A new training technique – clicker for dogs – is conquering the world. Many dog owners claim that with this little device, you can train your dog much faster and more efficiently. With the help of a clicker, training an animal is much easier. The process itself is like an exciting game.
What it is
The dog training clicker is a special device that was invented by Karen Pryor, a famous trainer. She simply adopted the principle that was originally used to train dolphins. The training of animals, especially those that live in the water element, requires special methods. After all, you cannot put a collar, harness or leash on a dolphin in order to somehow control its behavior.
Dolphin training required the use of positive methods, where the animal performs the exercise solely for reward. It was necessary to develop a special way of communicating with the animal in order to be able to reward him even at a distance.
The key to success was working with a whistle that makes a specific sound. As you know, dolphins communicate using ultrasound. It is remotely similar to a series of clicks, a whistle. The sound of a whistle of a certain tone meant for the animal that it would now receive a reward for the trick performed. Thus, the training of aquatic mammals has become much easier and began to quickly bring the desired results.
The clicker imitates the same work with a dog, not a dolphin. Only instead of a whistle, which is much more convenient, a click is used. Karen Pryor, a famous dog trainer, adapted this technique for dogs and wrote her famous book, Clicker Dog Training.
Today, the clicker is used to train a variety of animals – seals, horses, monkeys, parrots and even zebras.
The clicker provides a clear connection with the animal. With it, you can teach him not only various tricks, but also perform complex actions.
Today, the use of the clicker has become very popular for dog training and behavior correction of beloved pets.
What is a clicker?
The cller is a button or curved plate mounted in a plastic or metal case. A lace or elastic band is usually attached to this body, with which you can hang it on the trainer’s wrist, on the neck, attach it to the bag. When you press a finger on the button or plate, a characteristic sound, click, click will be heard.
The cost of such a tool is small, it all depends on the characteristics of the cliqueur.
Types of clicks
There are different types of clicks that are conveniently used for all kinds of training methods. Some have a quiet sound, others, on the contrary, loud.
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The button clicker is very convenient to work, it can be easily pressed not only with your fingers, but also by putting on the floor, with your foot. However, he has one drawback – a quiet sound. Therefore, it is better to use it indoors, at home.
Simple clickers button and lamellar are cheap, within 100. The price of a clicker with Target is much more expensive.
Is it possible to make a clique with your own hands
You do not need to do anything here with your own hands. It is enough to find a small item that can produce a characteristic clicking sound.
- A cap from a jar from under baby food. If you press the middle, you will hear a click.
- The element of the piezing is also quite suitable.
- A ballpoint pen with an automatic extension of the rod using a button.
Only you need to remember that if the item breaks or is lost, it will be difficult to subsequently find exactly the same that the sound turns out to be as similar as possible.
Why is the clker more effective than the words of promotion?
Of course, the sound of the clicker can be replaced with a suitable word. For a dog, this will mean the same as a click. However, verbal encouragement is better not to use novice trainers. Dogs are very sensitive to the human voice. But a person pronounces the same word in different ways. Intonation, speed, voice tonality and volume are changing. Therefore, the animal perceives this word differently. At some point, it can sound for him as something completely unfamiliar.
Why do you need a clker for dogs – just understanding. It always makes the same sound. Therefore, the dog is much easier to get used to this constant sound than to the word that a person says.
The advantages and disadvantages of using a clker for dog training
To understand how to use a clker for training dogs, you need to know about all its advantages and disadvantages. Here are the undoubted advantages:
- The sound of the clicker is always the same, so there is no need to worry – the animal knows exactly what deserved a reward.
- Therefore, training is in a calm atmosphere, without stress for both a dog and a trainer.
- The speed of obtaining a result in training is higher with a clker.
- The clique allows you to more accurately adjust the dog’s behavior. Because the animal begins to better understand the commands, reliably remember them, easily absorb.
- Even if the dog is quite far on a walk, she will hear the sound of a clker.
- It is very convenient to use the clker, it is small, it is placed in the palm of your hand, you can carry it with you literally everywhere.
However, this comfortable and effective tool also has its disadvantages when the use of the clker needs to be suspended for a while or used only in a certain environment:
- Agitation. Excessively emotional dog, hearing the sound of a clker, can fall into agitation. It will be too actively rejoice at what will now receive a reward and forget about everything in the world. In this case, you should work first to balance the condition of the animal, work with it only in a calm environment and even mood. It will require a manifestation of patience and perseverance from the trainer.
- Fear. Some animals are afraid of any sharp sounds, even clicker. Perhaps this lies in the past. The dog was once scared of a similar sound and now demonstrates the same behavior. In this case, you need to first save the animal of fear with the help of special exercises and only then use the clker.
- Weak hearing or deafness. Unfortunately, not all animals have perfect health. It is rare, but there are dogs suffering from deafness for various reasons. It is useless to use the clker here is useless. However, you can replace it with a flashlight signal.
How dogs work for dogs
First of all, the dog should understand what the sound signal that makes the clique means for it. To do this, you just need to “encode” the dog’s brain with the help of special actions so that it always reacts to sound. It is very simple to do this with the help of encouragement, rewards are delicious.
First step. The sound of a clicker is a reward!
Take a clker in your hand and several pieces of your favorite dry dog food. Just click on the device button, attracting the attention of the dog, and then give it a yummy.
Now, at the first stage, it is not at all necessary to require the animal to carry out any commands. The main task is to accustom your pet to the fact that the sound of a clicker for him means that he will now be given a treat.
Press the clicker for the first time when the dog has noticed you. Then click at any other time. The main thing is that the animal is interested in this “game”, and he has developed a strong reflex to the clicker.
Then the clicker sound will cease to be for the dog one of the many other sounds in the background.
Second phase. Testing the fixed effect
After a few days, you should check how effective your clicker dog training is. If the dog’s ears rise at the sound of the clicker, the head turns towards the trainer and the eyes look for the owner’s gaze, this means that the signal is working.
Therefore, we can already start using the clicker to reward the dog after performing simple and already known commands or actions. Any dog, not even trained, but communicating for some time with his master, is able to perform some actions at his request. For example, he fits the call “come here” or at least knows his nickname.
Exactly this, the simplest action, can be fixed with the help of a clicker and the reward following its sound.
How and when can such a test be carried out? For example, when the dog is at a short distance from you, for example, it passes from the kitchen to the room or calmly walks next to you on a leash along the street. This is where you can press the clicker button and watch her reaction, and then be sure to reward.
Such a test should not be performed too often, since in this way we may inadvertently reinforce the random behavior of the animal. One or two times will be enough to get a clear idea of how entrenched the dog’s reaction to the clicker is.
Training a dog with a clicker – how it works
If the dog is already responding appropriately to the sound of the clicker, we can begin to teach commands or form new behaviors. This will make it much easier for the dog to learn. The dog, after each properly executed command, receives a clear signal that such an action is correct. The owner expects this kind of behavior from her!
Thus, a complete understanding is established between the animal and the trainer.
The clicker is especially useful when walking.
The clique can be perfectly used in everyday situations. For example, a neutral reaction of the dog when she does not pay attention to bread or another bait Down on the ground. It goes calmly Heel on a free, released leash.
Many dog owners would like to get such behavior from their pets. Then the walk turns into pleasure, and not the constant “tug of the rope” and the nervous tep of the habit of. These are very valuable skills.
You can purchase them and strengthen them very simply with the help of a clker. Just click the button at the right time, and your pet finds out that his behavior at the moment deserves a reward.
Then he will strive to change his behavior, and then this will be fixed with him as the norm.
You can form new complex models of behavior using a clker
A similar method of teaching new behaviors must be divided into separate stages. Each of these stages should have a specific, small goal, another step towards the formation of the desired behavioral reaction.
For example, you want to teach the dog to calmly leave the entrance for a walk. To do this, divide the entire action into several stages. First, form the correct behavior before going out the door of the apartment. Then – during the opening of the door, then the passage along the entrance, etc.
At the same time, use the clker and the next to him to be well fixed to fix each of the small goals achieved.
You can encourage those positive actions that the dog shows on its own initiative.
Sometimes a walk, especially during bad weather or cold winter, is insufficient in order for the dog to have fun, run up well and throw out the energy that has accumulated in her. Returning from a walk, the animal will still “rage”, trying to involve everyone around the noisy games. This does not always affect furniture, carpets, even your clothes. And the neighbors do not like the constant “Tarara” at all.
Offer her an intellectual game that consumes a large amount of excess energy.
This is how it can look in reality:
- Take a large empty cardboard box and install it in the corner of the room that your dog chose.
- As soon as she became interested in the box, carefully observe.
- With any positive action – examination, sniffing, etc. Use a clker and reward the animal.
- The main thing is to gain patience and wait for the dog to prove itself, will perform any interesting, in your opinion, action.
- Such behavior can be fixed and turned into a wonderful trick in stages. It can then be proudly demonstrated, for example, to guests.
Dog click How to use are the basic principles of training and teaching commands
Clique training is very easy. Is it difficult to press a button or a plate? Of course not. However, this tool must be used correctly. There are certain rules here, each of which has its own meaning. And in no case these rules can not be violated. Otherwise, the whole training will go around the drain.
This is how to use the clker.
Only one click
The most important principle of learning is to click only once before rewarding a tasty dog. If you press the clker several times, for example, five, then it should be encouraged as many times, to give out five delicious pieces.
Each cller press is accompanied by a reward, and nothing else!
The duration of the training should be short and lasts only 15 minutes
Do not press the button if you have no goodies
Before clicking, make sure that you have a delicious piece in your pocket that you can give your pet. The lack of award is a deception of the animal. You can never disappoint your dog! Having once received a negative experience, the pet will remember it well. And next time it will be very difficult, almost impossible to overcome this feeling. It will be clearly related to the sound of the clker.
If you pressed the clker button by chance, be sure to give the dog a delicious one.
Never click just if you have no reason for this.
Click the clker deliberately
The sound of a clker for a dog means “well done. ” and then, when the encouragement was received, the dog is removed by home. With her behavior, she shows that she fulfilled her mission, and now he has the right to quit everything and run on her dog affairs.
Therefore, if, for example, you work out the command to “sit” with a clker, do not expect that after clicking the dog will remain in a sitting position. Each time, carefully think for what kind of behavior you want to reward your dog.
If you need to work out the very moment when the dog sinks to the ground after the served command “sit”, then click and reward it immediately.
In the case when you want the animal, having crouched, not to run away immediately, but to remain in a given position – wait a few seconds and only then click the clicker and encourage the animal. Try to maintain eye contact with the dog during this pause, as if reinforcing your promise with the expectation of a reward. Reward not for the fact that the dog sat down, but for the patience shown.
Voice and clicker?
Of course, all commands must be given by voice, without using a clicker. And only after the command is executed correctly, a click is heard and something tasty is given.
Is it possible to encourage the dog also by voice? Of course, but only after the clicker sounded.
Don’t call your dog for a walk with a clicker
The clicker sound is only used to reward the desired behavior of the dog. If you replace the “Come” command with a click, then this will be a big mistake.
The dog will understand that it is being rewarded for being as far away from the owner as possible. Therefore, it will try to run away from you for a long distance, each time increasing the distance.
In this case, you need to use a clicker, work out the command “Come / Come here”, given exclusively by voice, only when the dog is Heel.
What should be delicious
As a reward, use small pieces soft enough that the dog is able to eat quickly. Even large breeds need to be rewarded with small pieces.
Try not to feed your dog before training. She has to “work” for food.
Create a benevolent, positive atmosphere, take up dog training only in a good mood.
Training dogs with a clicker is easy, you just saw it. Reviews of people using this technique on the Internet are mostly positive.
Dog owners generally note that their pets “get smarter” sharply after such training. They learn quickly, become calmer, more balanced. The process itself is like a fun game, so they are happy to work with their animals.
Sobaka. Com wants you to try this wonderful training technique, which is very rewarding for both the dog and the trainer. After all, a special aura of mutual understanding begins to take shape between the pet and its owner literally at first sight.
Here, take a look at a video of how dog training professionals work using a clicker.
