Saturday, June 18, 2011

The 5 Critical Aspects about Clicker Training That You Must Know While Training Your Labrador retriever

Clicker training is proven to be the most effective and easy method for training Labrador retrievers and other dogs. But for it to be as effective as you want, you must execute the training steps as correctly as possible in each session. Just clicking and rewarding your dog randomly is not clicker training. It is also not a magic formula that will transform your Lab into a super-dog overnight. It is nothing but a mechanical skill that you need to perfect - through regular practice. So in order to get excellent results with Clicker Training, you must be consistent, highly patient and above all, ready to work really hard - with your dog!

If you are new to Clicker Training then you can check out this informative article by Karen Pryor or you can check out my post – What is positive reinforcement training?

If you have been training your Labrador using aversive methods till no – i.e. negative reinforcement training – you will soon be amazed by the awesome powers of positive reinforcement through clicker training. You will see a positive improvement in your relationship with your dog who would love to learn new tricks and techniques on each passing day.

These are the 5 critical aspects about Clicker Training that decides it’s effectiveness. So in order to efficiently train your Lab, you must religiously follow these rules.

Environment – In the initial stages of the training choose a place where there are less or almost no distractions for the dog like a bathroom or a closed room where there is little noise. This will make sure that the clicking sound is the only predominant noise that your dog hears which will ultimately expedite the learning process.

Watch this wonderful video to know the powers of Clicker Training


Timing – This is the most important aspect of clicker training. You must learn to click accurately to reinforce the right behavior otherwise you will end up reinforcing a wrong one. For example, if you want to teach your dog to learn ‘sit’ on a cue, then you must start by clicking and treating accurately when your dog sits and not when the dog is about to sit or when the dog is preparing to lie down. Clicking with accuracy is a mechanical skill that will come with practice. So practicing this skill is very important for effective training. Do as many sessions as possible initially to perfect it.

Conditioned Reinforcer – Clicking sound is also known as a conditioned reinforcer which clearly tells the dog which behavior you want it to learn and also that a reward – a treat or a toy - is on its way. That’s why the timing of the ‘click’ is so important in clicker training. The treat or reward is technically known as the primary reinforcer and it’s ok if you delay the treat for few seconds after the click, because the ‘clicking sound’ has already reinforced the desired behavior in your dog.

Rate – During the initial phases of your training, the time elapsed between two sessions shouldn’t not be more. So you must repeat the sessions with more frequency. When the dog has fully learned the behavior, you can gradually reduce the frequency. It’s like teaching a trick to your 3 or 4 year old.

Watch This ! A Lab Getting Trained To Be a Service Dog using Clicker Training



Quality of reward – During the initial stages of training the treats play a very important role for the dog to stay motivated. A dry treat would be a bad choice. Instead, juicy meat-balls or sausages would be the best. And if it’s a toy, make sure that it’s your dog’s favorite one – like a Kong or something.

Once you get the hang of training your Labrador using Clicker training you would never ever think of going back to any other dog training method. The dog will associate you and the training sessions with something positive and you will enjoy training your dog. And ultimately you will have a dog that is happy, well behaved and confident.

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