Marker-based training — aka “clicker training” — is an approach to training your dog, but it’s also a life-improving philosophy. A person with any disability would do well to learn how to apply it effectively.
By the way — you don’t have to use a clicker to clicker train! You can use a word like “Yup!” or a sound like a whistle. What matters is the marker, not the tool.
Here are the lessons we learn by marker training our service dog — and how each one carries over into everyday life.
Generalizing
Once we start training our dogs to perform different behaviours in different locations, we find that they are often confused in the new location — not being stubborn. We discover that our dogs don’t truly “know” a behaviour or task until they have had a chance to relearn and practice it in many different locations. This is because they tend to look for small clues to tell them what we want. In each new location, they have to relearn the behaviour from the start.
We are very similar to our dogs. Most people think they are quite good at applying skills learned in one environment and using them in another. Most are not. Think of when you have taken a class and then tried to use the information in a different setting — you likely made mistakes the first few times and had to relearn the skill.
Once we become truly skilled at generalizing, we can apply knowledge correctly anywhere. That opens up a whole new world of what behaviours and tasks we can train our service dog to do — and improves how we function in the world. Isn’t that the whole point of having a service dog?
Read Dog Language
In order to use the clicker or marker well, we need to learn to read dog communication. Communication between dog and handler goes two ways — the dog must read us and we must read the dog. The dog’s communication tells us whether he is understanding what we want and how he is feeling about what he is doing.
This information is useful when we are training. It lets us know when we need to modify our approach so our dog better understands what we are asking. This in turn gets us thinking from another being’s perspective: why might the dog be doing what he is doing? There are reasons behind the behaviour beyond being stubborn or stupid.
This builds empathy in us. Empathy is a key ingredient in building and maintaining strong relationships — with our dogs and with other people.
Shaping Improves Observation Skills
One of the best parts of clicker training is shaping. Shaping involves starting with a tiny piece of the final behaviour and then waiting for the dog to offer more of that behaviour — getting progressively closer to the end goal. Think of it like a series of snapshots in time that together make up a whole behaviour.
To use a phone, you must pick it up, turn it on, dial the numbers, press the connect button, then put the phone to your ear and wait for the ringing to stop. When we shape, each one of those steps can be marked and rewarded before putting them together as a whole behaviour. Even smaller steps — like bringing the phone from your chest up to your ear — can be broken into smaller pieces.
Learning to watch for tiny behaviours sharpens our powers of observation — a skill that transfers directly into how we notice and respond to the world around us.
We Use Our Minds and the Environment to Teach
When clicker training is used, we use our minds and the environmental set-up to teach the dog what we want. We don’t need to physically interact with the dog to teach him — he can even be at a distance from us. The dog’s job is to figure out what will make us click and reward him. Our job is to figure out how to set up the situation so our dog will succeed.
This allows more people with physical disabilities to train their own service dog. We also learn that in life, the physical and emotional environment plays a huge role in how successful we — and the people around us — can be.
Put More Energy Into Rewarding Behaviours We Want
Society teaches us to focus on incorrect responses and correct or punish those. Instead, with clicker training, we learn to focus on and reward the behaviours we want from our dog. The more often those behaviours are rewarded at the right time, the more often they will occur — and the stronger they become.
Start the change with your dog and it will build outward — family members, health-care workers, retail staff, and others will feel the shift and respond to it.
Break Behaviours and Tasks Into Smaller Pieces
Every problem can be divided into tiny achievable steps.
“Yard by yard, life is hard. Inch by inch, it’s a cinch.”
Every behaviour, task, challenge, or problem can be divided into tiny achievable steps. We just have to take the time to break them down and then do them. This process speeds learning and reduces the roadblocks to acquiring new skills — and yes, it applies to your life as a whole.
Learn What True Partnership Is
True partnership is taking turns following the lead of another that we trust. By using the principles of clicker training to create a partnership of trust, we can become more as a whole together than we are separately.
Dogs have a different skill set than we do — and those dog skills complement our human skills. We need to trust our dog to lead when he has the expertise. Other people have different skill sets too. We need to learn to build partnerships with them as well.
Shifts Our Whole Approach to Life Towards the Positive
Clicker training helps us understand our dogs — and ourselves — better. Anyone who embraces the philosophy experiences a shift towards being more positive in life. It starts by being more positive with our dogs and expands to being more positive with the people in our lives.
The negatives still happen — but focusing more on the positives reduces the chronic stress that is detrimental to our physical and emotional health.
Learning Is Lifelong
This is probably the most important lesson. We are never “there” yet. There is always one more task to teach our service dog, or one more thing for us to learn. That seeking of knowledge and skills is what keeps us moving forward.
Learning is fun. I invite you to give clicker training a try!
Want to Get Inspired?
Books to Read
- Reaching the Animal Mind by Karen Pryor — Karen shares her personal experiences with clicker training to show what is possible. Inspiring, easy to read, and each chapter includes video links of examples.
- On My Mind by Karen Pryor — A thoroughly readable series of essays about her personal views on clicker training.
- Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor — A small book that helps you understand the learning theory behind clicker training, using great people and animal examples. Written for the layperson.
Videos
To get started, all you really need is a marker sound and a handful of small soft treats.
- Equipment — Check out this video to see what simple things you can use. [add video link]
- Capturing — This video introduces the proper technique of clicker training, using eye contact as an example. You can also try “Wait” or a nose target. [add video link]
- Your first session — Jump right in with simple behaviours your dog already does. [add video link]
- Reading dog language during training — An example of recognizing stress signals: Jessie shows signs of stress. [add video link]
Ready for More?
A good next step is our Foundation Concepts program series. You will learn not only the nuances of clicker training but many other ways to communicate effectively with your dog.
