WHAT IS CLICKER TRAINING?

Clicker training is pure positive reinforcement using classical conditioning, you know…the Pavlov thing. We take the sound of the clicker, which is ‘neutral’ and pair it with a ‘positive’ stimulus, food so that in time the dog receives the same ‘reward’ reaction to the clicker as they do with food.

Let’s use the proper words, we then take it to the next level which is ‘operant conditioning’ whereby the clicker is used to shape the dog’s behavior. In simple terms if the dog sits, they receive a click instead of a treat every single time. It’s great for reinforcing the basics as you can be clicking away whenever your dog is walking nicely so they know they are doing a good job. If you want to get all fancy you can even teach your dog to perform tasks with the clicker, just like they do for movie film dogs.  

Check out our clicker training class here.