What is Clicker Training?
This is a question I'm asked on a daily basis and my short answer is this:
Clicker Training is a reward-based training method which focuses on
desirable behaviours and rewards them accordingly, rather than
focussing on undesirable behaviours and their correction.
The long explanation is:
Clicker training is a reward-based training method, where we
use clicks from a little device as event markers to tell your
dog when she has earned a reward.
The click (secondary reinforcer) is just to tell your dog that
whatever she is doing when she hears the click is what
earned her the reward. You are probably asking yourself
right now: "Well, if I have to use a reward anyway, why
bother to use the clicker? Why not just use the reward?"
Good question! The answer to which is that you are right, you can just use your reward,
but you must get it to your dog at the precise moment she is performing the required task. This means you need to work close to your dog to deliver the reward as the action you want is happening. This leaves a lot of room for error.
It's all about timing. While using the clicker your timing is improved 110%. It is a lot easier and faster to click than to reach your dog with her reward at the precise moment she offers the desired behaviour. It also means you can work a dog at a distance and still communicate to her the precise moment she gives you the desired behaviour. Clicker training can sound quite scary and a little difficult to begin with. But really you just can't go wrong. All you have to do is relax, and have fun with your dog. She will only love you all the more for it.
Why Clicker Train?
To appreciate the advantages of Clicker Training, it's important to understand the difference between Clicker Training and more traditional methods of correction-based training (punishing your dog with choker/correction collars or by yelling at it). Fundamentally, Clicker Training is based on what you want your dog to do, whereas correction is based on what you don't want your dog to do.
Ultimately, correction training is based on fear - on making your dog frightened of the consequences if being wrong. Clicker Training is based on helping her make the right choices and rewarding them. If she does make some wrong choices, then you simply fail to give a reward. Consequently, it's OK if dogs make wrong choices, as the worst that will happen is no reward. This in turn helps with the dog's confidence and she will not shut down due to the fear of making mistakes and the consequences that may follow.
You can clicker train any animal with a brain, because Clicker Training is based on behaviourism, the scientific study of how animals learn. Marine mammals such as dolphins, whales and sea lions have been clicker trained for many years. It is now being utilised in many animal sanctuaries all over the world for basic husbandry. As an example, a zoo with a diabetic monkey successfully clicker-trained it to put its arm through the bars of the cage for its insulin injection twice a day. The less humane alternatives were either euthanasia or sedating the monkey every time it needed its insulin. Another example I have seen is that of a rhinoceros clicker-trained to lift its feet to be trimmed. How successful do you think these trainers would have been if they had tried to use fear?
I can't put into words the passion and emotion I feel about this marvellous method of communicating with other species, such as our beloved canine companions. It has been a wonderful tool for me in dealing with a lot of canine behaviour problems. Sometimes the solution has been as simple as teaching the Clicker Training method to the owner which in itself gives a new way to communicate - in turn building the dog's confidence and so eliminating unwanted stress-related behaviours. It is also a good discipline for us as human beings to relax and be a little more patient and understanding of our dog's needs, working with her rather than against her.
With some dogs, the confidence built during this process is nothing short of miraculous. It is truly a 'working together' relationship, rather than a 'do it or else!' situation. The pleasure I get in sharing this wonderful communication method of training with my clients and their dogs leaves me speechless. Ohhhhh - I just love my job!
