Clicker Training – Our Method of Choice
Dog training is a divided profession. In one camp, we have those who advocate the use of compulsion in dog training and in the other, those like us, who advocate gentle, positive rewards based methods like clicker training.
What is Clicker Training
Clicker Training is based on the principles of operant conditioning. In clicker training, a dog is first taught that a click is always followed by a treat. Next the dog is taught that it can influence the outcome (e.g. get the trainer to click) by offering the right behaviour at the right time. The dog is thus very enthusiastic about the training as it takes training an opportunity to earn clicks and treats from the trainer.
Clicker Training – Truth and Myth
It is common to hear ill-informed compulsion based trainers telling their students that dogs trained through treats are unreliable because once the treat is taken away, the dog will no longer obey. If this were true, then clicker trained dogs will fail miserably in obedience competition where food and toys are forbidden in the ring. However, interestingly, in the last decade, the Singapore Kennel Club Obedience Dog of the Year title was won more often than not by a clicker trained dog. And we are not alone. This trend is also happening in many parts of the world as dog trainers begin to realize that there is a more humane and equally if, not more effective alternative to compulsion based dog training. Thus any talk about clicker training being ineffective is but a myth, spread by trainers who are ill-informed about the clicker way.
