To teach dogs to learn how to go potty outside or learn new dog obedience commands, you can try clicker training puppies. Clicker training is based on positive reinforcement in which you reward your dog for performing desired behavior instead of punishing them for doing something bad or wrong.
Clicker training involves using a click sound to help positively reinforce a desired behavior. When this happens you reward your puppy with a treat. The click can be produced with a clicker, a box that can be bought at your local pet store, or vocally.
If you give your dog a treat and make the click sound every time he sits in training, he will begin to associate the two things together. Your dog gets a clear signal from the click that he will associate with the behavior that he just finished performing. With verbal commands like “sit” you will not get the same consistency of sound as you will with a click which sounds the same every time it is made.
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Clicker Training Puppies Basics
Clicker training puppies is very effective in training for many different types of desired actions and behaviors. To see how how the clicker training process works can be illustrated using an example with potty training. Pick a spot that is the permanent place that you want your puppy to use for going potty during potty training. To train your puppy to go potty outside, always go in and out of the same door and go over to the permanent potty spot each time.
Keep your eye on your puppy and watch for him to go potty. As he finishes, make your click sound. Clicking too early might stop your puppy from finishing. After clicking, reward your puppy with a treat. If you time the click right, your puppy will start to associate the click and treat with going potty.
The click makes a very distinct sound that the puppy can remember along with going potty and getting a treat. He isn’t rewarded with a treat and is not presented with the click sound when he goes potty inside the house.
Benefits of Clicker Training Puppies
The advantage of clicker training puppies is that it builds up the behavior that is desired through positive reinforcement in addition to giving your puppy a clear signal. What this does is leave out a lot of the inconsistencies in verbal communication that can develop between animals and humans. To properly train your puppy to perform desired behaviors, it isn’t necessary to punish him. You will find that the training you do is both fun and rewarding for yourself as well as your puppy.
Clicker training puppies should be conducted in short training sessions due to the fact that puppies do not have long attention spans. Clicker training sessions should probably only run about five minutes at a time. You can also use clicks for teaching obedience commands like stay, come, sit and down in addition to potty training. When teaching your dog obedience commands use the same steps that you did for potty training.
To teach the puppy the obedience command “sit,” wait for him to begin to sit. When his rear end is about to touch the ground, make a click and then give him a treat. As soon as it is clear that he has learned to associate sitting down with the click and getting a reward, begin introducing the verbal command of “sit” and then you can eventually stop using the click and he will sit with just the verbal command.
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This post was written by Noel DCosta on September 25, 2009
