what is clicker training?
- Thread starter Puppy
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clicker training rocks! 
i started learning about it in 2000 and went to an advanced clicker training seminar with kathy sdao just last weekend.
the best thing about operant conditioning is that it proves you do not need to use old, outdated compulsion training methods to teach your dog whatever you want. heck, cross out dog and replace it with killer whale, dolphin, horse, rabbit, rat, goldfish, chicken or pretty much any other animal with a brain developed enough to make the connection between an action and reinforcement.
of course you have to work a little harder with this method, and it involves you to think and do more than just jerk your dog around on a choke chain etc., but the principle is scientifically proven since the early 1900s (look up edward thorndike, john watson, and most widely known, b. f. skinner).
some other neat links on the topic of operant conditioning:
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html (very scientific tho)
http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/
a fun simulation:
http://www.uwm.edu/People/johnchay/oc.htm (you can practice training the bird)
i started learning about it in 2000 and went to an advanced clicker training seminar with kathy sdao just last weekend.
the best thing about operant conditioning is that it proves you do not need to use old, outdated compulsion training methods to teach your dog whatever you want. heck, cross out dog and replace it with killer whale, dolphin, horse, rabbit, rat, goldfish, chicken or pretty much any other animal with a brain developed enough to make the connection between an action and reinforcement.
of course you have to work a little harder with this method, and it involves you to think and do more than just jerk your dog around on a choke chain etc., but the principle is scientifically proven since the early 1900s (look up edward thorndike, john watson, and most widely known, b. f. skinner).
some other neat links on the topic of operant conditioning:
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/behsys/operant.html (very scientific tho)
http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/
a fun simulation:
http://www.uwm.edu/People/johnchay/oc.htm (you can practice training the bird)