Quote:
Originally Posted by Namor  I never used a clicker before. It is necessary? |
I have come to LOVE clicker training, but no it's necessary.
I found it to make Jackson learn things 20x faster. Tricks that would maybe have taken him 2 weeks to learn and fully understand withOUT the clicker now take him sometimes 1 day - 3 days to learn with the clicker. He doubled his trick repertoire within two months of using the clicker. Meaning after 1 year of training since 9 weeks old, he knew maybe 15 tricks or so and by the time he was 1.5yrs old he knew 30 tricks. It's just a clear consistant way of getting through to the dog at the EXACT moment they do something right. Human voice is just not as clear or consistent.
But you only use the clicker as an initial training tool to learn something new. Once your dog knows it, a clicker is no longer necessary. A lot of people, including myself sometimes, use the marker word 'Yes!'