Conditioning Your Dog and Dog Training Advice
July 2nd, 2010
One simple concept is all there is to clicker train your dog , and this is exemplified in the principle of training called operant conditioning. This piece of dog training advice is much in line with the principles that tie all animals together. Whether we realize it or not, humans learn from this same form of training.
Let’s look at one instance of operant conditioning. If you were in a room with two doors leading out, you would want to leave by the easiest or safest one. If one door opened to a stairway that led up while the other opened to the outside of the building with no steps, you would choose the easier way to the outside.
Your dog will keep doing the things he is rewarded for, and eventually he will stop doing things that he gets no reward for or puts him in bad favor with his master. In standard puppy training advice, you are told to reward a dog with praise for doing something he is asked to do. This makes him know that you are satisfied with his behavior.
Dogs don’t understand the words you are saying, so whether you say “good boy” or anything else, he doesn’t actually comprehend the words. The use of the clicker is for the purpose of association.
When your dog does what is expected of him, you click the clicker and he learns this indicates something positive. The clicker is as good as any words you could use, and it is short, sharp, and gets his attention.
The clicker doesn’t replace any training. It is just a tool for simplification and, in the dog’s case, clarification. You might say “good dog” with a little voice inflection that is different one time than another. Additionally, the pure clicking sound is so short that the dog can instinctively understand that the sound means the master approves.
Immediately after the click the dog should be given a treat, in the early part of the training. The click alone acts as a reinforcement of approval by the master because the dog will associate the treat with the sound.
Of course, treats should still be given sometimes to reward doing what is requested, or the dog will eventually stop responding to the commands. When the dog does everything that is asked it is not neccessary for him to be given a treat as a reward.
People respond favorably to rewards for what they do. See how long people will continue doing things if you stop paying people for the services they provide, if you don’t think that this is true.
In this respect dogs aren’t that much different. If they understand that you approve of what they do, it is because of what they receive, which may be a dog treat, a clicking noise, or verbal praise. One key tip piece of dog training advice is remember the reward, whether verbal, edible, or the sound of a clicker.
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