(The first step)
Dogs learn by association. They will learn to anticipate a positive outcome by remembering positive experiences.
This is the basis for clicker training and one of the primary reasons why it works. We first teach the dog to positively associate the standard click noise with a positive experience (whatever motivates the dog). Clicks are especially good for this because they are the exact same sound every single time. Unlike the changes a voice might make when you are excited, angry, upset, or distracted. Or even a different person’s voice.
So first we have the dog learn the association; Click = Treat (pet, play ect…) treat is easiest to produce. Once the dog understands this, then you can start teaching him to learn that HE can control when the click happens. Once this cognitive leap is made the dog has learned the “game”.
The dog now associates the click with getting a treat and he knows that he can get you to click by trying new things or responding to the cues you have taught him. But keep in mind that the whole experience needs to be positive. The strongest correction given should be verbal/body language.
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