As a dog trainer and behaviourist I can not tell you how many times I have experienced well meaning dog owners using the clicker in the wrong way. The wrong way in all cases renders the clicker completely useless and therefore when it comes to building the associations with the clicker, we have to start from the foundations up! So, on this sunny Friday morning I thought it would be helpful for me to write a little bit about clickers.............
How Can I Explain the Clicker Using Real-Life Scenarios?
The science bit............the clicker is a bridging signal, now to most I can hear you saying "a bridging what now?"
A bridging signal is an intermediary signal that indicates that a reward is on its way. There areas least two real-life scenarios where bridging signals are used on humans to shape our own behaviour and they are as follows...........
Lets walk a mile in your shoes.........its your first hot drink of the day, if you are anything like me rushing about the kitchen getting children and dogs ready, this drink is much anticipated and longed for to say the least! You fill the kettle and on the side, near the base you press the magic button! Kettle boiling is not an instant affair......it takes a couple of minutes, so how do we know that we are going to get our reward (boiling water) in the moment that we press that button on the kettle? We are given a bridging signal.......usually the button clicks........a nice satisfying click- bridging signal 1, then a nice shiny light on the button appears telling us that the kettle is in fact working and that we will definitely get our boiling water........I hope I haven't lost anyone at this point.......The button on the kettle has shaped our own behaviour, we have performed the desired behaviour (pushing the button) in order that we get our reward (the boiling water and ultimately our coffee!)
Lets take a walk into town together.........
On any commute into town or walking near roads almost all of us will have encountered traffic lights and pedestrian crossings as featured in the image below
The king of bridging signals shaping our behaviour when crossing the road! We approach the crossing, press the button and a nice big bold word lights up "WAIT". In this instance the behaviour that is shaped is the pushing of the button and the waiting, the bridging signal to let us know that our reward (crossing the road) is on its way is the nice big lit up word "WAIT". How many of us have pressed the button and we have not received our bridging signal and the light does not work........we have therefore repeated the behaviour of pressing the button over and over and over again because we WANT our reward, we really really want to cross that road!
In dog terms a bridging signal is a vital tool in dog training that reinforces that a reward is on its way and helps you as the owner to avoid getting your dog fat on training treats! Training is ALL about repetition, we are building an inter-species communication, which relies upon actually demonstrating the desired behaviour to your dog over and over again. The clicker is not the command or the trigger for the behaviour itself, it is part of the reward for performing the behaviour.
So how do we teach our dogs that the clicker means that a reward is on its way?
We need to spend some time building your dogs associations with clicker and treat, initially this needs to be really intense......click-treat click-treat click-treat click-treat click-treat
The treats used must be high value and they must be instantly gratifying and not linger in the mouth at all, this is where liver paste is ideal! The initial association building must be done over a short period of time and at this point there is no requirement for your dog to perform any kind of behaviour at all, just enjoy! There must also be absolutely no delay between the click then the following treat.
I will be exploring how to build on this in my next blog! Or even a vlog! Have fun peoples!
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