Gentle Training For Your Dog, Horse Or Other Animal

There's often many different views on how to train animals - whether that be our dogs, horses or any animal. To me, a gentle and natural approach has got to be the best. Remember being gentle doesn't mean it's not effective!

In this post i'm looking at why Clicker Training is useful.

What is Clicker Training?

Clicker training is a way of using positive reinforcement to train your animal. It's used to help dogs, horses and other animals too. It works by your dog (or other animal) learning to understand that the sound of the click means "that's right". And so a positive treat is coming. (This positive treat is often food).

Why Clicker Training?

There are two main reasons why using a click rather than your voice can be helpful.

1. The tone and pitch of your voice varies depending on how you're feeling. This can make you (no matter how hard you try) inconsistent.
2. If you use the clicker immediately, it means your dog (or other animal) gets a clear and consistent signal. Using your voice can take a few seconds longer.

Remember in training it's better to be quick to reward good behaviour. Then your dog (or other animal) can associate the reward with the action.

Why Reward Good Behaviour?

Rewarding the right behaviour means your dog (or other animal) is more likely to repeat it. So looks for ways that he or she can offer that behaviour so they get a treat. This makes training more interesting and less difficult to understand.

REMEMBER: The click must ALWAYS mean that your animal will immediately get a reward. So the golden rule is: every time you click, give your pet a treat, even if you clicked at the wrong time.

What is a Clicker?

A clicker is a small plastic box that you hold in your hand. With a metal tongue that you push with your thumb to make the "click" sound.

What Does Clicker Training For Animals Look Like?

Here's some links and clips of Clicker Training for dogs - have a look, could it help your dog or a friend or relative's?

Dog's Trust


Blue Cross


Have you tried using clicker training with one of your animals (it's not just used with dogs!)? How did you find it? Remember as with anything, what is helpful for one dog may not suit another.

There are many dog and horse trainers. And even therapists who use clicker training as one way to help animals.

For help getting more advice on clicker training for your dog, please email me here at Taranet - info@taranet.co.uk

Find out more about dozens of natural animal therapies here at Taranet. Or read other articles in this Natural Pet Health Blog. Take a look at the sitemap here to explore!

About the Author

Suzanne Harris is founder of this Taranet website at www.taranet.co.uk, and also provides business coaching to horse and dog care and veterinary professionals.