Lilly boneDay FOURTEEN-21 Day Positive Training Kickstart Challenge

Sometimes people are vaguely familiar with clickers & clicker training, but don’t exactly have it down right. There is a phenomenon called, “blazing clickers” which refers to folks who aren’t really sure what the clicker is for & randomly & madly click away. This can be detrimental to the valuable communication tool that is the clicker.

For a clearer explanation, the clicker is a “marker.” The sound indicates to the learner that the behavior directly proceeding the sound was one we liked. Thus, we “mark” it with a “click.” This then allows us to precisely communicate which behavior it was that earned that “click” & then buys us a few seconds to provide the reinforcer (something the learner considers reinforcing enough to work for).

Remember, the process with a clicker is to observe the behavior, mark the behavior (the very SECOND it occurs) & then to reinforce the behavior.

ACTION: Get a clicker! They are sold in pet stores, by PAW ($5.00, or free with training session), or online. Sit close to your dog & call their name. If they look at you-CLICK! the second they do & then reinforce (perhaps with a tiny, but tasty treat!). Repeat!