Everything you need to know about what clicker training is, and why it's the most scientifically advanced tool to train your dog.
I started my journey with training nearly six years ago, when I found my best (and furry) friend, River. Deciding to take in a puppy started as all fun and games, but when the reality set in, I realized that I needed to work on education for the two of us to have a truly harmonic home life. This personal, educational research was not an easy path. With thousands upon thousands of search results at my fingertips, I began to wonder which articles I should truly trust. Each search result held many variations of "the best training method", and I began to question which one that could be. It, honestly, overwhelmed me as a new pet owner, but despite the challenge, I became consumed. This sent me down the path of researching animal health and training, which led to a career in the veterinary medicine field, and eventually a focus on animal behavior with a certification from Karen Pryor Academy as a certified trainer.
All of the extensive research and career experience led me to one conclusion: clicker training was the only path for us, as well as any pets I wanted to help in the future.
What does clicker training mean?
In clicker training, when your pet offers a behavior that you want, you mark that exact moment by using a clicker. A clicker is a device that makes a very distinct "click" sound, telling your pet exactly when they're doing the right thing. You then pair that click with a positive reinforcement, like a training treat. Pairing this clear way to communicate with a positive reinforcement creates an effective, safe, and humane way to train your pet.
Clicker training builds a strong bond between you and your pet. You teach your pet that the behavior and associated click will result in a delicious treat (or in some instances, play!). It then becomes very motivating for them to repeat this positive behavior in the future. Through the process, you're training your pet to focus on good behaviors rather than focusing on what they're doing wrong. This avoids the need for them to be corrected for unwanted behavior, and it puts all the focus on what your pet is doing right.
Clicker training gives pets the experience to recognize good behavior, while giving them the confidence to choose more of those good behaviors, rather than unwanted behaviors, in the future.
What makes clicker training scientifically advanced?
Now that we've talked about the logistics of clicker training, let's break down the science behind why this method is effective.
When an animal intentionally performs a behavior in order to bring about a desired consequence, as clicker trained animals do, they are learning in a way that's called "operant conditioning."
Operant conditioning is a process where animals learn to behave in a way to get rewards and to avoid punishment.
Our pets are constantly associating different experiences, places, people, and things with a consequence, whether that consequence is pleasant or not. Most people associate the word consequence with strictly being negative, but that's actually not the case. A consequence is simply the result of an action.
So, you may be asking, how do we control the consequences of our pet's behavior? We do this by giving them immediate feedback on the behavior that they've offered us. There are five ways to do this in dog training:
Positive reinforcement is where we add something positive to increase the occurrence of the behavior.
Negative reinforcement means that we take something away to increase the occurrence of the behavior.
Positive punishment means we add something to decrease the occurrence of the behavior.
Negative punishment is taking something away to decrease the occurrence of the behavior.
Extinction is where we no longer reinforce a behavior so that it goes away.
I know that's a lot of information, especially if you haven't studied operant conditioning. So, you may just be wondering what those things even mean. Depending on which of these consequences listed we give to our dog, we're making the behavior occur more, or we're making it fade away. The more a certain event or environment is paired with a consequence, the stronger the association will be. This type of learning is called "classical conditioning".
Classical conditioning is the process of associating a neutral stimulus with an involuntary response until the stimulus elicits the response.
Wordy, I know. So, let's discuss a few everyday examples of classical conditioning you've more than likely already experienced at home. Have you ever noticed your dog associating two unrelated things around the house? For instance, when you grab your keys, or put on your shoes, they seem to know you're leaving. Perhaps they come running from another part of the house when they hear the refrigerator open, because they know you're getting out a snack. In your dog's mind, those two unrelated things have become linked.
With clicker training, the sound of the clicker becomes associated with receiving a reinforcement. When your dog hears the click they will expect a treat (or something fun) shortly after.
Clicker training is the result of combining the effectiveness of operant conditioning with the power of classical conditioning.
While clicker training initially begins with classical conditioning (pairing the click with the treat), it quickly becomes operant conditioning. This happens when the pet intentionally repeats an action in order to earn a reinforcement. You might be thinking, well, why does this matter?
Training using operant conditioning results in purposeful behavior, while training through classical conditioning results in habitual behavior. Since the pets are aware of the behaviors that they are now intentionally offering, they can remember them, even years later. Clicker training gives them confidence, because they hold the control over the consequences of their actions. They're also happy to learn, because they know those consequences are going to be pleasurable. We all want our dogs to learn good behaviors, but what's most important is that they actually learn how to learn.
With clicker training, pets are given the tools they need to consistently choose to offer good behaviors in the future.
Why choose clicker training over other methods?
This is the part of the journey where you need to ask yourself some questions. Why are you pursuing training with your dog? When I started my journey with River all of those years ago, I wanted to learn everything I could to make life with my new best friend the best and happiest it could be.
So, why did I land on clicker training for our future? Simple. Not only is the science there to support it being effective, but it was the only option that ensured we would be able to strengthen our bond without causing any damage to our relationship or causing any potential behavior issues in the future.
Let's look at some of the advantages to clicker training:
Clicker training builds a strong bond between you and your pet.
It's a positive, fun training method that can be taught to any type of animal by anyone (even kids!).
The training is based on a proven scientific method that is highly effective.
It builds confidence in pets, because you're focusing on what they're doing right, rather than punishing what they've done wrong.
Clicker training encourages creative thinking in your pet, allowing limitless training potential for the future.
It's great for any size animal! If a large dog doesn't want to cooperate, pushing, shoving, or manhandling is more than likely not going to get you there. Zoos even use clicker training with their large animals, like big cats!
You're not causing any future harm to your relationship with your animal or their emotional well-being. This avoids any potential, future, behavioral issues related to a history of aversive or negative punishment.
I'm not going to sit here and tell you that other training methods won't work temporarily. The different consequences we spoke about earlier (positive and negative) are all part of the table of operant conditioning. What I will tell you is that clicker training poses no risk for aggression or anxiety related behavior problems that can stem from aversive and punishment based training methods. If there's a better way, why not take it?
Punishment may temporarily keep dogs from offering bad behaviors, but they're doing this to avoid being hurt or uncomfortable, not because they've learned a better behavior to replace the unwanted behavior with.
The reality is, punishment and aversive based training will not change your pet's behavior the way you think it will. Most times, pets don't understand what they're being punished for, and they will associate other things with the intended punishment. This harms the bond the two of you share, as they now view you as unsafe, which can lead them to being afraid of you.
A huge risk comes with the fact that dogs can begin to associate the punishment with certain situations, which can lead to an increase in aggression. For example, if you shock a dog that pulls towards other dogs on their evening walk, eventually, that dog will associate that punishment with the sight of other dogs. Now, not only do you have a dog that pulls towards other dogs on walks, you have a dog that has become aggressive towards other dogs, because he associates them with pain.
Think of it this way, we don't "train" our children. We show them kindly how the world works as they go, and we teach them the skills they need to make the best of it. If you can foster a healthy and happy relationship with the companion you've picked, isn't that the best option?
Great article, I think I might try to do this with my new puppy!