Dog Training Guide: Ten Tips for Getting Started with the Clicker

Here are my simple tips to use a clicker to train your dog

1. Take 10 treats in one hand and hold the clicker in other hand. Now start clicking, give the dog one treat after each click. The dog does not need to do anything here; he can just sit or walk with you. The idea behind this step is to make your dog “familiarize” the click sound.
2. Now do the same thing again with a toy, same rules, but this time you will give your dog a toy instead of treats. Give the toy to your dog, click after your dog leaves the toy on the ground.
3. Do both these above mentioned steps for at least two days. Your dog will get used to the sound of click.

See this video below; this video demonstrates how a clicker makes dog training process easier, in this video clicker is used for a "high drive" dog,

The above two process will teach your dog, a click sound means some kind of treat is coming; it can be a food or his favorite toy. Your dog will start to love the sound of click. On the third day of training click without giving the dog any treat, also click the device from a distance. If your dog comes quickly to you after hearing the click, he understood the meaning of click. If he does not then you have to keep doing the above practices for some more days.

From my personal experience I can tell you once your dog gets used to the sound of click, you can make him do anything you want with just the press of a button. Clicker is a really useful device when it comes dog training. This is why lots of dog trainers are using them.

I also read books about using clicker for training your dog. Not all books are great, but some of them are really good. I absolutely loved, Peggy Tillman’s version. It is a good read. Buy the book here, if you need extra help in training your dog.