Getting a reward for doing something always makes us want to do more of it. When it comes to dogs, a clicker can be an important part of their training.
Skinner called his 1940’s theory “Operant Conditioning,” and applied it to many types of animal training, including dogs. If a dog responded correctly, he got a treat in the form of food, a pat, or a kind word. If the dog did the wrong thing, he got a form of punishment. Dogs quickly showed significant improvements in the learning that took place when their behavior was reinforced through consequences.
Clicker training is a great way to build a connection between you and your pup. (Photo courtesy of Eukanuba Sporting Dog) Understanding Operant Conditioning Today, many of us use a combination of the Four Quadrants of operative conditioning when dog training.
Positive Reinforcement:
Example: You ask a Lab to sit, and when he does, you give him a treat. That treat makes the dog want to repeat that behavior.
Negative Reinforcement: A stimulus is added to encourage a behavior and removed when the desired action is performed. This encourages the repetition of the action.
Example: You ask a dog to sit by applying upward pressure on the leash. When the dog sits, the leash goes slack, removing the pressure. The dog learns that by sitting, the stimulus of a tight leash is removed, and it repeats that action when that stimulus is applied in the future.
Positive Punishment: A stimulus is added to discourage an action.
Example: Your bird dog breaks point and rips a bird, you add a stimulus by tugging on the check cord to stop him. The added stimulus stops the action and discourages it in the future.
Negative Punishment: A stimulus is removed to stop and discourage an action.
Example: You are holding a puppy, in an attempt to get you to play, it begins nipping. You remove the stimulus it is seeking—your interaction—by putting it down and leaving. The removal of the desired stimulus discourages that behavior in the future.
It is important to note that positive and negative does not mean good and bad in operant conditioning. Positive means that a stimulus is being added to the situation, negative means that a stimulus is being removed from the situation. Similarly, reinforcement and punishment do not in any way reference good and bad. Reinforcement means the stimulus is encouraging an action, so it continues. Punishment is discouraging, or stopping, an action.
There are two important points in this training method. First, the dog has to clearly understand which behavior caused the consequence. Second, the trainer needs to know what methods work for each dog.
Feeding a treat is a great way to positively reinforce a behavior. (Photo courtesy of Tom Keer) Early Clicker Training Methods Two of Skinner’s students, Marian Kruse and Keller Breland, focused on training animals with operant conditioning. They later married, and formed a company called Animal Behavior Enterprises. While training, they realized that the time between a command and a reward could be too long. To increase their training success rate, the Brelands needed to shorten how long that gap was. They did so with the noise made by a clicker when the trigger was squeezed.
The theory is that when we give a command, and the dog obeys, a click is delivered to mark that action. That click is a marker that tells him two things: first, he’s on the right track, and second, if he continues along that path then he’ll get a reward—usually in the form of food, a kind word, or a pat. The clicker is the bridge between an action and a consequence, one that can be used immediately, as well as at a distance.
The Brelands used and endorsed clicker training through the late1980s, but the technique never really caught on. In an era of harder methods, such as choke or prong collars, ear pinching, or early e-collars, clicker training was considered an alternative method. However, there were a few early adopters who launched and helped create what we use today.
Modern Approaches to Clicker Training In the 1980’s, Gary Wilkes, of Gary Wilkes Dogs in Arizona, helped make clicker training a household name. Wilkes’ early work was with dogs displaying unacceptable behavior that were brought to a shelter to be euthanized. Wilkes believed that many of these dogs could be rehabilitated through training, and he used clicker training as a solutions-oriented method that worked relatively quickly. Since that time, Wilkes has worked with a variety of working breeds including gun dogs, guide dogs, search and rescue dogs, and others. He also trained dogs for the military, at the US Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
“Handlers use what seems to be two types of clicker training,” he said. “One kind only focuses on the positives. If a dog does what he’s asked to do, a click marks his good behavior, and a treat follows it as a reward. But what if a dog doesn’t do what he’s asked to do? That’s common with a lot of dogs that have a job to do. A second type of training is necessary, and it involves what Skinner defined as positive and negative punishment. That is what I call real clicker training, because it helps handlers work successfully with dogs that are easy to train, as well as those that are more headstrong.”
Mark Fulmer, the owner of Sarahsetter Kennels in Aiken, South Carolina, is one of the earliest gun dog clicker trainers. He began experimenting with it back in 1986 and has co-taught clicker training seminars every year since then.
Fulmer particularly likes the fact that clicker training is a clear, easy-to-understand training method. “Puppies equate the sound of the click with performing a desired behavior. It lets them know that if they continue along those lines then a treat is soon to follow. I always have favored a proactive approach to training, and clicker training rewards good behavior instead of punishing bad behavior. It’s rare that I need to use a compulsion training method to correct a mistake, but that’s part of the methodology for good reason.”
Place boards are a great way to introduce other commands, and they help create a bold puppy. (Photo courtesy of Eukanuba Sporting Dog) Clicker Training for Basic Obedience Commands Clicker training is about teaching, not commanding. Let’s walk through three basic commands : recall, kennel, and place, and how Fulmer achieves the desired clicker training result.
Here/Recall: Fulmer likes to train recall when the puppy is between 7 and 8 weeks old. “Say the word ‘here,’” says Fulmer. “You might need to be a bit animated in the first few tries, but when the puppy turns to run to you, give him a click. When he arrives at your side, give him a treat. Start with short distances—several feet—focusing on the command in a 5- to 10-minute session. Repeat for several days and progressively add distance between you and your pup. Next, you’ll want your puppy to respond to other voices; so, try the exercise with a second handler. Two handlers are great to run back and forth sessions teaching that command.”
Place: All animals gain confidence from familiar locations, and puppies are no different. Fulmer says that “a variety of stationary commands, like sit, stay, and woah, are much easier to teach and make reliable if a puppy has a sense of place. “To teach a puppy ‘place’ I use a board that is small enough so that the puppy can’t turn around easily, but big enough that he doesn’t fall off. I prefer that the place board is at least several inches off the ground. Let them get comfortable getting on and off the place board before you start teaching.”
Using place to teach other commands can be very effective. Fulmer uses sit as an example, “To teach a puppy to sit, bring him on the place board. Then, raise a treat over his head and move it backwards. That high placement and backward movement will cause him to follow the treat with his eyes. When he does, his body position will naturally make him start to sit. When he starts to sit, give him a click, and say the command ‘sit.’ When his butt hits the ground, give him a treat.”
Kennel: Puppies need to be comfortable in a kennel, and Fulmer begins crate/kennel training when the pup is between 8 and 9 weeks old. “Place a kennel on the ground, and leave the door open,” he said. “Place some treats in the kennel, and bring the puppy to a position near the door. Give him a command like ‘kennel.’ He’ll smell the treats and move to the kennel; when he does, give him a click. He’ll find the treat on his own, and when he does, give him another click.
“To get puppies to spend more time in the kennel, place a bath towel on the crate’s floor and spread treats around for them to find. Every time they find one, give them a click.
“To put it all together, walk the puppy so he’s several feet away. Give them the ‘kennel’ command and click when he heads to the kennel. When he’s in the box, give him a treat. Call the pup out of the kennel with the ‘here’ command which you’ve already taught. Click when the pup comes out of the box and treat when he’s by your side. That’s the beginning part of the progressive training foundation.”
Fulmer’s program is a progressive system. “When the puppies have mastered those initial commands, I’ll add in others such as heeling on a lead, walking next to me without a lead, the woah command, and retrieving to hand,” he said. “Any commands can be taught with a clicker, and since it’s so easy on puppies, it really helps them become bold, confident adults.”
Clickers are like the ping on your smartphone that tells you when a notification has arrived. The only difference is, that we don’t always find a treat waiting. But puppies who master their lessons do, and that makes building on their foundation easy. If you haven’t used clicker training before, give it a try. It’s a fun and easy way to bring along a puppy.
