Clicker Training – A Fun Way To Train Your Dog
Raising and training a dog can be a good family experience if you understand how to communicate with your dog effectively. If your dog receives different signals from family members problems can arise. Something as simple as a variation in the tone of voice, when giving a command, may cause confusion for your dog. This confusion, in turn, may cause erratic behavior.
When your dog does not perform as you expect he may be reprimanded which leads to further confusion if he does not understand what he has done wrong. If your dog continues to feel confused he may become aggressive.
You can prevent this type of confusion with clicker training. Clicker training can help your family to be consistent with your dog training and it is easy to learn. A clicker facilitates communication between a dog and his family by helping the family dog to clearly understand what is expected of him. Since a clicker is consistent your dog will soon learn to trust the clicker and obey the commands of his family.
Clicker training focuses on rewarding correct behavior. You must figure out what you want your dog to do and then reinforce that behavior. For instance, if you don’t want your dog to bark you would reward him when he is quiet. Your emphasis is on the behavior you want not the behavior you don’t want.
As soon as your dog performs the way you want you immediately click the clicker. A treat is given instantly after the click. This reinforces the desired task.
Ignoring bad behavior does not mean you allow it to happen. You must stop bad behavior, when it occurs, but you then need to reward the behavior you want. For instance, if your dog starts to get up on your sofa you would take him off and then, when all four paws are on the floor, you would give a click with your clicker followed by a treat. Every time your dog performs the right behavior you give a click followed by a treat. Your dog will quickly associate the click and the treat with the behavior you want. Your dog becomes an active participant in his training as he discovers ways to please you so he can receive the treat that comes with the click. This is a great benefit in learning to clicker train your dog.
Once a behavior is well established you can add a hand signal or a verbal phrase. This hand signal, word or phrase will then become the cue your dog will follow when you want him to act a certain way. The cue will only be effective if it applies to one task. You should not use a general cue such as “good boy” but you should pick a specific word or phrase such as “quiet,” “good quite,” or “sit.” There must be only one cue for one action.
In order to teach the cue correctly you use the clicker, and give the treat, after you cue the action. When your dog has a good understanding of the cue you will no longer need to use the clicker and the treats. At this stage your praise and attention will be a reward.
As mentioned earlier your family can all participate in clicker training. Children take to clicker training very easily.
A clicker is a training tool that you should consider. It is very effective if used properly. It should definitely be part of your dog training program. Dog training takes time, patience and consistency. Clicker training is no exception but it is worth learning. Clicker training is a fun way to train your dog and a terrific help in teaching your dog tricks.
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