Using the Clicker
You have hopefully decided that you are going to train your dog using Positive Reinforcement: you will exhange good behaviour for food and fun. In order to do this effectively, you need a feedback system to let your dog know just what he is earning the cookies for. You can't just hand your dog the cookies, because the timing needs to be precise for communication to be clear.
The dog must get the Reinforcer while he is doing the desired behaviour or the feedback will be too late and the wrong behaviour will be rewarded. So if you are asking your dog to come, and you wait to feed him when he sits in front of you, you are not rewarding the recall, you are rewarding sitting in front of you. If you really want to reward the recall, you must get the Reinforcer to the dog when he makes the decision to take the first few steps toward you. Unless you are very good at throwing cookies long distances, this can be problematic. This is why we use a Conditioned Reinforcer or a clicker. When the dog takes his first few steps toward you after he is called, you can then click and that will indicate to the dog that what he did at that exact moment earned him food and fun so he should come and get it.
In this manner, the clicker functions as a marker: it marks the behaviour that you want so the dog knows exactly what will be rewarded and what will not. It also functions as a bridge: there can be a small lag in time between the click and the Primary Reinforcer so that you can effectively work your dog from a distance.
Timing is everything when it comes to clicker training. As Bob Bailey puts it, "You get what you click, not what you want". When you train your dog, it is important that you know not only what you want to reinforce but what you are actually reinforcing. You must try to make the click coincide with the behaviour that you want from the dog. Although the Primary Reinforcer will occur after the wanted behaviour, the Conditioned Reinforcer must occur while the dog is performing the behaviour. For example, if you are teaching your dog to sit, you want to click while the dog is in motion, before his rump hits the ground because sit is an action. The more precise the behaviour, the more precise your timing needs to be. Timing is largely a mechanical skill and it can be practiced. Here are a couple of good internet sites that will help you improve your timing:
Virtual Bird
Fet Fido Reaction Time
Good timing will also be very reliant on the attention you pay to your dog and your ability to define in advance precisely what behaviour you will reinforce. Before you pick up your clicker and begin training, know exactly what you want from your dog so that you can notice it and click for it immediately. If you are not sure what you want your dog to do, then it is safe to say that your timing and decision making will be poor. Have a picture in your mind and pay close attention to your dog and your timing will improve. By watching your dog closely, you can predict when he is going to perform the behaviours you want and your timing will be wonderful.
There are a few guidelines that are important to follow with the clicker.
Always follow a click with a Reinforcer. It is important that the click is followed by a Primary Reinforcer or it will lose value. Don't pay your dog with Monopoly money, it has to be currency that he can exchange for food and fun
Make sure you charge the clicker before using it. This means pairing it with food. If the clicker is not paired with food, it is just a sound, not a Conditioned Reinforcer. To charge the clicker, simply click then feed your dog immediately afterward. Do this 20 to 50 times, depending on the dog. Have you ever looked at your dog's face as you open the cookie jar or a bag of chips? That is the face you want to see when you hear the click. When you see that face, the clicker should be a Conditioned Reinforcer in the dog's mind.
Watch your body language when you click. The dog must identify the click sound in order for it to be effective. If you are reaching into your bait bag while you click, your dog will focus on your hand, not the click and you will find that you are not reinforcing the behaviours you intend to. Your hand must be still while you click and then you can reach into your pocket and feed your dog
As tempting as it will be, do not click your dog to get his attention. Remember the clicker indicates that you want the dog to repeat what he was doing at the moment you clicked. If he is staring into space or lunging at another dog, you will reinforce that behaviour if you click to gain his attention
It takes practice to juggle the clicker, the cookies and the leash all at once. Whenever possible, train off leash. If that is not possible, try tethering your dog to a post or tying the leash around your waste. That will free up your hands for clicking and feeding
You can use a verbal Conditioned Reinforcer. If you do, make it as short as possible like Yes or Good. Verbal markers are generally not as effective as the clicker as there will be plenty of times during the day when you say Yes or Good and the dog receives no Primary Reinforcer. Because the clicker can predict food and fun virtually 100% of the time, your dog will work much harder to earn a click than he will for a more ambiguous Yes or Good
You now have a good understanding of Operant Conditioning and you understand how to use the clicker to communicate with your dog. The next step is to start getting behaviour from your dog so you can pick and choose what you want to reinforce.