Clicker
training? How to get started with it
Candi
Moon
So
you want to get started out on clicker training with your puppy or older dog and see
if it is for you?
First
of all we have to create the connection between the click sound and
the treat in the dog’s mind, so that the dog understands what the
click means i.e., ‘That was the behaviour I wanted, you have earned
a treat’.
Once
you have ‘charged the clicker’ for your dog you are ready to
train.
Before we get started though, a couple of rules for using the clicker:
Get
together several food treats that your dog likes. In clicker training
we want to keep the ‘rate of reinforcement’ high, in other words,
give the dog lots of opportunities to earn a treat and treat often to
keep the dog interested in the learning process, so break treats into
very small pieces, each about the size of your pinkie nail.
Find
a quiet place where you and your dog can begin practising. If you
have more than one dog, you will want to separate them so you can
train one dog at a time. Put several treats in one hand and your
clicker in the other.
Begin
by dropping a treat on the ground, as your dog eats the treat, click
once with your clicker. We are now starting off associating the click
sound and the delivery of a treat in your dog’s mind. Repeat this
five or six times.
Then
stop dropping treats on the ground. You dog should now look at you in
puzzlement, wondering why the treats have stopped. This gives you the
opportunity to click your dog for looking at you. Then reward your
dog with a treat and wait for your dog to look at you again. When she
does this click and reward and keep repeating. Once your dog looks at
you again automatically after eating each treat you are ready to add
in a command word for eye contact from your dog e.g. ‘watch’ or
‘look at me’.
You
are only looking for about a second of eye contact at first, if you
wait too long your dog will look away and you will lose your
opportunity to reward him for looking at you. Once your dog
understands what is wanted you can ask for longer periods of eye
contact.
The
reason for teaching this first is that if you cannot get your dog’s
attention you cannot do anything else with her either. A dog who is
paying attention to you can then be asked to sit, stay, come to you
etc.
You
can click for any behaviour that your dog offers that you like and
reward it to encourage your dog to do it again and to offer the
behaviour more often e.g. you can click and reward your dog for lying
quietly while you are watching television.
When
done with your training session be sure to give your dog a command
like ‘all done’ so that she knows the training session is over.
Otherwise she may keep offering you different behaviours in the hopes
of earning a click and treat.
Visit www.clickertraining.com to find out more about clicker training and for lots more ideas on
how to use your clicker.
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article may be freely distributed provided it is left intact and the source is credited.
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