Clicker Training
Jollytails is a big fan of Clicker training. We use it in our classes for obedience and it is also quite helpful in behavior rehabilitation. For those not familiar with what clicker training actually IS, let us explain the basics:
Clicker training is based off the principals of classical conditioning. The scientist that discovered classical conditioning was named Ivan Pavlov and he discovered it by accident. He was conducting experiments on the salivation of dogs, and he noticed they would begin to salivate before seeing or being presented with food. He realized the dogs were picking up on cues that he was giving with his body prior to getting the food for them, so he decided to take it a step further. He rang a bell, then immediately gave them a piece of food. After several trials he realized with just the bell alone, he could make his dogs salivate without food even being present. Thus a hard wired biological response like salivation could be triggered by using a neutral object (a bell) after you "condition" it. This principal can apply to any neutral object (one that has no meaning to a dog) and you can give it meaning by following it with food. You can use light, a clicker or a marker word. The reason we use clickers is because they are consistent, it stands out among other sounds and it is very fast.
The clicker is used to signal to the animal you are training that the behavior being performed at the moment of the sound is one that will be rewarded. It's estimated that if you don't reward within a half second to a second of the behavior occurring, you've missed your chance to re-enforce that behavior. Since animals love to be rewarded this makes the behavior more likely to occur. This is very helpful if we are trying to get a dog to look at us, or walk beside us, since both of these behaviors happen very fast.
Once an animal knows that sound equals reward, the animal will wonder how to make the sound happen. If we 'click' when the animal is performing a behavior, he'll learn which specific behavior creates the sound, and that equals reward. He will obviously then 'give' you that behavior more often. Once that is happening we can start to put that behavior on a cue. By putting the behavior on cue, we will tell the animal when we want that behavior to occur. Thus we will only reward the behavior when the cue (such as 'sit') is given. If the dog sits without being given the command - no reward.
The reason that we say 'animal' throughout this section is that clicker training is used in most zoos and marine animal shows. Imagine trying to jerk the collar of a rhino to make it move....not a good idea. However, Zookeeper's use clickers and rewards to get animals to accept needles, handling and move between cages. For a more detailed history of clicker training visit it's Wikipedia Page.
Click here for Jollytails handout on Clicker training which contains information on how to charge your clicker and some detailed exercises.
Rules of Clicker Training
1. You always provide a treat when you click. If you wish to reward the dog without food, simply praise instead of clicking/treating.
2. You "get what you click" so be aware of your timing or you may reinforce the wrong behaviour.
3. Clicker training is for learning a new behavior, once you've had lots of practice you should be phasing out rewards along with your clicker.