Clicker Training

Clicker training has become one of the most-used animal training methods, and I'm a big fan!

Pictured here is the Kong Multi-Clicker, which is the type I use, but there are lots of different clickers out there, and I wouldn't particularly advocate one over the others. The purpose of a clicker is simply to make a clear, distinctive noise immediately it is activated.

And why would you want something to do that? Well, to explain that we have to get into "old-school" classical conditioning. Remember Pavlov and his dogs? Pavlov discovered that by ringing a bell and then feeding the dogs, the dogs made an association between the bell and the food - they salivated (and had other physiological responses) when they heard the bell.

This is what we want from our animals - to build an association between the clicker and a reward. This is possible with any animal that can hear, and likes to eat - not just dogs! A simple session of repeated click-treat is normally sufficient to build that association, and to get the animal looking for its reward whenever it hears the click. Once that association is established, a world of training possibilities opens up.

Operant conditioning applies from then on. When the animal does something you like, give a click and reward the animal. When it does it again, click and reward again, and so on. When the behaviour is being performed regularly and reliably, you can build in a cue (a command) for that behaviour, by giving the cue just as the animal is about to do it.

To make that clearer, let's use an Example Dog (and let's call him ED for short), and say that you want to train him to sit when he's told. Here's a step-by-step guide:

• ED loves hot dog sausages, so make sure you have plenty of sliced-up sausage to use as rewards
• Let ED know that you have a bit of sausage in your hand, so his attention is fixed on it
• Raise your hand over ED's head so that he's looking up
• ED finds this position awkward, so he'll naturally lower his bottom to the ground in order to get a good view of the reward-bearing hand
• As soon as ED sits, click and treat
• Don't worry if he tries jumping up and mugging you! Just don't give him the sausage, and try again
• When ED sits as you raise your hand over his head, start saying "sit" as you do it
• Repeat this a few times and he'll now build associations between the word "sit", him sitting, the click and the treat
• Before you know it, ED has learned to sit when he's told

See? The purpose of the clicker is to mark the EXACT behaviour you're rewarding him for. It helps to clear up any confusion over whether you were rewarding him for wagging his tail, for whining, for licking his lips.. he knows for certain that you made that click noise because he sat. And most dogs will soon start to wonder what else they can do to make you click!