| Why I Clicker Train
Satch, my
Great Pyrenees, is an old man now. I brought him home
at 11 weeks of age, already a hefty 20 pounds. This
dog was going to be BIG. I knew his size would intimidate
people, so I, like any good dog owner, went in search
of a training class that would make him a model canine
citizen.
At that time,
I had never heard of clicker training or even non-punishment-based
training methods. To train a dog, you used a leash
and a choke collar. My concern was finding a trainer
that didn't "hang" dogs or use other extreme
methods. I found an experienced trainer who put a
nylon choke collar on my soft puppy, and two classes
and a few months later, I had a dog who would sit,
lie down, heel, stay, and come when called.
That was the
end of Satch's formal obedience career. When I first
started classes, I thought, "Hey, this looks
like fun. Maybe we could practice and even earn a
CD." But Satch didn't really seem "into"
training, so I settled for a mannerly dog who fit
comfortably into our household and the community at
large. Eight years later, he will still, albeit slowly
and deliberately after several commands, sit, lie
down, stay, and come when called. Heel disappeared
long ago, but he walks so slowly that it's hardly
an issue.
In 1998, the
"I want a puppy" bug bit hard. I had become
increasingly interested in dog activities and wanted
a pet with whom I could compete in confirmation, obedience,
and maybe even agility. It was during that search
that I found that changes were occurring in the training
world. Training methods were becoming more positive,
less punishment-based. Intrigued, I started searching
the Web for more information. That's when I discovered
clicker training.
What is clicker
training?
Clicker training
is a reward-based method which uses an event marker,
the clicker, to communicate to the dog which behavior
is being reinforced. Clicker training grew, in part,
out of a method used by dolphin trainers.
Dolphin trainers
were in an unusual training situation: How could they
train an animal that couldn't be physically manipulated
and that could choose to swim away? Since the trainers
couldn't punish the animals, they chose to reward
them for the "correct" behaviors, hoping
that the dolphins would repeat the behavior to earn
another reward. To help the dolphin identify which
behavior was being reinforced, they blew a whistle
at the moment the behavior occurred. They trained
complex behaviors by breaking them into tiny steps
and "shaping" them gradually.
Clicker training
replaces the whistle with a tin noisemaker, but retains
the basic techniques used by the dolphin trainers.
"Bad" behavior is ignored, and "good"
behavior is marked and rewarded. A reward can be a
food treat, a toss of a favorite toy, cuddles, or
whatever the dog enjoys. Most often, especially in
the beginning, it is a food treat, because the dog
finds it naturally rewarding, and because it's easy
and fast to use. Praise is also used, but it isn't
generally the only reward because many animals don't
find it sufficiently motivating.
Does it work?
Clicker training
does work, if done correctly. So does traditional
training. Training-all training-depends on communication,
consistency, and repetition.
First, the
trainer has to communicate to the animal exactly what
to do. Traditionally, the trainer shows the animal
the desired behavior by luring it or physically modeling
it-guiding it into a sit, for example-and praising.
A trainer communicates that a behavior is undesirable
using a collar correction, a sharp "No!"
or other punishment.
The first
rule of clicker training is "Get the behavior."
Clicker trainers may wait for the behavior to occur
naturally, lure, or shape the behavior in tiny increments.
When the desired behavior occurs, the clicker trainer
marks it with the clicker and rewards it. Undesired
behaviors are ignored or given a signal that means,
"Try again."
Second, the
trainer must be consistent in the communication. Traditional
trainers are taught that they must always be consistent
when giving and enforcing cues and when punishing
bad behavior. Trying to break a dog of begging at
the table? Then he must never, ever be allowed to
do so or else he'll keep trying because, like a slot
machine, the behavior just might pay off this time.
The clicker
is, by its nature, consistent. A click always means,
"You're doing exactly what I want" and "You're
going to get rewarded." Once the dog learns the
desired behavior, it's not necessary to click every
occurrence. Clicker training uses the slot-machine
principle to its advantage: a variable schedule of
payoff keeps the dog working because each performance
might be rewarded.
Third, training
requires repetition. No matter what method is used,
dogs learn by repetition. As a species, they don't
generalize well. "Sit" in your living room
is very different from "sit" in a class
setting. A good trainer, clicker or traditional, will
add distractions, generalize the behavior to different
locations and contexts, and do thousands of repetitions
before considering a behavior trained.
If all three
criteria-communication, consistency, and repetition-are
adequately met, a training method will be successful.
So, if I already knew a successful method, why did
I make the switch?
A Shifting
Philosophy
Clicker training
appealed to me from the beginning because it looks
at the dog/human relationship from a totally different
perspective. Clicker training focuses on what's right
rather than what's wrong. It focuses on the solution,
not the problem.
Let's look
at a common training issue: a dog who jumps on people
to greet them. The traditional solution is to stop
the behavior by punishing it. Common methods include
stepping on the dog's toes or kneeing the dog in the
chest. A less harsh method involves simply turning
away until the dog figures out that he won't get the
attention he wants by jumping.
When someone
asks, "How do I stop my dog from jumping on people?",
a clicker trainer asks, "What do you want the
dog to do instead?" Clicker training focuses
on training a preferred behavior, which can be rewarded,
rather than punishing an undesirable one. "I
want my dog to sit nicely to be petted." Not
only does this approach give the owner a definable
action to train, but it also gives the dog a definable
action to perform.
There was
one more thing that attracted me to clicker training:
I don't like hurting my dog.
The Big Punishment
Debate
"Wait!"
cry the traditional trainers. "We don't hurt
dogs!"
In the last
traditional class I attended, the trainer went around
the room with a choke collar and a prong collar and
demonstrated on each person's arm that the collars
don't cause pain. I'd like to see the same demonstration
with the collars around the trainer's neck. I bet
one good jerk on his Adam's apple would change his
mind.
Still, used
properly, training collars don't injure dogs. Since
I'm not a dog and pain thresholds vary, I can't even
tell you how much pain they cause. However, if they
were pleasant-or even neutral-they wouldn't work.
They are, by definition, an aversive, meant to cause
a decrease in a particular behavior.
A good trainer
(and yes, I believe there are many excellent traditional
trainers) can, through excellent timing and expert
judgement of how much force is required, apply one
correction and communicate exactly what the undesired
behavior was. (That excellent timing, by the way,
tends to make these trainers superb clicker trainers
once the focus is shifted from what's wrong to what's
right.)
Unfortunately,
the vast majority of people, including me, have lousy
timing and no clue about necessary force. At best,
multiple corrections are needed. At worst, constant,
ineffective corrections are given until the dog simply
tunes out and ignores the person on the end of the
leash. (Ever see dogs "heeling" in a beginner
class? Almost all are wandering around, completely
unaware that they're supposed to be doing anything
in particular, patently ignoring the constant drag
on their choke collars.) The result: the person gets
angry at the "stupid, stubborn, spiteful dog
who refuses to do what I want."
Timing is
equally, if not more, important in clicker training
than in traditional training. However, if I click
late, the worst I will do is slow down my dog's progress.
I haven't caused any unnecessary pain.
I train for
two reasons: to have a dog that is a welcome, well-behaved
citizen in the human world and because it's fun doing
things together. Fun. Training, even important training
like basic manners, should be fun for both of us.
Nothing short
of a life-threatening situation is important enough
to rationalize causing my dog pain.
The Proof
is in the Attitude
All of these
theories and philosophies sounded good, but I wanted
to try it out. I wasn't expecting to get a puppy for
months, so I dragged poor Satch out of retirement.
I decided to try to teach him something simple but
unlike anything he'd ever done: to touch a target
with his nose.
I gathered
together a clicker, some treats, and a plastic bat
which I was using as a "target stick." Satch
eyed me suspiciously-and the treats hungrily. First,
I had to teach him that the sound of the clicker meant
food. Click, treat. Click, treat. After a minute,
I brought out the target and held it near his nose.
The first time, I think he bumped it accidentally.
Click, treat. He watched me intently, practically
unaware of the target. I moved it around a bit, and
again-he accidentally bumped it. Click, treat. This
went on for a few minutes, then he looked at me and
looked at the bat. He reached over and bumped it.
Click, treat. Again. Click, treat. Again and again.
In subsequent training sessions, I moved the target
around, over his head, on the floor, to the left and
right, behind him, several steps away.
Satch learned
what I had set out to teach him, and I was amazed.
This was the dog that did every behavior slowly and
reluctantly? This was the dog that was so reserved
and calm? When I brought out the clicker, Satch became
a different dog. He threw behaviors at me, trying
to figure out what would make me click. He worked
intently-he played. This was a game, and he loved
it. If I asked him to perform one of his old, traditionally-trained
behaviors, he would freeze and something would go
out of him. Again, he was deliberate and withdrawn.
So I'd pull out the target stick, even without the
clicker, just to see some life in his eyes.
Conclusion
At the beginning
of August 1998, I brought home a four-month-old Newfoundland
puppy we named Rain. We began clicker training him
the very first night. He and Satch compete for training
time. It's great fun to try to teach one dog a certain
behavior and have the other do it. "See, Mom,
I can do that! Click me! Click me!"
Is Rain a
perfectly trained dream dog? Nope-at least not the
perfectly trained part. But that's my fault. It's
so much fun teaching Rain new behaviors that I never
seem to bother teaching any one to fluency. Somehow
it doesn't matter quite so much that he be perfect.
Once I learned to focus on what's right, I stopped
being disturbed by the occasional mistake.
The lesson
began taking hold in other parts of my life. I found
that my husband rinsed his dishes more often when
I thanked him for remembering instead of berating
him for forgetting. When service levels dipped at
work, my boss wanted to impose stricter penalties
for lapses in procedure. I suggested incentives for
superior attempts instead. The service has been steadily
improving.
Clicker training
isn't a training method to me. It's a philosophy,
a way of life. Reward the good, ignore the bad. Break
tasks into tiny steps and reward small successes.
And in some cosmic, karmic sense of right, more and
more good things seem to be happening to me. I wanted
a trained dog. I found a happy life.
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This article
was reproduced on www.Southwestk9services.com
with the permission of the author Melissa Alexander.
www.ClickerSolutions.com ,
a site dedicated to helping pet owners improve the
relationship with their pets by teaching training
and management techniques which are understandable
and reinforcing to both human and animal
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