Free Shaping and Clicker Training: The Basics

Hello! The goal of this Hub is to introduce you to the basic tools and philosophy behind the training method of free shaping with a clicker. It is an immensely effective and fun way to train your dog as it encourages him or her to offer behaviors and to think things out for themselves.

So let's get started and talk about our tools. For many years animal trainers and animal behavior specialists have accomplished incredible things with the very simple approach of shaping with a clicker. The clicker is a sound tool which allows you to pin-point and "mark" exactly when Fido does the behavior you are hoping for. If you don't have one they are affordable and available at all major pet stores. If you don't feel like running out you can always use a Snapple bottle cap or other popping/clicking sound maker that you can hold easily and discretely in your hand.

Our other vitally important tool is treats! Depending on the behavior you're trying to teach, the value of the treats should be adjusted. For instance, if you're trying to teach your dog to climb a ladder or another unnatural doggy thing to do, a higher value treat will be needed. Good choices would be baked chicken breast cut into small pieces, 100% beef hot dogs, smoked salmon, string cheese, or whatever it is your dog can get lost in. For the more basic behaviors, such as sit and lie down, treats like your dogs dinner kibble or biscuits should be just fine. You might not know at first what they prefer over the entire world, but try new things and see how crazy they'll get! For some dogs a game of tug with you or a squeaky toy might beat all of those things. It didn't take me too long to realize that the squeaky Dura-balls made by Hartz trump a turkey dinner for my dog! (Saves money on treats too!)

At the beginning of any session you should help your dog get into the right mind set so that they understand they're on a mission. You want them to become focused on you and excited to work with you. A dog who seems distracted or otherwise not giving a poot will not be offering behaviors and you'll both end up getting frustrated. This is why it is so important to find out what it is your dog would die for! When I just pick up Twig's ball he immediately begins to offer me all of the behaviors which have achieved him rewards in the past, sit, spin, lie down, roll over, jump, beg etc. That's when you know you've got a dog that wants to work with you.

If you've never worked with a clicker before, your dog may seem hesitant or surprised at first. This can be smoothed out quickly by a process called "loading". What you want to do is just sit down with your dog in an easy-going setting like your living room or kitchen and "load" the clicking sound. So just "click" and treat, "click" and treat, again and again. We're not asking for anything at this point, what we're doing is just helping them realize that that noise means "treat, yay!"If you're without a clicker or noise maker you can do the same thing by saying the word "yessss" or "good" clearly and happily. Try to keep it to a quick, one syllable word.

Once they're cued into what the clicker means, you can begin something simple. Keep in mind that this method of training works equally well with dogs of all ages and experience.

We've got a dog that's all fired up and ready to rock, so let's begin free shaping! The most important idea here is to let your dog offer the behavior. Popular methods of training simple commands like sit and lie down are usually accomplished with "luring", which is when you would put a treat in front of the dog's face and move it in a way to manipulate their body into a particular position. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, that's how my dog learned before I explored shaping. What is more positive about kicking of by way of free shaping is that it allows your dog to begin to think for themselves, especially if your dog is a Greenhorn in the training world.

So we're sitting on the ground across from our dog and they know we have something super awesome in our hand that they would very much like to have. All you do.....is wait. Make eye contact, a cheery smile and wait. For a command like sit, it's only a matter of seconds before they become confused and take a break. CLICK! As soon as their fuzzy little butt hits the ground CLICK and toss them a treat so that they have to get up again. Now we wait again. They're not going to catch on immediately, so just be patient. When they sit, CLICK and toss them a treat. After 3-5 instances of this they will catch on and begin to offer the motion quickly after getting their treat. After they do it without hesitating, you can begin naming the behavior. Just remember, "don't name it until you love it". Make absolutely certain that they know exactly what it is they're doing before naming it. A partially ironed out behavior is a lot harder to perfect once it's named. Typically a rule of thumb to go by when naming behaviors it to keep it short and sweet. Dogs respond well to one syllable words that are easily differentiated from other words they know. This can call for a bit of creativity as your brainy K-9 racks up a beefy repertoire.