Clicker Training Explained.
I am often contacted by perspective clients who tell me that they have tried clicker training and “it didn’t work.” Hummmm. If we take a closer look at the science behind this method of training it will become clear that it does work, it works really well, but if the application or mechanics are not taught correctly people can run into trouble.
Clicker training is a popular nickname for Positive Reinforcement Training using a Marker Signal. The clicker is simply a mechanical gizmo that many trainers use because it does the job really well. Lots of things could be used in place of a clicker. More on that later.
I’m going to take Positive Reinforcement Training using a Marker Signal apart and look at each of the two parts. Most people understand the concept of the first part, Positive Reinforcement Training. If we reward a dog for a specific behavior then that behavior is likely to continue. If the dog sits and then that behavior is followed by a treat, the dog will likely offer a sit again in hopes of another treat (key word here is “followed”). Just think of how fast we can train a dog to beg at the dinner table by slipping them one piece of food!
OK, so we’ve got that part. Dog does Behavior A, add a treat and dog will do Behavior A again. Notice that the treat appears and is delivered after the behavior happens. Now we get to the second part, the Marker Signal. This is harder to understand but this is the part that is critical to learning in dogs.
A marker signal is a sound that the trainer activates at the instant the dog is correct, at the instant the dog does the desired behavior. Trainers often use clickers for this simply because they are inexpensive, easy to use, and they have a distinctive sound that the dog does not hear the sound in its daily life. The sound must be unique to the dog’s training environment. You could use a whistle, a beep, a cluck, at bell or anything the dog can perceive as long as it meets the requirements I just mentioned.
Let’s say we are training the dog to lie down. There are three parts to this training sequence and these parts must always occur in the same order.
I like to call these three parts events: 1-“Down”— the dog lies down; 2- Click — the trainer activates the marker signal sound at the exact instant the dog lies down; and 3-Treat — the trainer delivers a treat to the dog as a desirable reward for lying down.
Putting it all together, science tells us that if we can reward dogs at the exact moment that they are doing the desired behavior, learning skyrockets! To physically deliver the treat at the instant the dog does the behavior is impossible, especially if the dog is at any distance. The longer the lag time between the behavior and the treat, the more learning is degraded. The marker signal is always followed by a treat, so the dog learns quickly that the sound of the marker predicts a treat. The sound of the marker becomes almost as powerful as the treat itself.
Now we have a way to reward or reinforce the dog at the instant they do the behavior by using our clicker. Once a dog learns this sequence they can learn new behaviors very rapidly. We have set up a clear line of communication.
If you have tried clicker training before and have not been successful, I encourage you to contact a qualified trainer and give it another try. It does work, it is brilliant, and your dog will love it!
Copyright 2017 Noel Hoffmann