A clicker is a small box with a metal strip inside. When you press the metal part, it will make a distinctive clicking sound. Simply pressing the clicker and pointing it at your dog will do nothing. It works by combining it with something your dog likes. Clickers are most often combined with food. So the first step when clicker training your dog is to “charge” the clicker so that it has some meaning to your dog.
You would start the training by clicking on it and then quickly rewarding your dog with a treat.
By repeatedly clicking and treating, your dog begins to associate the sound with the treat. In a short period of time, your dog will think of the treat when he hears the sound. Now the sound will have meaning to your dog. Now you can use it to shape your dog’s behavior.
A quick study of Ivan pavlov will explain how clickers work. Ivan Pavlov was a Russian scientist who studied the digestive system. What he discovered was that when he combined the sound of a bell with some powdered meat, the dogs would start drooling at the sound of the bell.
Pavlov became interested in this reflex which is now known as classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is what you start doing at the beginning with the clicker. You are not rewarding any behavior at all; you are matching the food to the clicker sound – classical conditioning. Once your dog has matched the clicker sound to food, he can now begin using it to shape behavior. This is where we begin to study BF Skinner.
BF Skinner studied behavior and came up with the term “operant conditioning.” He states that “operant conditioning forms an association between behavior and consequence.”
In a nutshell, Skinner proposed that if the consequences of the behavior are positive, the behavior is more likely to be repeated. On the other hand, if the consequences of the behavior are negative, the behavior is more likely to be repeated less and eventually to stop.
In a nutshell, Skinner proposed that if the consequences of the behavior are positive, the behavior is more likely to be repeated. On the other hand, if the consequences of the behavior are negative, the behavior is more likely to be repeated less and eventually to stop.
Skinner went on to train pigeons during World War II. Small cameras were attached to the pigeons so they could fly into enemy territory and take pictures.
Skinner’s training method has been used to train many different types of animals; dolphins, chickens, horses and orcas, just to name a few. Incredibly, Skinner’s training techniques didn’t become popular with dog trainers until the early 1990s.
Most dog training methods came from the military and relied on strong negative reinforcement and harsh training techniques.
If you’ve ever been to Sea World or anywhere that trains dolphins and orcas, you’ll see the trainers using whistles. The whistle is like the clicker. They’ve paired the whistle sound with a tasty piece of fish. Now they can shape the behavior of the orca using the whistle.
You can do the same with your dog. Once your dog associates the clicker sound with the treat, he can begin to train new behaviors. Clicker training is fun, fast and effective.