How to Understand Clicker Training

Using a clicker is one of the most effective ways to train a dog, because it communicates to the dog what you want him to do. Training is all about timing--and there is no better training tool to improve your timing. Clickers can speed up the training process--and once you understand how to use one--you can train your dog to do everything from obedience to tricks. In this article I will cover the basics of training with a clicker.

Things You'll Need

• Clicker
• Treats

Instructions

1. Understand how a clicker works. It is a small box with a strip of metal inside. When you push down on the metal strip, it will make a clicking sound.

2. The clicking sound has no meaning to your dog until you do what's called "charging the clicker." Charging the clicker is giving meaning to the sound. You start by clicking the clicker and then immediately give your dog a treat. You need to pair the sound of the clicker with the treat.

3. Pairing the sound of the clicker with the treat is called classical conditioning. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who studied the digestive system and used dogs for his studies. He would ring a bell and then give the dogs meat powder. In a short period of time he observed that the dogs would salivate at the sound of the bell. They had paired the sound of the bell with the thought of meat powder. He had classically conditioned the dogs to the sound of the bell.
   
   
   
   This is same thing you want to do with the clicker. You want to classically condition your dog with the clicker and the treats. Once your dog understands the sound of the clicker and anticipates a treat, you can start to use it to train your dog.

4. Now you can use the clicker to shape and reinforce behaviors. This is called operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is when the you are the "operator" and you train your dog to do certain behaviors.

5. If you want to teach your dog a simple command like sit, you can use the clicker. Lure your dog into a sit position, and the second your dog is in the sit position, click and then give your dog a treat.

Tips & Warnings

• Train in short 10-minute sessions.

• Use treats that your dog really likes.

• Train before you feed breakfast or dinner to your dog so those treats will seem even better.

• Never train when you are stressed or tired.

Resources

• FREE Dog Training Videos, Articles and Advice