One of the initial questions that many ask when thinking about or starting clicker training is ‘When can I stop using the clicker?’ or perhaps even ‘When can I stop using food treats?’
It is an interesting phenomenon that one of the first things we think about something new, is that this is a chore. Something to be added on to everything else, and dropped as quickly as possible. Yes, we see the results and can see it will solve a certain problem but we'd like to get back to normal as quickly as possible please.
I say this is a phenomenon, because it only seems to apply to certain aspects of training. I have never heard a rider ask when can I stop using a saddle, bridle or lunge line. The tack shops are full of people constantly adding ‘stuff’ to their training and riding gear. All of it more cumbersome than a small plastic clicker and a couple of carrot pieces I might add! We like to add stuff, but having to change our thinking or our training style seems so much harder.
Fortunately there are some out there who do aspire to riding and training without all the 'stuff' that seems to go along with horse riding. These people, who aspire to riding aids that communicate invisibly to a willing and responsive horse, are the ones who come closest to answering the 'when can I stop using the clicker' question. They understand that the tool(s) are not what its about. It's about the training, the stuff you use shows whether the training is correct (or even if you have trained or not).
Using a clicker indicates that you are still in a training phase, so the answer to 'when can I stop using the clicker' is 'when you get the behaviour you want'. During the initial phases of training with the clicker, it is important that students (trainers) gain a real understanding of what operant conditioning is. The trainer needs to understand how important the signal of that ‘good’ behaviour is. For many training feats, being able to accurately mark or signal exactly when the behaviour occurred is vital. However, I believe that one of the biggest things that new clicker trainers get is the opportunity to see how many great things their horse does (or can do).
Because we use positive reinforcement (and negative punishments) so rarely, it can take some time to change our mindset. Take notice of all the good things our horses do and reward them, instead of only nagging at the bad. It is very common to meet a new student who lists all the terrible things they do not want their horse to do. Then as we begin to work, it is plain to me that the horse has a lot of good behaviour that the owner simply ignores. If the only thing the horse gets attention for are ‘bad’ or annoying behaviours, it is not surprising that the horse continues to do them. Just like children, horses will choose to get ‘bad’ attention rather than no attention at all.
Clicker trainers must turn this on its head, looking only for things they can reward. Doing so takes time for many owners; it is a total shift in how they view their horse. It is also a change in responsibility. We, who are supposed to be the smart humans, finally have to take responsibility for all the horse’s actions. If the horse is doing something we don’t like, surely it is because we haven’t trained the horse correctly. Did we tell the horse the thing we want it to do?
Turn around the question 'when can I stop using the clicker?' to 'how effective am I as a trainer?' Effective trainers, train a simple behaviour in just a few clicks. However, the number of clicks (and rewards, of course) is not what drives them nor does it distract them from their goals. Different animals and different behaviours take different amounts of time to train. The clicker is just a tool, not the focus. The focus is solely on, 'do I have the behaviour I want?' Am I rewarding all the things the horse is doing well? Have I taught this in an efficient way; teaching in small chunks that the horse can easily understand? Have I set up the horse to succeed?
Effective trainers stop using the clicker for each behaviour quite quickly. Not because they don’t like it, but because they are effective trainers. What the casual observer might see, of course, is that the clicker is always on-hand because the trainer has so many behaviours on the go at one time. Good trainers are very aware that the perfect horse doesn't just magically appear, so they are always training something. Instead of being reluctant to carry a clicker around, the judicious use of just one or two click\treats can achieve some quite outstanding results.
