a behavior tends to make it happen again. The praise helps the animal grasp that performing the behavior "causes" a pleasant dose of human attention and affection.

By using the clicker, a trainer may provide a clearer signal to the animal and thus it becomes more effective then the most common form of communication or praise.

When starting with clicker training it's essential to realize that a clicker is merely a construction tool, like any other. Clicker training isn't magic, even if the results sometimes appear to be. Learning to use a clicker doesn't mean you have to give up your knowledge of what works and what doesn't, it's simply just a more efficient way of providing clear signals to your pet.

For information about the clickers shown in the picture please visit The Clicker Company