The Ultimate Guide To Clicker Training Your Dog

Clicker training your dog is said to be one of the simplest and most effective methods of dog training. The clicker being used is a metal strip encased in a small plastic box.

Invented over 50 years ago, Clicker Training is considered more effective than conventional command Training.

Clicker Training your Dog also has the advantage of being exceptionally simple to teach. All you do in order to gain your Dogs attention is to ‘click’ and give them a small titbit immediately when they perform the desired action.

So, employ the following tips and techniques to put you on the fast track to Clicker Training your Dog.

For starters, bring your dog to a quiet area. This will ensure that he hears the click. Be sure that you have some of your dog’s favorite treats on hand. The ideal time for clicker training your dog is when he hasn’t been fed yet, in order to avoid over-feeding him with the treats.

Press the clicker and then offer a treat; repeat this process about ten times. To test if your dog now recognizes the clicker as positive reinforcement, wait until he is not paying attention to you. When he does something good, immediately press the clicker. If he automatically looks towards you and waits for a treat, then he has understood what the click means.

Once your Dog has begun to respond to the Clicker regularly, you may progress to vocalizing Tricks or commands to your beloved Pet in conjunction with the Clicks. This natural progression through ever increasing complexities of commands and expected actions is the cornerstone of Clicker Training Your Dog.

Remember to press the clicker when the dog performs the action properly, NOT after. This is necessary to make him understand that it is the positive action which brings the positive reinforcement and consequently, the reward. This will also ensure that the next time you tell your dog to do something, you won’t have to tell him twice.

At the start of clicker training your dog, it is advisable to click when the dog does something that moves towards the achievement of your goal. You don’t have to wait for him to actually achieve the goal.

To illustrate the correct methodology, imagine you are teaching your Dog how to roll over onto their back from a standing position. Every time the Dog makes any progress towards the eventual goal you should immediately click and reward the good behavior. If your Dog takes any action at all towards your eventual desired outcome. If they crouch – you click and reward. Once they successfully implement the entire trick/command, in this case to lie on their backs and roll over, you should intensify the praise accordingly.

Clicker Training your Dog works best when you click once for every positive action that you Dog takes towards the eventual desired command, trick or behavior. Never increase the amounts of times you ‘click’ in response to positive progress from your Pet as this will only lead to confusion.

As a final point in relation to Clicker Training your Dog. Implement Clicker Training in focussed 5 minute bursts. Some intelligent Breeds can concentrate for longer than this, but as with much in the world of Dog Training – less is more. In fact, more can be accomplished with 5 mins of intense but enjoyable Clicker Training than could be hopefully achieved if you were to spend an hour of repetitious commands trying to hold your Pooches attention.

One of the most rewarding stages of Clicker Training your Dog is when you have got to a point where Fido will even perform your desired actions purely by vocal command. As soon as you notice this, intensify the praise you give to him and begin to lower the times you use the Clicker. This way, you will further reinforce these commands as habitual behavior and can eventually stop using the clicker altogether.

Depending on the willingness and intelligence of your Dog, you may need to add one more step into your Clicker Training before Fido obeys without fail. This last step is to incorporate hand signals in addition to verbal commands and clicks as some Dogs are particularly responsive to a combination of verbal and visual instruction. You can then phase out the clicker itself as your Dog more readily obeys your actions and commands consistently.

Clicker training your dog is a very good way of letting him know that he should be following your cue, not the other way around.

Providing The Secrets Of Stopping Bad Dog Behaviour PLUS: Discover the Techniques Used At Obedience School For Dogs.

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