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Chances are high that you have watched a dog training video and thought to yourself "it would be nice if my dog paid half that attention to me". And the best part is that clicker training, which relies heavily on positive-reinforcement, can be a really good way to get your dog to focus on what you’re asking them to do.

To help you out We’ve put together a quick guide that covers all of the basics of clicker training and how it can help you better and more effectively communicate with your dog during training sessions.

1. What is Dog Clicker Training and Who Invented It?

The Clicker Training Method is the same as positive reinforcement training, with the added benefit of a clicker.

The idea behind using a clicker is that you click the dog clicker after your dog did what you want from him. After clicking the dog clicker, you'll want to reward your dog with a treat or toy. Eventually, your dog learns to associate one thing (the click) with another (the reward and following commands).

In other words, clicker training works so well with dogs by clearly communicating when they successfully follow a given command or do a trick. For example, if you’re training your dog to go to their bed, you would click at the moment your dog takes a step toward the bed and then deliver a tasty treat. As the dog recognizes that he will be rewarded for that behavior, the more frequently he’ll practice it.

In the simplest terms, clicker training (or more appropriately "click-and-treat" training) first began development as an effective and fun alternative to aversive training that relied on pain, fear, and intimidation to bully a dog into learning.

Clicker training was initially invented and developed in the mid-1990s by Keller Breland, Marian Breland Bailey, and Bob Bailey based on classical conditioning - where the dog intentionally repeats an action to gain a reward. This means that after being repeatedly associated with a treat or reward, a clicker becomes a conditioned reinforcer.

2. What is a Dog-Training Clicker?

Dog-training clickers are simply small plastic devices that makes a “click” noise that takes the place of a "marker word". 

Clickers used in training are inexpensive and can be purchased in pet stores, online or in person, though you can use any object that makes a short, consistent noise as long as it won’t be used outside of a training context.

3. Step-By-Step Guide to Use a Dog-Training Clicker

If you’ve never used clicker training with your dog, you'll want to read our simple steps to find out how to start clicker training.

Step 1: Introduce your dog to the clicker

Before you start the training, you’ll first need to teach your dog that the click means a reward. With some treats (ideally 20-30 bite-sized treats) and clicker in hand, click the clicker once and immediately give your dog the treat. After about 10–20 repetitions, your dog will learn to associate the click with a treat.

Step 2: Use the clicker to teach your dog a command

You can now start introducing the clicker to mark the action you want your dog to perform, and then break it down into small steps– for example, sitting down in front of a TV.

As soon as your dog looks in the direction of the TV, click then reward that behavior. Repeat this step a few more times until your dog makes the connection between the desired action, the click and the treat.

Once they are doing this consistently, wait a few seconds for them to take a step toward TV, until eventually you are only clicking and rewarding when their butt hits the ground.

Step 3: Add Vocal Commands

Once you’re happy you can get your dog to perform the desired action, start adding vocal commands – such as ‘sit’ – to direct your dog. 

Continue to click and reward each time they perform the action on your vocal command. After a couple of repetitions, you can start phasing out the clicker and the treats.

Step 4: Continue Practicing

In the simplest terms, keep repeating this in short training sessions until you won’t need the clicker anymore.

Tips for Successful Clicker Training

The key to clicker training is to make sure you click during the correct behavior if you can, and give the treat immediately afterwards to help your dog understand that click = awesome stuff happening.

4. Benefits and Limitations (Pros and Cons) of Using Clicker Training For Dogs

The the pros and cons of clicker training (or marker training) are huge and many to be mentioned on our list, but here are the most common ones:

Pros of clicker training

• The really great thing about this method is that it anyone can train the dog, even young children.

• With clicker training your dog is going to work in a highly rewarding atmosphere which encourages him to be more attentive and willing to please in the long run.

• Dogs learn quickly because the clicker allows for perfect timing which helps your dog work out what you want them to do of their own accord.

• Like any form of positive reinforcement training, clicker training creates a positive relationship and deepen the ties you already have with your dog.   

Cons of clicker training 

• While using click training can work well with dogs that have the food drive, dogs that has a low food or toy drive will not respond favorably, which would make training your dog more difficult.

• If the clicker training (or marker training) is not done properly, especially the transition from continuous to variable and random reinforcement, it might result in confusion for your dog and frustration for you.

• Clicking may cause conditioning, which means that you will have to carry your clicker tool with you when you leave the house with your dog and during every training session in the initial stages of clicker training.