After receiving my clicker in my mail, I’ve put it to work by training my kitten, Mao-mao, on how to touch the target stick, sit and to give me her paw. She is responding well to the training and this is her best performance yet, with some distracted moments of hers in between.
Duration : 0:3:31
From Virginia Broitman and Sherri Lippman’s The How of Bow Wow, this clear overview of clicker training gives you the basics in just one minute! From the ClickFlicks Learning Center. http://www.clickertraining.tv
“Clicker training” is the popular term for the training or teaching method based on what we know about how living organisms learn.
Research has shown that any creature—whether a dog, cat, dolphin, parrot, fish, horse, llama, or person—is more likely to learn and repeat actions that result in consequences it desires and enjoys. So clicker trainers provide consequences desired by their animal in exchange for actions or behaviors desired by their trainers.
We call these consequences “rewards” and the process is called “reinforcement.” Clicker training, therefore, is a positive-reinforcement-based system of training.
First widely used by dolphin trainers who needed a way to teach behavior without using physical force, operant conditioning (the scientific term for clicker training) can be and has been successfully employed with animals of all sizes and species, both domesticated and wild, young and old; all breeds of dogs and puppies, cats, birds, leopards, rats, rabbits, chinchillas, fish, and more.
Clicker trainers who learn the underlying principles have at their disposal a powerful set of tools that enable them to analyze behaviors, modify existing methods for individual animals, and create new methods where none previously existed. This flexibility allows the tools of clicker training to be re-invented in new forms that work in a range of situations, and for an infinite variety of animals.
The same principles have also been applied to training for athletes, dancers, skaters, and other people. Called “TAGteach,” this form of training uses a click as a marker signal to teach precise physical motions quickly, accurately, and positively.
More information can be found at http://www.clickertraining.com
Duration : 0:4:36
We showed twice in our Novice (Nybegynner) class this past Sunday. Lots of fun, good folks, wonderful weather even!
First course (no video, sorry): 200 points, 2nd in the class (of 12 or so), Q for Advanced. Gosh, it’s fun with a sport where a perfect score is actually achievable… Perfectionist heaven! *grin*
Second course (the one shown): 196 points (2 off for repeated cue, 2 off for distance from a sign), 2nd place again, another Q.
Takk til Østfoldgjengen i Norsk Terrier Klubb som holdt et veldig hyggelig stevne! Takk også til dommerne som stilte opp og spesiell takk til Kirsti og Eirik for hjelpen. 
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Duration : 0:3:14
Over 3 weeks in June 2008 the Louisiana SPCA hosted 14 campers in 7th and 8th grade. 4 cats were trained: Cornish, Mia, Nezzie, and Tux. After thier experiences with the campers they were put up for adoption. After the camp all the campers wrote about what thier favorite thing to do at camp was. Overwhelmingly, the answer was train the cats!
Duration : 0:5:37
Cats really can sit and do tricks!
When we adopted our first cat a few years ago, she soon started showing fear and petting aggression. I used clicker training to win her trust, then change the bad behaviors. I still use it now because she loves doing tricks!
Duration : 0:4:48
