The following is the first public article about clicker training.
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The pdf was originally downloaded from
http://clickandtreat.com/wordpress/?attachment_id=1076
and is transcribed below for easier reading and use with text-to-speech.

Dog World November 1993, Pages 49-50.

Training

Shaping behavior through reinforcement
Operant conditioning enables a trainer to correct unwanted behaviors by using a variable reward system

By Cheryl S. Smith
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Article Transcription by Tameesha VanEtten of Valorzen Canine Training

Would you believe me if I told you I could explain some principles that would allow you to train a dog to do anything it is physically and mentally capable of doing? Without touching the animal and without using a collar and leash?

This was the challenging concept at a recent Karen Pryor/Gary Wilkes Dog Training Seminar.

Karen Pryor is a former dolphin trainer and author of the highly popular book “Don’t Shoot the Dog.” Gary Wilkes is a veterinary behavior specialist who focuses on control of serious behavior problems in dogs. They have presented their seminars to such diverse groups as the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors and the American Psychological Association.

What they teach is operant conditioning. The concept sounds a little scary, utilizing terms such as successive approximation, limited hold, shaping and stimulus control. Actually, operant conditioning is a very effective way to use reinforcement, and it works on birds, cats, dogs, dolphins, humans, otters and probably any other sentient being you might care to name.

We all use positive reinforcement when we praise or give a treat. But does a dog really understand exactly what you are praising, especially when a new behavior is being taught? If you are teaching a dog to sit, for example, has she already sat down or gotten up by the time the words “Good girl” come out of your mouth? What does the dog then think is the desired behavior?

This is where a conditioned reinforcer comes in. Words are too obtuse and lengthy to pinpoint a small action, but a whistle or a clicker can be sounded at the instant of the behavior you are after. If you follow the sound with the usual treat or praise, the dog will quickly learn that the chosen sound - be it a whistle, clicker, or something else - means, “You’re doing the right thing, your reward will be coming.” Because you can now delay the reward, you can work at a distance from the dog and still let it know when it is performing as desired.

With this concept as our only new information, we played the Training Game. One of the seminar participants volunteered to be the “dolphin” (training subject), and left the room so that we could decide on a behavior that our trainer would teach the dolphin. We chose to have the dolphin go to the center of the “pool” and spin in circles. Our volunteer came back in and we began.

She moved aimlessly about the room and got a click every time she headed toward the center. On several passes she got clicked as she reached the center. But on the next pass there was no click. She was visibly startled, and backed up. When she reached the center she got a click.
Now she knew to go to the center of the room, but had no idea what to do once she got there. So she went to the center and turned slightly to look at the trainer for a clue . . . and she got a click. Now she thought she really had it. She marched off in a new direction. This got a click at the turn several times, but then no click.

Our dolphin hurried back to the center. Quarter turn to the left, click. Turn back, nothing. Again, same results. Half-turn to the left, click. It was only another few seconds before she was spinning joyously in circles.

The exercise was a revelation. No verbal information at all was given, but our trainer had the volunteer performing the behavior in 10 minutes or less. Since we are much more adept at reading the facial expressions and body language of other people than of other species, we could easily see the emotions of the volunteer. She came in intrigued and curious. The first few clicks seemed to be agreeable, but when she wasn’t sure what to do once she got to the center she became confused and mildly upset. Once she thought she had it figured out she was pleased, and when she was proved wrong, she became frustrated and almost ready to quit.

Having witnessed this, we now watched a young Labrador Retriever with no obedience training learn to down and stay. The treat was shown to the dog and moved so that the dog sat. The dog got a click and the treat. This was repeated a few times, then the treat was moved so that the dog was sitting but with her head bent down. At no time did the trainer push or pull on the dog.

The really amazing part came after the dog had gotten maybe a dozen clicks for lying down. The trainer showed her the treat then moved it back against his chest. The dog tried to follow it and was calmly told “wrong.” The dog laid down and got a click and the treat. The clicks started again - the treat was shown to the dog and taken away. We could see the dog thinking, and she slowly collapsed into the down. For that she got a click and a handful of treats.

The whole action had to be reinforced when the trainer stood up (he had been sitting on the ground), but in no time the dog would down and stay until she received the click. You could then start putting commands or signals to the behavior, and have a dog that knows the “down-stay” in one or two lessons.

Watching a person go through the procedure first helped us to see the reactions of the dog, who exhibited a very similar range of emotions, from enjoyment to confusion to frustration to joy.

Next we were introduced to negative reinforcement. Again, this is something we all use, whether it is a scolding, a scruff shake or a yank on the chain. However, the rule in operant conditioning is to give a warning before you give any correction.

A 9-month-old St. Bernard with a pulling problem was used for this demonstration. A rolled-up towel, referred to as a “bonker,” was the negative reinforcement. Our trainer begin walking around with the dog, and when the dog started to move ahead of him, he said “No,” and threw the bonker at the dog’s head. Obviously, a little rolled-up towel is not hurting a big St. Bernard, but at the third “No,” the dog backed up until he was behind the trainer.

Our two trainers explained that the negative reinforcement is used to disrupt the unwanted behavior. Once that is achieved, you replace the unwanted behavior with some desired behavior. Now the St. Bernard was clicked and treated for being in heel position, and this gigantic puppy was walking sedately at a heel in no time.

While it is fine to give a treat every time while you are shaping a behavior, if you were to continue this way, the dog would soon learn to do the least possible work to earn the treat. Once a behavior is occurring reliably, you can switch to variable reinforcement; you reward only the best performances of the behavior.

Don’t raise your sights too high all at once, or the dog may get discouraged and quit; rather, gradually demand better and better performances. Improvement usually happens quickly, and both you and the dog will be delighted with the outcome.

There was so much more to this seminar than can be covered in one article - stimulus control, behavior chains and a funny warning about compound commands (the “sit sit” syndrome). For a more in-depth discussion of these concepts, read Pryor’s book, “Don’t Shoot the Dog.” Be sure to play the Training Game with people; you’ll learn much about how this system works. As Pryor warns, this is a way to think about training, not a set of rigid rules. Each trainer will shape a behavior slightly differently, clicking at a different time and demanding higher or lower standards from the beginning.

You may even find yourself using what you’ve learned on your boss or co-worker. Primarily, I hope you will use it to better understand your dog.

I knew I wanted to train my next dog without a choke chain and without punishing him before he knew what he was doing to earn the punishment. Operant conditioning has given me a whole new language to use.

Cheryl S. Smith lives in Campbell, Calif., with one human and four canine roommates, some of whom are trained better than others.

My goal of the article is not to persuade anyone for or against prong collars (also known as pinch collars or training collars) but rather my goal is to write an article with public photos to show the proper and safest way to use one.
It is all about SAFETY.

A study on prong collars was done in Germany with 100 dogs. Half used choke and half used prong collars. The dogs were studied for their entire lives and when they died, autopsies were performed. Of the 50 who had chokes, 48 had injuries to the neck, trachea or back. Two of those were determined to be genetic. The other 46 were caused by trauma. Of the 50 who had prongs, two had injuries in the neck area; one was determined to be genetic and one was caused by trauma.

Prong collars are designed to correct with even pressure all the way around the dog's neck to protect the trachea and other sensitive areas.

If you are in a hurry please scroll down to "Quick Release and Backup Collars".

​History – Prong collars were created by a veterinarian whose goal was to create a training collar that is safer to use then a choke / slip chain. In 1942, Hans Tossutti wrote his book Companion Dog Training where he advocates for the prong collar when he writes the following about prong collars - "a well-thought-out, cruelty-preventing device which at the same time assists in systematic training," but felt that the choke collar, "though quite innocuous in appearance, is an instrument of torture in the hands of the beginner because of its unlimited choke."

​Legality – Prong collars are legal in the United States, however, it is illegal in some states to use the prong collar to tether a dog. You should NEVER tether a dog or leave a dog unattended with a prong collar on.

Myths – There are many myths surrounding prong collars and an article written by K9 Pro, the K9 Professionals covers many of the myths.

​Bust the Myths About Prong Collars!
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1)      They look like a medieval torture device!
Prong collars do look scary but don’t judge a book by its cover (or in this case, a tool by its appearance!). The prongs are completely blunt and if you put one on yourself, you’ll soon discover they are no where near as “barbaric” as you may first assume. 
 
2)      They only work because they cause pain
Actually, the reality is quite the opposite – prong collars provide an effective correction without excessive effort or frustration from the handler. The prongs are spaced evenly around the dog’s neck, which means they cause no damage and are more effective than check chains because they apply pressure points to the skin, not muscle. This means that it takes far less force or pressure to apply an effective correction than it does with any other corrective tool.
 
3)      The prongs are sharp and puncture/pierce the dog’s skin
One thing you’ll notice straight away when you handle a prong collar is that the prongs are completely blunt and most definitely do not puncture or pierce the dog’s skin! Some anti-prong collar advocates show pictures of marks around the dog’s neck that look like puncture wounds, this occurs if a collar is left on the dog and never taken off as it could eventually cause irritation that in turn causes infection, this is caused pressure necrosis and can happen even with flat collars or check chains that are left on for a long period of time (which is neglect!) allowing the collar to imbed in the dog’s skin.
 
4)      People sharpen the prongs!
This is common propaganda often bought up when people are told or shown how blunt the prongs on the collar actually are. We’ve never seen any evidence that people sharpen the prongs, but if they did so, it would be clear abuse and nothing to do with the tool itself, but the person using it as a tool for abuse. Even if it were true, do you think banning prong collars would stop the people that would sharpen them from using and abusing them?
 
 5)      The dogs aren’t learning anything and it shuts them down
Prongs very commonly used in training for high end sports, such as Schutzhund, IPO, Mondio ring, KNPV etc. To compete in such sports you need loads of drive, shut down dogs would not even make the start peg. Prongs do not take drive out of a dog.
 
6)      Science proves that dogs learn better with positive reinforcement, tools like prong collars are unnecessary!
Dogs do learn better with positive reinforcement, prongs are a tool to help add consequence to already learned but undesirable habits. When a dog would escalate to a high state of arousal, offering food, toys and praise is most times completely ineffective, so it becomes impossible to get them into the learning zone. Prong collars can help the handler control the dog’s level of arousal so the dog can stay in the learning zone and reward their dog.
 
7)      There are kinder tools like head collars
We don’t want to focus on comparing prongs to other tools, but as this is a tool that is often given as a ‘gentler’ and ‘kinder’ alternative to prong collars we wanted to address some myths that are commonly put forward about head collars in comparison to prongs.
 
This is a common argument put forward by anti-prong collar advocates, which we always find quite hypocritical. Head collars are an aversive tool just like any other correctional aid, the plain and simple fact is that if they weren’t aversive they wouldn’t work. Head collars were designed based off the head halters used to lead horses, despite the fact that the placement of nerves in a dog’s face differs hugely to horses. The pressure applied to the face of a dog wearing a head collar can be quite painful and stressful to the dog, this is why you often see dogs have an extreme reaction when a head collar is fitted – clawing at their face, rolling on the ground, trying anything to get the head collar off.
 
Head collar advocates will tell you that dogs need to be desensitized to the head collar – this can take weeks to achieve this and have a dog who will happily have the head collar put on, and even then some dogs still hate wearing them.
 
There is no doubt that head collars ARE an aversive tool. Head collars work when the dog pulls out, the pressure on the face plus the strain on the dogs neck muscles trying to keep its head facing forward all add up to pain, stress and loss of drive, therefore giving you a dog that doesn't pull. It’s quite ironic, then, that the people who oppose the use of prong collars quite often recommend head collars instead.
 
It’s important to note that we are not interested in banning head collars or any other training tool, we think that banning any tool is a slippery slope and does not address the important issues – banning a tool is not the answer, proper education on how, why and when to use them is!
 
8)      Prong collars don’t train or teach dogs anything, and they go back to pulling or displaying bad behavior as soon as you take them off.
First let me say that prong collars don’t teach dogs to do anything, neither does food nor any reward or aversive. The handler / trainer teaches the dog and uses re enforcers to steer the dog away from undesirable traits and toward desirable ones.
 
Even if it was the case that dogs went back to pulling, it wouldn’t be a flaw in the tool but a flaw in the training, but let’s say for a moment that is true, some people have all but given up on their dogs, believing the dog cannot just be trained or stopped, if a prong collar gives that person even a 1% glimmer of hope, that dog can live on.
 
 9)      People who use prong collars can abuse their dogs
If you replace “prong collar” in the above sentence with “check chain, halter, flat collar, clicker” the same can apply.
 
People who use prong collars properly do not cause pain to their dogs and most importantly, do not abuse their dogs. Any tool can be use to abuse a dog, including flat collars and leashes! We’ve never seen a prong collar abuse a dog or cause it pain without there being an idiot on the end of the leash willing and ready to abuse their dogs.
 
Abuse is the user, not the tool!
 
 10)    They should only be used as a last resort
The problem with this approach is that you should be using a tool that is most appropriate for the dog and handler rather than going through a variety of tools and methods that don’t work, only for the dog to learn that if he persists, he can win. Every time you apply a different tool or method without success the dog becomes that much more resistant to training. It is by far better to address the problem quickly, with whatever tool will be the most effective and appropriate for the dog and handler using it.
 
11)   Prong collars are just to give harder more painful corrections.
They can be used this way for sure, again so can any tool, but they have a greater power. When Steve from K9 Pro works with a client who has an out of control dog and it is deemed in that circumstance that a correction collar is needed, many times a prong is chosen over a check chain or martingale collar simply because it allows the user to deliver an emotionless correction from a less frustrated handler that is no longer struggling with their dog.
 
12)   Prong collars cause harm!
Quite simply, prove it! There is no evidence anywhere to say that they cause harm at all. Hearsay, pictures of complacent people who leave collars on their dogs indefinitely and rumors of people sharpening prongs isn’t proof.
 
Written by K9 Pro, the K9 Professionals

​The picture (above left) frequently circulates anti-prong and 100% positive reinforcement circles as to why “all prong collars are dangerous”. Let me be clear – this does not happen in one use, this doesn’t even happen overnight. This is a dog who was likely tethered with the prong collar or the collar was left on the dog for weeks to grow into the skin. The same thing can happen with your everyday flat collar (above middle) or horse "head halter" style collar also marketed as "Gentle Leaders" (horse halter above right, dog halter bottom left) and is undoubtedly cruel animal abuse! The bottom center and right photos were harnesses that anti-prong people like to use instead. Abuse is abuse! 

Quick Release and Backup Collars -

​Sizing The Links – Now that we have covered the legalities, myths, and the dangers of quick release collars - if you are going to use a prong collar here is what you need to know.

Links are sized to the dog’s hair length not the dog’s weight - you can buy extra links or a second collar to get enough links to fit your dogs neck size.

Micro (1.6mm links) – these are special-order prong collars that are for dogs under 15 pounds with short to medium hair. If the dog has long or thick fluffy hair a small may fit better.

Small (2.25mm links) – These will work for most dogs 10-90 pounds with a typical coat of hair. If the dog has a large amount of thick fluffy hair such as – Old English Sheepdog, Collie, Long Coat Malamute, Poodle / “doodles” who are not trimmed, corded breeds, etc. – look into medium or large links

Medium (3.0mm links) / Large (3.4mm links) – These are for dogs with large amounts of thick fluffy hair such as – Old English Sheepdog, Collie, Long Coat Malamute, Poodle / “doodles” who are not trimmed, corded breeds, etc. If your dog is over 80 pounds and is a mastiff or bully breed who is exceptionally strong a Medium may be for you but save the Large for those dogs with the long thick and fluffy coats.

X-Large (3.9mm and larger links) – These are excessive status symbols – I have never seen a need for a collar so large.

​Fitting The Collar – The collar should fit high under the ears and snuggly under the jaw. If the collar is too loose or the links are an incorrect size this is when damage can be caused. If you have any questions – ASK before using.

Dead Rings & Live Rings - So what are "dead rings" and what are "live rings"'?

The dead ring is the metal circle ring that does not spin (this does not apply to micro prongs) while the live ring is the "D" shaped ring that spins and prevents the leash from tangling.

For the majority of people who are going to be using a prong collar they are going to use a prong with the leash attached to the LIVE RING ONLY. There are some instances when one might choose to attach the leash to the live ring and the dead ring at the same time (we are assuming everything else is fitted properly and snug at this point).

The main reason is to reduce the action on the collar (the action is the range of movement of the chain - depending on the fit of the collar this can vary).
Why would someone need to reduce the action?
1. Due to the dog's response, less action is beneficial (this is not typical).
2. The dog is trained and the handler wishes to wean the dog off of the use of the prong collar.
3. Certain circumstances in which a working dog is being trained (I am not going to go into these circumstances here) where the handler needs more control than a flat collar provides but less action than the live ring only.

Note: Remember if both rings are used the prong essentially turns into a type of flat collar and will create uneven pressure just as a flat collar will. Both rings should not be used simultaneously for the majority of dogs in training, especially if they have not yet learned to walk on a loose leash.

​Pop & Release – A collar correction should never last longer than a split second. “Pop” the collar is tight for a split second then the leash immediately goes slack for the “Release.” Do not allow the leash to go tight for more than a second.

Leash Pressure Work - Speak with a knowledgeable trainer before attempting this training with your dog.

 Written By Tameesha VanEtten On Saturday, October 3, 2015. Updated Monday, September 10, 2018.