Welcome to Dog Training Guide
American Dog Trainers Article
This is a selection made from among articles on American Dog Trainers. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for future reading, click here.
Clicker Training Your Dog
from:If you are looking to train your dog you might consider using
the 'clicker training' method, which has recently become popular
amongst dog trainers all over the country. In this method the
trainer has to make use of a clicker, a tiny plastic box with a
metal button which makes a distinctive click sound once the
button has been pressed. The training method is simple and is in
many ways parallel to the positive training method. Here is what
you have to do. Decide on a certain behavior which you want to
teach or reinforce your dog to do. A number of behaviors/actions
come naturally to the dog like sitting, eating, standing,
barking etc. and these need just to be reinforced so that your
dog knows when you want him to do what. Various other actions
like acting dead, shaking hands, rolling over etc. do not come
naturally to the dog and need to be taught. Clicker training can
be used to do both.
Clicker training works according to the basic principles of
operant conditioning, by associating the sound of the clicker
with a food item which the dog particularly likes. Now all you
have to do is use the clicker to command the dog to do
something, the dog, given that he associates the sound of the
clicker with the food, immediately obliges and the training is
complete.
Let us take an example to illustrate the method better, suppose
you want to teach your dog to sit, you put a cookie on your
dog's nose playfully and then move it upwards, the dog will
obviously follow the movement of the biscuit with its nose and
will then naturally rest its posterior on the floor, thereby
putting himself in a sitting position. Now time your clicking to
be so accurate as to occur right as the dog seats himself, now
give him the biscuit and praise him. Continue doing this for
sometime till the dog begins to associate the clicking with the
food until the click makes him sit without you luring him with
treats. Now teach him another behavior, but remember to attach
the clicking cue only once the animal himself offers you the
behavior otherwise the clicking will not be connected to
anything in the dog's head and he will be confused regarding
what it means.
Your dog is one smart little animal and it's time you gave him
due credit for that. A number of trainers have been known to use
negative reinforcement techniques alongside the clicker method
but this simply doesn't work because punishment at all times
creates a number of unwanted behavior even if it serves the
primary purpose of teaching the dog to not do something
temporarily.
Any kind of training is a strenuous and rigorous process and
needs time and patience. Although clicker training method has a
high success rate it might not work for certain types of dogs,
if you see that it's not working for your pet you would be well
advised to use some other technique to teach it tricks.
About the author:
Dechen Lau is an Author, Speaker, and Consultant specializing in Internet Marketing and Web Solutions Clicker Training Your Dog Puppy Lover
Get Outstanding Savings On Dog Treats.
Whether you're training with positive reinforcement or simply bonding with your companion, choose a treat that suits your dog's size, age, health, activity level, chewing style and taste.
 |
 |
American Dog Trainers News
Stop The Bonuses - Forbes
These are tough times for Michael Bloomberg's free-spending "luxury city." High-end condominium speculators--long considered impervious to the mortgage crisis--are shivering in the bitter cold this winter. Four billion dollars in building projects ...
Read more...Showing entries for Category: dog-tricks - San Francisco Examiner
Ever notice that little disclaimer at the end of a movie that says, "No Animals Were Harmed During Filming"? It comes from the American Humane Association, which has monitored the safety of animal actors since 1940. In fact, all domestically filmed ...
Read more...Coon hunt right at home in Orangeburg - Times and Democrat
"Welcome, Grand American!'' -- for the 44th year. It's been more than four decades since a group of local coon-hunting enthusiasts joined forces with others from around the region and the country to make Orangeburg the home for a wintertime field ...
Read more...Not everybody loves "Marley & Me" - San Francisco Examiner
The movie about a rambunctious golden Labrador Retriever may have captured the hearts of viewers and top box office honors over the holidays, but not everybody loves Marley & Me. Dog trainers and a certain veterinary group can't get past the glaring ...
Read more...Dog handler, ‘Parris’ are dynamic duo - Journal Times
UNION GROVE — When it was all over, Dylan Kipp said, she could finally relax. Dylan, 16, won the coveted title of “Best Junior Handler” last month at the American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship in Long Beach, Calif. Competing with ...
Read more...