Your entire family can have a pleasant experience in raising and training your dog if you know how to effectively communicate with him. Difficulties can occur with your dog because signals frequently differ from one person to another. When giving the same verbal command members of your family may vary in the tone of their voice which will lead to confusion in your dog. This in turn may cause your dog to act erratically.
When your dog does not perform as you expect he may be reprimanded which leads to further confusion if he does not understand what he has done wrong. Confusion such as this can lead to aggresive behavior.
A good way to eliminate this confusion is with clicker training. Clicker training is simple for your family to understand and use. Because a clicker improves communication it helps your dog understand precisely what is expected. A clicker trained dog will follow the commands of his family because he knows he can trust the clicker to be consistent.
Rewarding desired behavior is the focus of clicker training. You must figure out what you want your dog to do and then reinforce that behavior. If you don’t want your dog to bark then you reward him only when he is quiet. Your emphasis is on the behavior you want not the behavior you don’t want.
The moment your dog does something you want him to do you immediately click your clicker. You immediately give a treat to help reinforce the behavior you want.
You do not tolerate bad behavior. You need to stop behavior you do not want but you should immediately reward for the correct behavior. If your dog pulls on his leash while walking you stop walking but when he walks by your side you click the clicker and give him a treat. Whenever you observe your dog performing the correct task you give a click and a treat. It will soon become apparent, to your dog, that a click and a treat follows the behavior you want. Your dog will start finding ways to please you so he can recieve the treat that follows a click. In this way he becomes an active participant in his own training. This is a great benefit in learning to clicker train your dog.
A hand signal or verbal phrase can be added when a behavior is well established. When you want your dog to perform a specific task the cue will be what you will use. In order for your cue to be effective it must apply to one specific task. There must be only one cue for one action.
When you introduce the cue you only use the clicker and treat after you cue the task you want your dog to do. When your dog has a good understanding of the cue you will no longer need to use the clicker and the treats. The clicker and the treat can now be replaced with your praise and attention.
Clicker training is something the whole family can participate in. Children take to clicker training very easily.
A clicker is an excellent training tool when used appropriately. It should definitely be part of your dog training program. Clicker training, as well as other dog training programs, takes time, patience and consistency. Clicker training is an enjoyable and satisfying way to train your dog to do tricks.
