Have you ever seen clickers at a pet store or heard someone clicking them at their dog and wondered how they work? Contrary to popular belief, clickers aren’t a remote control to make your dog behave, and dogs don’t automatically know clickers mean something good is happening. Instead, clickers are communication devices that help you communicate clearly to your dog while training. Clicker training can be especially effective when teaching new skills and help break down communication barriers between dogs and owners.
What are clickers?
Clickers are small plastic boxes with a metal strip inside. When the metal strip inside is pressed directly or with a button, depending on the style of the clicker, it produces a clear “clicking” sound. This sound, when paired with a reinforcer like food, can be a beneficial way to teach dogs new skills quickly. Clickers are an inexpensive training tool that aids in communication between dogs and people.
What is clicker training?
Clicker training is a modality of positive reinforcement training where dog owners can use clickers to help dogs understand new skills. Dogs don’t come programmed to find the sound of the clicker valuable. The clicker only becomes a helpful training tool after dogs make the association that when they hear the sound, they get a reward like treats.
To start clicker training, a dog owner pairs the sound of a clicker with a primary reinforcer for the dog, which is, in most cases, food/treats. By pairing the sound of the clicker with food, dogs will quickly make the association that the sound of the clicker means the behavior they are doing at that moment is desirable. When dogs are rewarded for a specific behavior, they are more likely to repeat it.
Benefits of clicker training
It’s possible to train your dog in a variety of skills without the use of a clicker. However, a clicker can help to speed up a dog’s understanding. Because a clicker produces a consistent sound, using it to tell your dog that they have performed a desired behavior can help your dog to make connections more quickly than using a verbal reward marker like “good” or “yes” because the clicker is a consistent sound/marker. Because of this, clicker training can help to decrease confusion and frustration for dogs and owners and help dogs to build an understanding of skills during training.
Clicker training is practical because it allows dog owners to make very specific behaviors which can help dogs to grasp basic and complicated training concepts quickly. Clicker training can teach any number of behaviors, from basic obedience to more complicated behaviors, skills, and sports.
How to start clicker training
Clickers can be purchased inexpensively at most pet stores, as well as online. If you have a dog who is especially sound sensitive, you can purchase clickers that have a dulled or quieter sound. To begin clicker training you need to introduce the clicker to your dog. Here are the steps for how to start training your dog using a clicker:
Step 1: You will want to have many small pieces of dog treats your dog is excited about. Then, click the clicker and give treats to your dog.
Step 2: Repeat the above step several times to help your dog to build the association that the sound of the clicker means a treat is going to happen.
Step 3: Once your dog understands the sound of the click means a treat is coming, it’s time to start using your clicker while training. To do this, ask your dog to do a behavior they already know, like sit and click as your dog’s bottom touches the floor and treat. If your dog doesn’t yet know any behaviors on cue, you can use a treat to lure your dog’s head up, and when they move into a sit position, click and treat.
Step 4: Continue to practice with a clicker asking your dog to do behaviors that they know, and start to utilize the clicker when teaching your dog new skills and behaviors.
The clicker is a straightforward way to communicate to our dogs that they have done a behavior correctly, but it’s tied to the reward/reinforcer. When dogs hear a clicker click, they know a treat is coming. Once you click, you must follow that sound up with a reward. If you want to get more involved in clicker training and build additional skills, consider attending the virtual Clicker Expo Conference, which brings together dog training experts worldwide to teach clicker training skills.
