One Pebble At A Time

Clicker training is unlike most traditional methods of teaching dogs in many ways. 

For example, clicker training teaches the behavior first, then adds the cue (not a "command"*) Once the cue is added, un-cued responses are no longer rewarded. The result? A dog that learns to pay attention and wait for you to issue the cue in order to be successful. 

Behaviors are broken down into tiny components

Just as we do not expect that our five year old will bring home the novel, War and Peace and a reading assignment after his first day of Kindergarten, we do not expect our beginner dogs to learn advanced behaviors in one training session. Taught separately, behaviors are then chained together, resulting in some astoundingly complex sequences. So it is with a child learning to read-learning what each letter represents is the beginning step to writing a novel someday.

Very few words are spoken during training

But won't my dog learn faster if I tell him what he is doing wrong? The beauty of clicker training is that you already are, in effect, telling your dog what you want. A click means "yes". No click means "try again, dog!"  Human language is very confusing to dogs (just think of how many words sound alike to us!). If you chatter constantly, your dog will (out of necessity) tune it out. Make your words count-use them sparingly when training.

Self Control

Another side effect of clicker training is a built in lesson in self control. If you are the learner and you are not paying attention and actively participating, you don't get the reward.  If you are the teacher, you soon learn that if you end your training sessions on a pleasant note (as in quitting while you are ahead-not easy!) you greatly increase the odds of having a willing participant the next time around, and then the next time after that.

The bottom line is, little by little, every day, we teach and we learn. Each little pebble of this process is like the first steps of a journey-in the beginning it feels like we are getting nowhere, but just keep walking- suddenly you will be exactly where you want to be.

The Crow and the Pitcher 

A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had
once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the
mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left
in it, and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it.
He tried, and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair.
Then a thought came to him, and he took a pebble and dropped it
into the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped it into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  Then he took another pebble and dropped that into
the Pitcher.  At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near
him, and after casting in a few more pebbles he was able to quench
his thirst and save his life.

Little by little does the trick.

 

Happy Training!

Chris

*Another difference is the use of "cues" rather than "commands". Why? A cue gives the learner an opportunity to perform a requested behavior and then be rewarded. A command is used to communicate to the learner that "this must be done or else".  "Or else" is usually something unpleasant.