Clicker Power

I’m a lazy trainer, I admit it. So part of the reason I use a marker word rather than a clicker is that I always have my voice with me. I have to look for a clicker and who knows where I might have left it.

Even after reading Clicker Bridging Stimulus Efficacy by Lindsay Wood, (clickertraining.com), which studied a group of untrained shelter dogs and found that the use of a clicker reduced the training time and number of required reinforcements 30% over the use of a verbal marker, I continued to think that clickers and markers were equal in strength.

But the other morning, the power of a clicker was really reinforced. I was cleaning the kitchen table and had finally gotten down to the Pleistocene era… at the bottom of the pile I found a couple of clickers. It’s been quite some time since I’ve actually used a clicker in training, but all the dogs’ foundation training begins with a clicker.

I picked up the clickers, and just like touching wet paint is irresistible, I couldn’t help but click one. Immediately I had seven dogs at my feet, each with the “what can I do?!” look on their face.

Would I have gotten the same reaction by saying “YES” distinctly? I don’t think so.