Click based training sometimes called marker training is a nice easy way to train your dog in a positive way. The premises of the training is to “Mark” the behavior you want and ignore the behavior you don’t. This is a type of “Shaping”.
One thing you must know is what value your dog places on the treats you are giving him/her. You must have a very high-value treat. This is best done with a food-based treat. Generally speaking, kibble is not very high value. They may like their food, but as a training treat, you want something small that they can eat quickly. I like soft treats so they don’t even have to chew it. You may need to get several different types before you find the treat they go nuts for consistently.
For shaping, we want to set them up to do the behavior we want. Let’s say we want to have them put their paws on an object. The first step would be to place the item on the floor and let the dog out. If the puppy even looks towards the item you click and treat. Do this several times and the puppy will realize there is something good over where he was looking. Now if they take a step towards the object click, treat. The next step would be to click treat when she puts her nose on/sniffs the object. Then if the paw even touches the object there is a click treat. With all of these steps, we click treat even if the behavior is accidental. The puppy doesn’t have to “know” what she was doing to get the treat. They will learn as they go. Self-discovery makes for a lasting lesson. I used this method when training 8-week old puppies to walk on a leash. Watch the video for a quick look at how I shaped walking on the leash.
As you can see in the video there are several times he does not want to walk. He goes to the end of the lead and is pulling. I do not try to “correct” this behavior. Instead, I offer encouraging words and sounds, then click-treat when he changes his offered behavior. By the end, he is walking nicely on his leash.
Do not expect this to be fast. It may take several lessons to get to the point where he is placing his paw on the object or exhibiting the behavior you want. Don’t get discouraged. Most of these steps are also without a command. Again self-discovery. We add in the command once they start putting their foot on the object or start exhibiting the behavior we want.
If you are training a young dog or even an older dog, please resist the urge to use the click as a “recall” device. If you try and use it as a recall device it will de-value the marker. Think of what your marking, the dog is playing keep away from you and you want him to come to you, so you click your clicker. You have now marked his not doing what he was told, so he comes for his reward. When he gets to near, you grab him so he can’t run away again, after all, you wanted him to come for some reason. You have now marked the bad behavior and also startled him with trying to grab him when he came to you. That can be viewed by your dog as being punished, so now he has two reasons not to come to you next time. The click is always for good behavior you want to be repeated.
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