To train your pet, just point and click
You to your cat: ``Einstein, I like it when you lounge on the pink quilt on the black leather chair. You look so handsome there. You're such a good boy.''
Einstein: ``Well, thanks. I thought that might please you. Why don't you toss me another one of those tuna puffs? I bet I can get you to give me one if I touch my nose to your magic wand.''
Those fanciful exchanges are not as unlikely as you may think. They embody the essence of clicker training, according to Boston author, trainer and scientist Karen Pryor. Clear communication is what
clicker training is all about.
Animals In Print
1/09/05
http://www.animalsinprint.org
If you grew up Catholic, you may associate clickers with Mass. Nuns
used them to teach schoolchildren when to stand, kneel and sit during
the service. Well, the clickers of yesteryear have a new look and
function -- as interpreters.
They help you get a dialogue going with your animals. With a clicker,
you can target your cat to go happily in and out of his carrier, come
when called, play without biting or scratching and walk on a leash,
said Pryor. Similar gains can be made with pooches, horses, birds and
even humans; and the training doesn't cost a lot of money or take a
lot of time.
``Clicker training is a system of practical and effective reinforcement-based learning.
The missing element is Pryor, who explained these strange concepts to
the general public in her book, Don't Shoot the Dog. It is the bible
of positive-reinforcement training, also known as operant
conditioning, which is the science behind clicker training.
``We're talking about deliberate learning. The term I like to use is
reinforcement-based training,'' she said. It is unlike the Pavlovian
response because it is voluntary. Pavlovian responses are involuntary.
``Don't Shoot the Dog wasn't about dogs, it was about people and how
to change human behavior without all the negative ways. The dog
trainers got interested and that led to my spending a lot of time
teaching and writing books for dog owners who don't know what the
dolphin trainers all know, that positive reinforcement works.''
Since then, Pryor has written many scientific papers, seven books and
become an internationally lauded authority on clicker training. She
is the CEO of Karen Pryor Clickertraining, which takes ClickerExpos
around the world. Her books and clickers are widely available in pet
supply stores and on the Internet at www.clickertraining.com.
A clicker and one of Pryor's books would make a wonderful Christmas
present for devoted cat and dog owners. Think of clicker training as
an embellishment of an already good thing, the whipped cream on the
sundae. Any training at all enhances the human-animal bond. Clicker
training will make it deeper.
How clickers work
Let's take a closer look.
Clickers provide a signal to mark a desired behavior in real time and
then follows that signal with a motivating reward, said Pryor. "You
need some kind of signal to tell him exactly when he does the right
thing and pay him with a treat. The voice is too fuzzy and takes too
long,'' she said.
By the time I say "Good boy, Shakespeare," my cat has long forgotten
our little interaction and is thinking about a fishing trip in the
Bahamas.
"You can click the moment your dog looks at you or pricks up his
ears. What he's doing at the moment of the click is what he is
getting paid for. Even puppies understand this right away.
"The clicker is a bridging stimulus. It means that food or reward is
coming. Shakespeare understands precisely which action earned the
click, then I reinforce that by giving him a pea-sized piece of a
tuna puff as a reward. Click, reward. Click, reward.
"The magic wand I mentioned in the beginning of this story begins as
your finger but ultimately becomes a target. If you put a pencil or
finger one or two inches in front of your cat, he will probably touch
his nose to it. When he does, click and reward. Then get him to
follow your finger -- the target -- to places you want him to go.
Click and reward. Soon, you can "target" your cat to move in and out
of carriers, on and off veterinary tables and furniture and the like.
When he's responsive, you won't need the click and reward anymore.
Your cat will soon be performing desired behaviors to get you to give
him treats.
"Just teaching your cat some clicking things will help him feel more
confident," said Pryor. "Make it easy for him. It might take him two
or three times, but he'll realize he's getting you to click. Then you
can target him up a stool and down again. My cat does kitchen
Olympics."
You will soon make sense to your cat. ``You'll see their social
behavior begin to develop. I take volunteers in shelters and pass out
Popsicle sticks and we teach them to target. It starts with one
sniff. This is the way to break through the apathy. Eight of 10 cats
will do it right away. It's a nice thing for those cats, a game they
can play that doesn't involve touching them and making them do stuff
(they don't want to do).''
What clickers won't do
Here are a few things clicker training is not:
*Clickers are not squeaky toys intended to get an animal's attention.
If used in that way, they will simply be ignored along with all the
other silly noises in an average day.
*Clickers can not replace your praise. The clicker tells the animal
he has done the right thing and pay is forthcoming. After you have
used a clicker for a while, you can replace the sound with a word of
praise or even a smile or nod and drop the treat.
*A clicker is not a dog call. Used that way, it will quickly become
meaningless. If you call the dog with the clicker and he doesn't
come, you're telling him to stay over there and ignore you.
*Clicker training is not a fad that comes and goes. It is a training
technique that is rapidly overtaking traditional methods in the
handling and management of all kinds of animals, including cats,
dogs, horses, bird and zoo animals. It is also being used in human
applications such as physical therapy and sports training.
source:Connie Bloom
Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Jan. 11, 2005