User Guide
Table Of Contents
- E-Collar Technologies Premium Finger Clicker training is a positive reinforcement[1] animal training method. The system uses conditioned reinforcers, which a trainer can deliver more quickly and more precisely than primary reinforcers such as food. Th...
- The History & Science: How reward markers work - Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning
- Prepare for your training
- Phase One
- Don’t ask for a behavior when you first begin with the finger clicker: just practice the CLICK THEN REWARD. You don't need your dog to sit or look at you; however, if they are doing this, it’s ok - it’s in fact a good thing as you have their attention...
- No distractions
- Food Type
- Daily Food vs. High Value Rewards
- Treat pouch
- Supply and distribution
- Flat palm
- Be safe
- Pick times when your dog is enthusiastic
- Don’t train your dog if you’re frustrated
- Make it fun for you and your dog
- On or off leash
- Phase Two
- Training your dog with a E-Collar Premium Finger Clicker
- Sit
- Down
- Recall
- Creating Good Associations - Socialization
- Reward events
Page 3
Preparation and Introduction using the E-Collar Technologies Premium
Finger Clicker Trainer
At first, the clicker will have no meaning to your dog the first time it hears the
CLICK. The noise may catch your dog's attention, but it will have no emotional
value.
1.
CLICK - When you CLICK, make sure you stay still and don’t move your
hands. JUST CLICK.
2.
REWARD - Within a split second of the CLICK, give food to your dog.
You want your dog to understand that the CLICK makes food appear. Spend
two days doing six to eight five-minute training drills. If you can do more, feel
free to do so. This should be ample time for using and learning the finger
clicker. The goal is to practice a few hundred repetitions, so you see an
involuntary reflex response from your dog when you CLICK.
Make it fun for you and your dog! Beginning with the time when you CLICK, to
the presentation of food to your dog's mouth, you want no more than two
seconds. You want to eventually be hitting a very clear, quick, and consistent
CLICK THEN REWARD that’s predictable to your dog. You’ll know you have
done your job correctly when you randomly CLICK while your dog is going
about its day-to-day business, and it immediately comes to you for a reward.
To make commands reflexive, it takes hundreds of repetitions, so be prepared
to work hard in your training. Persistence, the right strategy, timing, and
technique can create a dog that is ready to perform at the highest level.
You always want your dog to love training, so stop your training sessions when
your dog is still enthusiastic and motivated for the exercise. Doing this leaves
the association that your sessions are fun, happy, and entertaining.
Prepare for your training
You should do these exercises in two phases. In phase one, your goal is for
your dog to understand CLICK = REWARD. Phase two, gets your dog to
understand that CLICK = REWARD, but they are also finished with the
desired behavior/command and returning to you.