I bought a clicker this week. I’ve never actually owned one before; in the past I have chosen to use operant conditioning with a verbal marker rather than a sound from a clicker as a marker, mostly for convenience because I always have my voice with me. Using a verbal marker has worked well for me. Because I’ve used a verbal marker for so long with precise results, I feel my timing to mark the actual behavior is pretty good.
With Jackie’s clean slate, I am experimenting to see if I can improve my teaching. Following Karen Pryor’s recommendations from her books Clicker Training for Dogs and Don’t Shoot the Dog, I spent a few minutes clicking-treating-clicking-treating with high value food treats to “charge” the clicker. When Jackie was tilting her head expectantly or otherwise indicating anticipation of the treat after the click, I knew the clicker was charged.
I wanted to try the clicker with a novel behavior for Jackie— I picked “go to your place” since I hadn’t yet started to train that with her. I put down a small square white cloth bath mat that I’ve used with Gunner to teach him “go to your place.” I began shaping with the clicker— the familiar one look toward the mat, click. One step toward the mat, click. Walk to the mat and put a paw on, click. Walk to the mat with more than one paw, click. Walk to the mat and sit- click. Walk to the mat and linger a moment or two, click. Walk to the mat and lie down, click. Etcetera until she was walking to the mat and lying on it. It went well, of course it did, but I didn’t notice any appreciable difference using my voice marker versus the clicker, while indoors in a quiet room with no distractions. We trained that first session for about five minutes, maybe less, then we put away the clicker and carried on with our day.
I persevered the rest of that day and the next with three to five minute clicker training sessions, without a noticeable difference (between what I saw with Jackie now versus what I’ve experienced with training Gunner and other dogs with a verbal marker in the past) between a click or my voice while working indoors. When we took it outside however, with interesting distractions and the ability to run and play, I did see increased response to the clicker. While giving a click and treat for coming to me and making eye contact during play outside, Jackie seemed to respond more sharply to the click than a verbal marker, and she actively sought out attempts to get me to click.
In an effort to be consistent, for now I am giving a food treat after every click (versus offering play or running as a treat). But outdoors in a larger space, Jackie would knowingly offer the behavior I wanted— eye contact and coming to my front— get the click and then not be interested in the food treat. Just the click was the reinforcement. Which is awesome in that just wanting to know she has done “right” is a reinforcer. The work (probably for many dogs but especially for Border collies), and the knowledge they’ve done what the handler wants, becomes the reinforcement.
That’s all well and good but I’m a rule-follower so I’ve been sure to get the food treat in after the click, even if it means placing my hand on Jackie’s collar for a breath to give her the food treat after the click. (I’ve been careful to make sure placing my hand on her collar is not experienced as aversive or negative in any way to Jackie, as that would be counterproductive to the entire process.) Being able to place a hand on a collar is a good behavior for Jackie to be reinforced for anyway. So yes, I did experience a difference in the training while using a clicker for outdoor, fast paced, on-the-run training sessions.
Being new to the device itself, I’ve found the clicker… not cumbersome exactly, but it’s just one more thing I have to have on hand. For example when we go for a stroll I have to gather my hat, change shoes, get the poop bags, make sure the bait pouch has enough treats, clip the treat bag on, get the leashes, and now pick up the clicker and hold it. Everything is kept organized by the door in the mud room where I hang up the leashes and keep my shoes, so it’s not that much extra effort. But I have to keep it in my hand and keep my thumb on the “trigger” so while I’m out walking three dogs that’s a good handful of items! (My years spent long-lining horses and riding with double reins in a full bridle has made me animal-dexterous!) So I am using the clicker when I want it, or to experiment with capturing or training new behaviors, but I’m still relying on my tried-and-true verbal marker as well.
This PetSafe Clik-R is the first clicker I’ve owned:
- In an effort to test the efficacy of using a click-noise event marker versus a verbal marker for operant conditioning, I’m experimenting for the first time with an actual clicker
- I purposely chose a clicker with a slightly softer sound than the traditional metal and plastic box clicker
- My clicker has an elastic finger cuff so I can wear it like a ring, which I like especially while walking multiple dogs
- It is early in my testing process, but it seems a clicker is very clear and understandable to the dog in a more distracting outdoor environment
- I will still train with a verbal marker, as I always have my voice with me
- For now during each individual five minute or less training session, I use either a verbal marker or a clicker marker for the entirety of that individual session. I haven’t yet decided if using two different markers interchangeably during the same five minute session is a good idea— more research into what trainers-whose-opinions-matter use is indicated
- Using my verbal marker seems to be working better since I can precisely mark the event with my voice, saying “yes” just exactly at the precise moment the behavior I want is being displayed, not a moment before or after. I find the clicker harder to control, since the “click” noise sounds just a fraction of a second after my thumb actually depresses the button— the clicker mechanism clicks on the upswing of my thumb, so I have to begin the depression of the button on the clicker a moment before the behavior occurs that I want to reinforce, which I find cumbersome
- I am sticking with my verbal marker, though I am open to the possibilities of using a clicker in certain circumstances
