Pit Bull Terrier Obedience Training: Clicker Training

A very popular technique that is being used for Pit Bull terrier
training is with the help of a “clicker”. Clicker dog obedience
training makes use of a small plastic box that has a metal
button on top of it which makes a clicking sound once it is
pressed. Clicker training is hit or miss, your Pit may react
well and learn from it or he may decide otherwise. There have
been a lot of success stories with clicker training.

Canine training research has shown in many dog studies that the
clicker promotes obedience training without the use of harsh
discipline or negative reinforcement. The idea behind clicker
training is that whenever your Pit does something positive,
he’ll get rewarded and continue to behave in that manner. Dogs
are extremely intelligent and if they do something that earns
them praise or a tasty treat, they’ll quickly learn to repeat
the action.

Training your Pit Bull terrier with a clicker is a good way to
reinforce positive behaviors. If your Pit obeys you by following
your “sit” command, simply give the clicker a “click” and
immediately reward him with a treat. The next time your Pit Bull
obeys, do the same but don’t say anything verbally. Your dog
will soon realize that whenever he sits, he hears a “click” and
gets a treat. This is powerful because he will associate the
clicking sound with positive reinforcement and will soon obey
even without the treat.

Clicker dog training is never used in conjunction with negative
reinforcement because researchers believe that although
punishment does stop some bad behaviour, it could also
potentially create other unwanted behaviors. Punishment, or
negative reinforcement, is almost always practiced after a dog
has done something wrong. Therefore, dogs see punishment as a
random consequence which makes in ineffective as a training
technique.