This method has obviously gotten its name from the small device, the clicker. However,  you don’t actually need one to train in this way. The basic idea or theory behind clicker training, is operant conditioning, which means simply that we teach the animal that when it does something (that we wish it to do) it gets rewarded. Hence, the method is often also called positive reinforcement training.

There are four types of consequences to a behavior:

1) something good happens or is presented 🙂
2) something good ends or is taken away 😦
3) something bad happens or is presented 😦
4) something bad ends or is taken away 🙂

(1) and (4) are experience as rewards whereas (2) and (3) function as punishments. Hence, it is important to realise that when we talk about punishments in the context of operant conditioning, we don’t only mean things that cause physical pain, discomfort, fear or intimidation.

In clicker training the consequences used most often are (1) and (2). When the animal does something desirable, something good happens, for instance he gets a treat (1). When he fails to do what we want, we remove the possibility of the reward (2).

What about the clicker then?
The clicker in clicker training is used to mark a desired behavior. Contrary to common ideas, it is NOT a reward in itself, but simply something that tells the animal he has done something right and is soon to be rewarded. In order for a clicker to work, the dog must first be conditioned to its sound. Remember the Pavlov’s dog who started salivating when it heard a certain bell ring? That is what will eventually happen to your dog, when he hears the clicker sound (or any other sound or word you choose to use). Basically then, we will teach the dog that the sound of the clicker always means that food is on its way. As I mentioned before, the actual clicker is not necessary, but you can easily use a (short) word such as “good” or “yess”, or even make a clicking sound with your tongue. Any sound is fine as long as it is something that you don’t normally use with the dog.

Conditioning the clicker
This is easy. Simply sit down with your dog, clicker in one hand treats in the other. Start by clicking, and immediately afterwards giving your dog a treat. The dog does not need to do anything, since at this stage we are simply creating a link between the sound and food. Repeat ten times take a little break (half a minute or a minute) and do the same thing again 10 times. Depending on the dog after two or three sessions the dog should have realised that the sound means treats. You can test this at any time, when your dog is not paying particular attention to you. Just click and see if your dog looks at you expecting a treat. If he does, you have succesfully conditioned him to the clicker sound!

Using clicker in your training
Once the conditioning is done, you can start using the clicker in training. As I said earlier the idea behind using a clicker, is to be able to quickly and accurately tell the dog when it is doing what we want it to do. Since us humans are fairly slow in our movements trying to give the dog a treat at the exact moment it’s doing the right thing, would most likely fail. We would miss the right moment by perhaps one or two second and the dog would think that it got rewarded for something it did right after the “right” thing. If we for instance teach the dog to sit. It sits and immediately after would get up. We would most likely be ready with the treat by the time the dog was standing and would end up rewarding it, not for sitting, but for getting up! The clicker allows as to mark the exact moment the dogs rear end touches the ground and this way it speeds to learning process enormously, since the dog does not need to be guessing what it was it got the treat for.

Although clicker is very helpful when teaching new behaviours, it is not necessary anymore, after the dog has learned the behavior. So you do not need to carry a clicker around with you for the rest of  your life. The same is true for the treats. Although in the beginning it is important to keep the treats coming quickly and often, it is equally important to gradually reduce the amounts of treats, replace some of them with praise. Once the dog knows the behavior you should stop rewarding him every time he performs a desired behaviour, and only give the treats randomly. So, unlike people commonly think, you won’t need to pack your pockets full of sausages everytime you take your dog for a walk!

If you want to know more, check out  this post in “Barks & Recreation” -blog, on the most common myths and misunderstandings about and around clicker training.

I am now in Finland where I traveled to get my new puppy, the Finnish Lapphund Ailu. Ailu is now ten weeks old, and our shared life has started very nicely. We have concentrated on practicing recall and sitting for treats, strokes and toys, all of which we have mastered pretty well. Obviously a good recall is going to be a lifelong project, but the start seems promising.

Life with a new puppy has made me think about those who get their first puppy, not knowing much about dogs in the first place, and not having any experience that might prepare them for what’s to come. How do they cope with the “crazyhour”  in the evening, almost constant biting of everything (especially toes under the table when you are trying to have your morning brew), peeing inside, harassing other pets, not coming when called, putting everything in the mouth and destroying it in the process and all those other things that puppies fill their days with? How do they cope, when sometimes even knowing why all this happens and how to deal with it doesn’t seem to help with coping?

I am now living all those situations I have so generously helped my clients with and sometimes I can hear my own voice telling me to give the puppy a chew toy or a bone, while my own puppy couldn’t care less about anything that it is actually allowed to chew, happily continuing with my toes and ignoring the (rather expensive) squeaky toy that I’m holding 😀 It is easy in theory to know what to do and how to act, but as we all know sometimes reality does not live up to theory’s expectations. Sometimes we do not have enough time, sometimes we are too tired, sometimes we act before thinking and other times even when we do what we think is right, the puppy does not seem to have read the same theories and manuals that we have.

So far the biggest lesson for me with Ailu has been patience. In fact this has been the biggest revelation for me in all animal training. Patience and consistency seem to be the key words and boy are they difficult to master!

And of course the cute noises Ailu makes when she falls asleep, the bright eyes that watch me when I wake up and the happiness in her whole body when she runs to me to get a treat all make up million times for toe biting, table-cloth pulling and all other little bothers that now belong in my life.

Ailu, like most dogs, loves digging and digging and digging…