CLICKER TRAINING—A MAGNIFICENT DECEPTION?

Now, over twenty years ago, Karen Pryor published Don't Shoot The Dog, a humorous look at how animals, including us, learn in the real world. A long time trainer of dolphins and a student of B.F. Skinner, the Harvard behavioral psychologist, she couldn't then have known the impact of this small book on animal trainers everywhere.

Although almost mentioned in passing, she talks about using conditioned reinforcers such as a dime store cricket (i.e. clicker). It was not the point of her book to develop some new training method with a clicker at its center. She was merely showing how operant conditioning, a subject near and dear to both her and Skinner, worked. Within only a short time, the clicker movement had started and was promoted as a whole new method of training dogs, one which only required “positive motivation”. If you want to have a few hours fun, simply Google “positive motivation” or “clicker training” and be prepared. There are books, videos, training courses, clicker packages, etc., etc., etc.

The doubters had their fun. The jokes went along the lines that you can only use positive conditioning with a dolphin because you can't find a pinch collar large enough to fit one, or pinch collars rust in salt water—well, you get the idea. But, beyond all of this, did she have a point and is all this fuss about a small piece of spring steel that clicks worth the whole cottage industry that has grown up around it?

First, what is so magical about a clicker? Couldn't you just as easily use a tuba or whoopee cushion? In her book, Pryor doesn't particularly single out a clicker as magical, but a useful tool that makes a noise, is handy and leaves the hands free. But then that definition could just as easily encompass the human voice. Well, wait a minute, haven't dog trainers been using their voices long before this book? Yes, and that is precisely the point she is making that gets lost in all the mystique that has grown up around clicker training.

As Karen Pryor points out, much of the technicalistic jargon that scientists and trainers hide behind gets overly complicated when her answer and that of every other good trainer is simple. The clicker is a teaching tool, designed to make an animal understand what action it is supposed to perform. In this sense, it is no different from any other teaching tool. The fact that it is “positive” isn't a change, as all good teaching involves positive conditioning. If the clicker, or the voice, and the concepts of operant conditioning reduce stress in the learning process, then the result will be a clearer understanding by the animal. Not very complicated sounding to me or most other dog trainers.

Then why do I describe clicker training, at least that proposed by Karen Prior, as a magnificent deception?

Apparently it is more complicated than it sounds. Any of us who teach dog training soon understand that the hardest task is not training the dog, but the owner. Beginning sessions are filled with poor timing, improper use of a lead, poor body position and synapses that close with the speed of sliding mud. But, suppose I could use a device with this beginning trainer that is an on-off button, say a clicker, where I tell the beginning trainer a few things. “When you see the butt hit the ground, click.” When the dog comes to you, click.” When it picks up the dumbbell, click.” Unlike the human voice or a leather lead, there is no uncertainty, shouting, negotiating or distraction. The trainer is forced to look for a certain kind of behavior and then push the button. Simple, yes? A revolution is training, no.

Karen Pryor's point is that if a beginning trainer focuses on the task and acts with good timing and consistent responses, a good dog will result. So the clicker is not about dog training, it is about trainer training.

The point is this. In her 170 page book, Karen Pryor spends only a few sentences talking about clicker training. The remainder is what ideas about good teaching are needed to bring about a better dog. She spends much more time on traditional and sound concepts such as reinforcement, timing, scheduling, fading and manipulation in training. If the would-be dog trainer wants to really learn, this theory must be understood and as the author points out, put into application in very practical ways. Simply, a clicker or a tuba or the human voice won't do this by itself.