Clicker Training

Could someone tell me what it's all about? I saw some clicker training tools on Petsmart.com and Loriel mentioned it in a reply. I'd love to learn more about it. Thanks!

The general idea is that the "click" sound becomes a marker to tell the animal he's done the right thing, and a promise of a more tangible reward to come later. As opposed to giving a bit of treat every time the animal's done what you asked, for instance.

Here's a good book about positive reinforcement in general, which also includes clicker training, though it's not an extensive training manual:

Don't Shoot the Dog - by Karen Pryor
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0553380397/qid=1101314015/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/102-3939116-5196115

As I remember, clicker training was originated by mammal trainers at Sea World, and then applied to other species.

Personally, it's not my thing. I have enough trouble keeping a leash and other paraphenalia in order, that I don't want to be bound to a clicker device that I have to carry around with me at all times. But you can achieve the same thing with just your voice. Use a word in place of a click: "Yes!" or "Good!" spoken enthusiastically, and that becomes a reward in itself. I also don't think there's anything wrong with using food as a reward, but you'll want to wean your pet off of expecting a treat every single time. Once the desired behavior is established, keep the reinforcement schedule intermittent and random - that's been shown to give the best and longest-lasting results.

It is, as InvisableTouch said, a method that uses the "click" sound to mark the desired behavior. For instance; to teach "sit" you might hold a treat in your hand, moving the treat above the pets head and backwards until the animal's body naturally fell into the "sit" position. As soon as the animal's butt touched the floor you would click, then offer them the treat (only about a second between the click and the treat). You would, of course, combine this with the command "sit"! After the action is repeated a few times, the animal quickly associates the the click with the desired behavior. Each new behavior is learned more quickly than the last, because the animal will start to offer behaviors in hopes of receiving a click. He or she thinks "Aha! so THAT'S what they want me to do"!It makes communication between your pet and yourself much clearer and easier.

I've clicker trained one of my cats and he loves it.For him it's a thrilling game, so trying to teach my other cats (even with different clickers) has been nearly impossible; Oberon will try to claw his way through the door if he thinks that clicker training is going on without him! Obie has learned "come" "sit", "sit up","Jump up" and "get down". I used a clip on treat bag to keep my hands free, and I no longer use the clicker with him (he knows all the commands).It's harder to wean cats from the treats than dogs, since cats always ask "what's in it for me"? and dogs are more willing to work just to please you. I don't treat for commands like "come" and "get down" anymore, because Obie knows that if he doesn't listen, I'll just pick him up and put him where I want him to be (and he'd usually rather get there on his own). However, if Oberon is hungry, he doesn't meow as most cats do; he sits in front of me with his paw raised in the "high five" position. Clicker training makes communication easier for both of us!

More information (lots more) can be found at www.clickertraining.com

I really ought to be a bit more consistent in the training of my dogs.

this way will still work. The first trick I taught my cat took about two hours total (over three days), and I reinforced it for about ten minutes a day for two weeks, introducing a new trick every two or three days. I wish I had the time to do more (I wanted to teach him to jump through a hoop, just to impress upon my dog biased friends that cats CAN be taught. I did teach him to give visitors a "high five", which is amazing enough to most of them)! He just loves the clicker training "game", and I'm sure a dog would be even more fond of it.