No matter what type of dog you own you can teach her very effectively with
clicker dog training. It’s one of the most effective ways to teach basic
commands and control your dog’s behavior.

Benefits of Clicker Training:

- Method based on positive reinforcement

- The dog learns on the move. He is happy and confident

- Learning is safer because there ‘s no confusion or conflict

- We always respect the dog

- The dog is more attentive

- The accuracy of the click ensures better learning

How Clicker Training Works

Clicker training is not a trick. It works. But you must use it properly. The
idea behind it is to teach your dog to associate the sound of the clicker with
your command. The click is a strong, sharp sound that dogs can hear from 20
yards away.

When you start using a clicker to train your dog, look for behaviors you want to reinforce. Whether it is sitting, speaking, or rolling over, once you’ve gotten your dog to do what you want you must mark their behavior with a click and a reward.

The form of rewards is crucial – it must be very very small (watch out, fingers!) Use something easy to swallow and digest, such as small bits of sausage, bits of cheese, chicken or liver …. If possible something soft and tasty.

If you use pieces that are too dry or too thick, the dog must first chew before swallowing them, which will take time. And you take the risk of him falling to the ground to chase scraps of food. That will distract the dog.

Once the dog has done the behaviour and received their reward, continue doing it to reinforce the behaviour as much as possible.
You do not have to use treats every time. Praise and petting work just as well
and can eventually replace the behaviour.

The following tips will help you discover the secret of successful training with
the clicker.

1: USE AN EFFECTIVE REWARD

2: USE THE CLICK TO MARK THE EVENT, NOT TO MARK THE REWARD

3: SAY THE COMMAND, THEN CLICK,THEN REWARD

Sample Clicker Exercise: Teaching your dog to look at you.

You take your clicker in hand and have the treat close by or in a pouch.

Your dog knows that it will be clicked and stands before you impatient.

Take a treat in the hand not holding the clicker and raise it until your arm is
horizontal. Your dog will normally stare at your hand because he knows that it
contains the treat.

You say nothing and wait. Seeing no treat coming, at some point your dog will
look at you. Aha! At this point you say “look”, then click, then drop the food
on the ground. The dog will quickly understand that only by looking at you can
he trigger the clicker and not by looking at the food.

Transitioning to a Command

Once your dog learns to associate all three (command, click, reward) you can
transition to using just the command without the clicker. We can remove the
“click” and reward a randomly throughout the life of the dog. If you do not ever
reward, you enter into a process of extinction because your dog’s behavior never
brings anything positive.

As you might imagine, clicker dog training has a number of applications. It can
make training your dog so much easier in many ways. With a simple, sharp
command, you can mark and reinforce nearly any behaviour.