Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Tips for Effective Clicker Training

For the next 10 days I will post the most effective clicker training tips.

1. Effective training requires effective reinforcers. Establish a large selection of effective reinforcers, preferably while your dog is still a puppy/adolescent. Take care not to ruin your dog’s appetite, and emphasize teaching your dog to play with many different objects. So-called "high-drive" dogs and the classic "food hounds" are the easiest dogs to (clicker) train.
It’s also great if you can condition an arsenal of reward substitutes (anything from clapping your hands to ruffling the dog’s fur, and so on, can be effective reward substitutes if you associate them repeatedly with food or play). And not least – teach you dog to work for things he wants in the environment. Then you will even be able to use things others see as distractions as effective reinforcers.
By working systematically on developing many different rewards and reward substitutes you won’t have to get stuck with only using click + treat.

Stay tuned for more tips! :)

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