London Dog Clicker Training

It is important to have an obedient, well trained dog in order to have a happy family life. Training your dog can range from immense pleasure to frustration.

So how do you train your dog or puppy without major problems? This is a key question with many different responses. Nowadays, clicker training for dogs is the most popular for many good reasons:

It uses positive reinforcement rather than negative and some methods are cruel in my mind.

It is simpler for the dog to understand.

It is more fun for the dog

Dog clicker training is scientifically based on how animals learn, combined with the origins of the dog as a pack animal that was rewarded for performing well.

You can use it for everything from training puppies through to difficult dogs with problems or competition dogs. It is even used by dolphin trainers! As always, start as soon as you can.

What do you need for Clicker training? The dog, the clicker, some small treats and you. The clickers are inexpensive and you can find them for a couple of pounds in any pet shop, physical or on the internet.

Small dog treats can be commercial ones you have bought, tiny pieces of meat or cheese. It is also very easy to make your own dog treats. Making the dog treats yourself is a great event for the kids and allows you to use the ingredients that are good for your dog. This is especially important if your dog is sensitive or allergic to certain ingredients.

As always training, whether for dogs or humans, is always best done in short sessions, but done often.

So step by step:

1. Plan your session in advance. Plan to train only one thing at a time until it is well known. In dog obedience there are a number of key commands to learn. The standard six behaviours are sit, down, stay, here (often known as recall), close, heel. So let's start with the first of these. “Sit”

2. Find a quiet, ideally self contained area, not straight forward in London. Start with the clicker in your hand, with some easily accessible small treats. Allow the dog to wander towards you. When he lifts his head up to you. Click your clicker and give him the dog treat.

3. As you can see, you have his attention.

4. Wait for him to do another action you want so, when he sits, you click and give him another treat.

5. He will soon associate the click and the treat with things he does and this will reinforce the actions that you want.

6. Sometimes he will be confused or excited by the treats. To get over this, hold the treat directly over his head and this will encourage him to sit. Clearly click when he does what you want.

7. You then move onto using the word for the action you want, sit in this case. Try predicting when he is going to sit and just prior to it say “sit”, click when he does and give him his treat.

You can use this method to increasing levels of complexity, whether for the circus or people or drug searching.

The use of a clicker removes or reduces any issues with the tone or clarity of voice until they understand things better. Never show any irritation through your voice when clicker training. It should be a positive experience.

As always with training, the mental and physical state of the dog is important. Doing it when surrounded by all the family or in a busy area with a lot of distractions is not good. It is good to give him a bit of a walk to get rid of his eagerness to run, but not so much that he is tired.

All the best and do not hesitate to contact your dog walker or dog trainer for some advice or even an evaluation dog walk or sesson