Clicker Training

Hi again,

Today I will tell you what I know about "clicker training."

A CLICKER is a little contraption that makes a little sharp sound when it is pressed. The entire point of the clicker is to tell the dog (me) EXACTLY the moment he has done something good. You know, the problem with a lot of training is that the dog really doesn't understand EXACTLY what he did that got him the treat. The Clicker is like an instant camera-shot of the moment.

A Typical Clicker

Let's take teaching a dog to sit without a clicker. This is how it usually happens. The person says "sit" (which is at this point a meaningless sound to the dog) and pushes its butt down to the ground. Then says "good dog" and then gives a treat. By the time the treat goes into the dog's mouth (or even by the time the end of "good dog" comes out of the person's mouth), the dog may have already lifted his butt off the floor. So is the treat for touching the butt TO the floor, or lifting the butt OFF the floor? You see, it's confusing. And this is a simple procedure. After a whole bunch of times (many!!!) the dog will start to realize that if it hears the sound "sit" and puts its butt on the floor, it will get a treat.

With a clicker, the sound goes off the INSTANT the butt hits the floor. The dog knows that that is the motion that will give him a treat (because he has earlier associated the sound of the click with a treat to come.) Voila! Instant communication! 

Another aspect of clicker training is using SHAPING. Shaping means that the dog uses its brain to figure out what the desired behavior is. So at the beginning, it may take a while to get the behavior formed, but later on, because the dog is using his brain, things happen really fast. So to shape a SIT, the trainer waits until the dog sits by itself. Then clicks and treats (C/T). The dog is ecstatic and wants another treat. At this point, it may not realize what it was exactly. Maybe while it was sitting, it was also thinking about a steak. So it thinks about a steak again, and nothing happens. Obviously this was not the behavior. He walks away. Nothing. He comes back. Nothing. He stops to think and sits down (CLICK! - C/T)) to do it. OK! The sit may be the magic behavior. The dogs gets up and sits down again. (C/T!!) That's it!!! He does it again and again! At this point, he begins to hear the word "SIT". So now, when he hears SIT he sits, and viola C/T!

Actually, this is a bit simplified, since shaping also means not waiting for the dog to do the actual "perfect" motion, but even a bit into the motion gets a click (i.e. just lowering the butt a bit will get a click, but later on the butt needs to be closer and closer to the floor to earn the C/T.)

OK. That is the principle. There comes a time when obeying "SIT" doesn't yield a treat each time. But you never know when, so it is in the dog's best interest to sit every time he hears the word "SIT." You never know!

Well, many people have written about clicker training, and I am certainly no expert and don't mean to give instructions on the whole concept. What I like about it is that the clicks and treats come fast and furiously, the sessions are generally short (just a few minutes, so I don't get bored and tired) but occur frequently during the day (makes life interesting, and I get treats all day)!

Here is the link to a little 7-day mini-course on getting started in clicker training from the Canis Clickertraining Academy.  Also here is a link to a place in Israel, Anima,  where we went to a seminar on clicker training last summer. If you Google, there are tons of sites on clicker-training.

Also, someone asked about training their kids, so here is an article on that.

Take care,
Pepper