Clicker training your dog is an excellent, positive training method.  Clicker training has become the training method that top dog trainers around the country have started using.  In this method, the trainer uses a clicker, a tiny plastic box with a metal button which makes a distinctive click sound once the button has been pressed.  The training method is simple and in many ways parallels the positive training method.

Clicker training is used to teach or reinforce a particular behavior that you want your dog to learn, such as sitting, shaking hands, rolling and so forth.  Clicker training works on the basic concept of conditioning by associating the sound of the clicker with a food or toy item that your dog likes.  All you have to do is use the clicker when you give your dog a command, then they associate the clicker with their favorite toy or treat, and performs the command so they can get the reward.

For example, let’s say you want to teach your dog to sit.  Place a treat on your dog’s nose and then move it upwards.  Your dog will follow the movement of the treat with their nose and then will naturally go into a sitting position.  Now time your clicking to occur right as your dog sits down, then give them the treat and praise them.  Continue this clicker training until your dog associates the clicking sound with the sit command and the reward.  Now you can apply the same method to teach your dog another trick.  Make sure you only click once your dog has performed the command you want otherwise they won’t be able to associate the clicking with anything and may become confused.

Any kind of training is a strenuous and rigorous process that requires time and patience.  Clicker training your dog has a high success rate but might not work for every dog.  If you see that it’s not working for your pet, try another technique to teach your dog tricks.