Clicker Training Basics
The sound of the click is unique and like no other sound that the dog has ever heard. This is part of the key to its success in shaping behavior and helping dogs understand what it is that's going right. People often ask about using their voice instead of the clicker to mark the behavior they are looking for. In the initial stages of training, your voice is not a good event marker. Because you talk to your dog all the time, your voice lacks the startling effect that the clicker invokes.
The clicker is a unique sound that most animals have never heard before, and its uniqueness reaches a part of the brain that is also responsible for the fight-or-flight response. In short, it really piques the dog's attention.
The process of shaping behavior is what clicker training is all about. Shaping is useful in all types of training, but it is crucial in teaching tricks and more complex behaviors (e.g., down on recall). Shaping behavior helps Goldens learn how to think about what they did to earn the reward. By not helping them or physically manipulating their bodies, they learn faster and more permanently by trial and error. We tell them by clicking and the absence of clicking which behaviors will be rewarded and which will not.
Labeling Behavior
The one major difference between clicker training and other types of training is that you don't label the behavior right away. The reason? The early versions of the behavior are not what you want for the final behavior.
If you label behavior too soon, you will get a wide variety of responses from the dog when you ask for that behavior in the future. Wait until the behavior looks close to perfect before labeling it.
The first click for heeling, for instance, is a far cry from what the finished behavior will be. Saving the label until your Golden is readily offering the behavior will ensure that the dog connects his behavior to what is being clicked. The label can come as a verbal cue, a hand signal, or both, but should not be introduced until the dog is offering a decent-looking version of it.
Using Lures in Training
A lure is a piece of food used to elicit behavior. Its goal is to help the dog get into the right position in order to earn the click and treat. In the beginning stages of training a dog, it is often frustrating and time-consuming to wait for your dog to offer the right behavior as more experienced trainers do with free shaping. Thus, you may be tempted to resort to using a food lure to get things going and help the dog into the right position. The problem with food lures is this: Unless they are discontinued relatively quickly, the dog (and humans) become dependent upon them in order to perform the behavior. This is not the appropriate use of a food lure, and if lures are not phased out, you will not have a trained dog that can perform behaviors on cue — you will have a dog that follows food.
For some dogs, the use of a lure is more of a distraction and a hindrance than helpful, and these dogs may do better without a lure as help. Your goal if you do use a food lure is to help the dog into position six times in a row and then on the seventh repetition hide the lure to see if he offers the behavior on his own.
A good general rule of thumb is to lure the dog six times in a row and then on the seventh repetition, do all the same motions with your body, but without the food lure in your hand. If the dog performs the behavior correctly, click and treat. If he doesn't perform the behavior correctly, go back and lure him six more times and try it again. You are giving the dog a mini-drilling session on how to perform the correct behavior and then you are seeing if he understands what he's being clicked for.
When you take the lure out of your hand, you can start phasing it out gradually by putting it on a nearby table and running to get it after the click. The beauty of this technique is that the dog knows it's there and is excited about it but is not dependent on you waving it around to get him into the right position. Using this method to wean your dog off lures means that you get the dog to perform the behavior, click, and then run to get the treat. Doing this exercise will help your dog learn that he is working for the click, and that the treat is an afterthought. Our own dogs sometimes become so engrossed in playing the clicker game that they forget to come and get their treat every once in a while and repeat the behavior over and over, ecstatic that they are right. At this stage of training, however, you should always treat after the click.
Weaning Off the Clicker
The clicker is meant as a learning tool, a marker signal that identifies for your Golden Retriever which behaviors will be rewarded. When your dog is performing the behavior on cue and reliably (meaning that you ask for a behavior ten times in a row without clicking and treating and he performs it perfectly all ten times), he is ready to be weaned off the clicker and treats.
The click and treat always go together. You shouldn't click without treating because the value of the reward marker (the click) will become diluted and less meaningful to the dog. One way to begin the weaning process is to have the dog repeat the behavior more than once before you click and treat. This gives the dog the idea that he must continue to perform the behavior until he hears his click.
Once a behavior is well established and the dog is performing it reliably, you can begin to use real-life rewards instead of food in some instances. Some examples of real-life rewards: the opportunity to go greet a guest after sitting, being released to go play with other dogs after coming when called, or having a door opened after sitting. If there is any regression, go back and show the dog what you want him to do until the behavior is reliable again.
The worst thing you can do when you are weaning your Golden off the clicker and treats is to do it cold turkey. Getting rid of rewards and information that he is performing the behavior correctly all at once is too abrupt and will result in a frustrated dog.
