Clicker Training - Getting Started

It is very important to practice your timing first so watch the television and decide that when a certain person says a particular word, you are going to click. Timing is most important so practice until you are confident.

When you are happy with your timing, it’s time to introduce your dog to the clicker. We want the dog to be focused on the clicker rather than the food so ensure the treats are not in your pockets or in your lap. Put them in a container of bag and let your dog know they are available (let him sniff the bag). Click once and follow it up with a treat – after a few repetitions, your dog will soon have got the hang of this as he will be thinking “aha – this is good, that click means food!”. Each dog learns at a different pace so don’t worry if your dog takes quite a few clicks and treats.

It’s important to vary the time between the click and treat – not too long (just a few seconds) as this teaches the dog that the clicker is pinpointing the behaviour rather than the treat.

Don’t use your voice as the clicker is doing the work – by adding your voice, you are adding an element of confusion! Ensure your dog is hungry before commencing training and always stop before he becomes bored.

OK, my dog is happy that a click means a treat – how do I start?

You are now looking to click and treat wanted behaviour and the importance is that the click arrives as the behaviour occurs not after (remember timing!).

Remember to keep the food off you, we don’t want him to be focused on the food.

To begin with, you will need to reinforce every stage with a click and treat. Your dog will soon work this one out though so we then want to raise the stakes e.g. click and treat every two repeats or three – keep it random though – dogs are very quick to pick up on a pattern!.

If your dog is constantly rewarded for every stage throughout training, he will quickly become bored. By raising the stakes, we are keeping him enthusiastic and he will work harder – he will think you have missed the behaviour so he will repeat it to get your attention – remember :

An attempt to be noticed = Enthusiasm!

If you see any deterioration in your dogs behaviour, cut the repetitions in half and start again.

You should get to a stage where the behaviour is being constantly offered so then we need to polish it e.g. click and treat only the longest sit or the fastest sit. Don’t try to go for two polishes at once – just like you couldn’t polish two ornaments at the time – neither can your dog! Take one at a time.

Introducing a verbal command.

Once you are happy that your dog is responding exactly to the behaviour you want, you can then introduce the command. Look for a 98% success rate before you introduce the verbal command and only use the command once. Once you have introduced the command, ignore offered behaviour (e.g. if he sits without command). So what have we learned – the three tasks of clicker training :

SHAPE THE ACTION;

VARY THE CLICK AND TREAT;

BEHAVIOUR OK? INTRODUCE THE COMMAND.

Copyright Volsung Rottweilers