Clicker training is a way to communicate with your pet using a hand held plastic noise maker known as a clicker. The unique and consistent sound of the clicker acts as a signal to your pet indicating what specific behavior is earning them a reward. Clicker training is fun for you and your pet as all training should be, and creates a pet who is eager to participate in the training process. It helps with long term retention of behaviors, and some studies indicate that pets learn faster with the use of a clicker. This training methodology can be traced to working with marine mammals and has been successfully utilized in training for all animal species, domesticated and wild. Known as TagTeach, clicker training has adapted to teach humans and has been utilized to pinpoint the precise physical movements needed for athletes and surgeons.
Clicker Use In Action
Let’s use the behavior of “sit” as an example. First, decide what that behavior should look like; in this case sit will loosely be defined as your pet’s rear touching the floor. Next, observe your pet for that behavior. At the exact moment your pet’s rear touches the floor, depress the clicker. Immediately after the click, give your pet a reward such as a small soft treat. Your pet will associate the click with the behavior he was performing at the time as well as with a reward. The reward reinforces this behavior, and thus your pet is likely to do this behavior more often. Once the sit behavior is predictable, a verbal signal to start this behavior (aka cue) is added just prior to your pet sitting. Clicker training is very forgiving, so if your clicker timing is occasionally off still give the treat to preserve the communication value of the clicker.
An important factor in clicker training success is clicker mechanics. This refers to the physical skills surrounding the use a clicker including, hand placement, observation and timing, click then treat and treat delivery. Pawsitive DiMensions often recommends clicker use in our training plans and will coach you through these mechanical skills so you feel confident when training with your pet.