Clicker training and treats
Jun 11th, 2008 by Carolyn Resnick Method
Hi. Someone asked me recently about clicker training and what I thought of it. Well, the fact of the matter is, I do not use clicker training.
I am not about tricks and performance as much as I am about preparing a horse to accept training. Equally important to me are relationship bonding and connection with my horse. My focus is to shape a horse’s character to be interested in learning and performing.
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The only reason I can see for using clicker training is that it is very clear. i.e. “click” means “yes!”
I prefer to indicate “yes!” clearly with my body language or energy, smiles or vocal “yes!”
After all, what happens if you drop or don’t have your clicker?
I have found clicker training to be an excellent method of communicating with, and training my animals – including horses. A clicker trained animal is motivated and enthusiastic – they are keen to work and a pleasure to handle and teach. I would say that my relationship has improved enormously with my animals now that I am using methods based on positive reinforcement and negative punishment, coupled with very mild negative reinforcement. The only alternatives are negative reinforcement and positive punishment – however one might want to dress that up in other, more ‘user-friendly’ language. The person who taught her horse to not approach the carrots until she ‘gave permission’ taught that through negative reinforcement and positive punishment – nothing to do with being a ‘leader’. (A fallacy, as already identified by a previous poster).
Using food as a positive reinforcer allows the animal to develop self-control. The animal becomes an active participant in the learning process – he or she wants to make you click, and they are going to attempt to figure out how to make that happen – they go from passive to active learners. Some of the hardest horses to ‘cross over’ to the clicker have had a very long history of negative reinforcement and positive punishment – ie, their training has been based on conventional or ‘natural’ horsemanship training. These animals are so afraid to offer behaviours that they will simply stand, frozen, until they are told what to do. It takes patience from the trainer, and great courage from such a horse, to coax the first offered behaviours out. But once a horse realises an offered behaviour is not going to lead to punishment – what a change can be seen in the way that horse perceives people and training situations!
Clicker training is used with huge success by people who have to train and care for the huge variety of species of animals in, for example, zoos (for husbandry behaviours), as well as to train, for example, orcas and dolphins in marine mammal shows. When an Orca jumps thirty feet out of it’s pool balancing its trainer on its nose, all taught through positive reinforcement, the question has to be asked, ‘how much more of a relationship to you want with your animal than that?’.
I would suggest that you look very carefully at clicker training before you dismiss it. However, I don’t think clicker training is for everyone – if it is ‘tagged on’ to methods that utilise a lot of negative reinforcement and positive punishment, the result is going to be a very confused and unhappy animal – you might be interested in the work on poisoned cues by Alexander Kurland and Jesus Rozales-Ruiz – a dvd is available from her website.
While I appreciate everyone has their own opinions about things, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this article.
Clicker training is merely operant conditioning training (of which ALL training falls under). Clicker is distinguished by using positive reinforcement (not always food) plus a marker signal. Interesting a few of the big-name horse trainers use a marker signal (such as “good” in same tone of voice) — they just don’t admit to be doing clicker training. You do NOT need a clicker or even necessarily a “click” sound. The marker is just the “yes” that connects his good behavior with the reinforcer. Therefore, it is no more mechanical than a rope, carrot stick, halter, or any other training tool.
Your statement about it “working one day and not the next” is not logical. If the horse finds the reward reinforcing, it should be pretty consistently reinforcing. If you can’t get consistent results with your horse, you probably really don’t know what is most reinforcing to him. Remember, the treat/reward is just as powerful as a crop or carrot-stick. It’s all in how you use it.
The reward is not a gift. It’s earned, just like you an I earn a paycheck. No work = no reward. It’s not a bribe or a blackmail or anything else, either. If a horse is being rewarded for being naughty, the problem isn’t with the training system but with a trainer.
You comment on the pecking order. This is one of the most widely spread mis-understandings in the horse world. It started out as one study on wild wolves which turned into dog training (pack leader, alpha dog, Cesar Milan) and horse people got hold of it. There are zero scientific studies on horse social structure that indicate they work in packs. The reason I bring this up : I think it’s very hard for people to grasp the broader picture of Operant Conditioning if one stays stuck in the power struggle of making sure the animals know “I’m boss”. Training sessions should be about skills, not domination. Put into simple terms if horse does what I want, he gets reward. If he chooses not to, no reward. There is no place for a power struggle here. It’s safer and calmer because there shouldn’t be big emotional explosions or fights about who’s gets the last word.
One last thing: clicker training is no more “trick training” than conventional or ‘Natural’ methods are. Unless you call “tricks” standing quietly for mounting, yielding, tying, leading perfectly, behaving for farrier, whoa instantly on command, dressage moves on cue, and more control over how he carries himself.
Thanks for considering a different point of view. I’m not exclusively a clicker-trainer, but I do use it and have WONDERFUL success with it. My field is rescued horses, and sometimes I need a special tool to undo damage done by someone’s overzealous whip, harsh bits, beating into submission, and inconsistent handling. I hope you’ll look into Clicker training further before writing it off completely. Thank you.
Hi May, I just read your information and was pleased to see you have had wonderful success with clicker training. I am new to the horse world and everone has different ideas on training. I recently aquired a rescue horse that had been starved, mistreated and left alone for about 2 years to revert back to almost wild. I am not a trainer and I am trying clicker training, I have nothing to compair him with… I am in hopes this works. I just started.
Hi Carolyn,
I recently found your blog, and am enjoying reading through it so far.
You said:
“Though I am proficient in clicker training, I personally don’t use it because I find that it is a bit mechanical and impersonal. The horse is focused on the task or performance where I want my horses to focus on the bond and connection.”
I find it very interesting that you say this, as this has been completely opposite to my experiences with clicker training.
I find the term clicker training to be both confusing and unfortunate. There are some zoo trainers and dog trainers who use the principles of clicker training and positive reinforcement, without ever picking up a clicker. Perhaps we should call it positive reinforcement training, although this is quite a mouthful. I train with positive reinforcement, and a clicker is just one of the tools I use to accomplish that goal.
As I’ve switched over to clicker training and training completely with positive motivation, I’ve found the bond and connection with my horses grow exponentially. My horses are eager and enthusiastic about learning. Yes, they focus on the task more than before, but they also focus on me more than before. They offer behavior and wait expectantly, watching me for the next cue or signal. My horses are more attentive on me and want to play much more than they ever did before.
I think much confusion arises because people assume they can combine clicker training with the traditional methods of negative reinforcement, punishment and pressure/release training. And combining it with these things can produce mechanical and impersonal horses. Much of the power of the positive reinforcement is lost when when our horse is still afraid of the punishment, pressure and negative consequences.
cheers,
Mary H.
JMO clicker training can be a wonderful way to connect with a horse, especially for people who need more of step procedure to success, retraining a horse who has been maltreated or disengaged from people and training, or taking out some confusion the horse may have during the training. I’ve also found it the quickest way to turn around a horse when I did not have time to do so (i.e. needed to get the horse loaded onto a trailer and couldn’t take it slow).
However, I also believe that too many clicker trainers never continue in their development. They rely too heavily on the clicker and some even use it in dangerous ways because they have neglected to further their education like learning the horses’ behavior cues and examining their own emotions.
Thank you for sharing. I do like clicker training…people often get wonderful results from it. Though I am proficient in clicker training, I personally don’t use it because I find that it is a bit mechanical and impersonal. The horse is focused on the task or performance where I want my horses to focus on the bond and connection. I would recommend it to those who ask me about it. I encourage you to reread my post as it seems you may havre misunderstood my position a bit.
Thanks for visiting me and look forward to hearing from you again.
Carolyn
Dear Carolyn,
I don’t think you know what Clicker Training is all about. I am sad that you feel this way about Clicker Training. I hope you research and take a clinic with Alexandra Kurland one day if you did I’m sure you would change your mind! Anyway Clicker Training is based on how organism’s learn. There are two ways Classical and Opereant the last being based on Clicker Training. The Click tells the horse that the behavior he just did is what you wanted and now since he did what you want he get’s a treat! I is a teaching tool. Anyway if you look on my website I have listed all kinds of links with a whole lot of information on The “science: behind Clicker Treaning! Thanks Melissa
We’ve had a lot of success with clicker training on all types of horses, including rescue and rehab horses, mustangs, foals, senior horses, etc. The clicker training list (ClickRyder) has almost 3,000 members, and there’s some great videos on the ClickRyder blog: http://click-ryder.blogspot.com
I have Icelandic Horses myself and really enjoy them. I have attached some sign language cues to different behaviors, which is very interesting that they can understand the signs.
The thing with clicker training, is that the use of the treats is for the training period only. It’s just to help the horse “get” it. After the horse has learned the behavior, there is no need to continue to deliver treats for that behavior.
Hi Carolyn,
I’ve been wanting to introduce treats with Sonny, my 3 year old icelandic gelding, for some time now but didn’t want to go the clicker route so I ‘ve now read some of your tips on using treats and it makes so much sense now. Yesterday, I took some carrots and put them in the middle of my 60 foot round pen and wouldn’t let him go to them. I had to chase him off several times and asked him to follow me. When he finally did, I asked him to stay on the rail while I went to the bucket and got a carrot, then I walked to him and fed him the treat. We did that a few times then I tried calling him to me after he stood for a time and as he started coming I ran backwards and he trotted to me. It was thrilling.
So did I do the right thing in finally giving him the carrot?
Ritzy
Funny you should mention treats. Growing up my Dad purchased a long yearling gelding. He was afraid of the world and had never been away from his mother. When we brought him home he came home in the trailer with his mother but she went to my uncles house instead of ours so this poor little guy was very scared. Fortunatly our little shetland boss mare was a loving mother and she took him under her wing (after all she was the same color as his mother). When my father began to train this gelding, the poor thing was scared of his own shadow. He had never been handled at all. But my Dad always believed that horses have a voice too.(This was before natural horsemanship was ever talked about) Dad began to use Apple pieces as treats during the geldings training. Mac (the gelding) responded to treats because it diverted his fear away from the unfamiliar and towards something he was famliar with “eating”. He never ever tried to bite or bully for the treat he knew they only came as a reward. My Dad even taught Mac to open his mouth and take the bit on his own using an apple. Everything that horse learned was rewareded with kindness, kind words and an apple. Eventually there was no need for the apple treat and Mac was comfortable doing things without the treat, and was just as happy to get other rewards. But as Carolyn mentioned it opened up his mind and prepared him for training. It gave him something to focus on that took away the distractions of new things he was encountering. It also helped Mac associate the training with something pleasureable. So to him all training meant apples and apples meant pleasure and fun. Mac is gone now but he remained a wonderful willing horse from the time he came to live with us until his passing at age 29. So I believe treats used properly can be a wonderful bridge to communicating with your horse.