When I first launched my business, the tagline was “Training animals using trust, respect, and understanding.”

Still on my license plate after all these years and vital to working successfully with any species in my book.

They are attuned to survival and to the nuances in the environment so nuances of a trainer are in alignment with that sensitivity and awareness.

In my work, I find that most people have trouble adapting to the use of a marker beyond the voice without a lot of practice.

Ultimately, I don’t think that what type of marker is important as long as it is consistent and delivered in a timely manner.

And yes, I’ve heard you use your tongue clicking–very ingenious. LOL

I saw one bear that I had worked with about 20 years previously. He was at a sanctuary and had been suffering hard times elsewhere before arriving.

He remembered me also.

Lots of stories, lots of heartache, lots of joy.

(bird trainer) Steve Martin talks about building a trust account with the animal. When you’re interacting positively with the animal, playing with the animal, using positive reinforcement, you’re making deposits into your trust account. When you’re using punishers or aversives, or putting the animal in stressful or frustrating situations, you’re making withdrawals from that trust account.

If you’ve got a big balance built up in that account, the animal will usually still stick with you if something goes wrong, you get stuck in a stressful situation, or if you use a mild aversive. If you don’t have that account built up, the animal is likely to leave, shut down, or get defensive.

Mary

This is why markers (clicker, light, whistle) are preferred to voice. Why?

* Because the the voice inflection can influence an animal’s behavior and convey the emotional state of the trainer, and
* because you can suppress or alter the animal’s behavior if you respond emotionally.”

The animal is going to pick up on your emotional state just as fast from your body language as from any words you say. So, I’m skeptical of any arguments that promote the clicker based on emotions.

Any marker signal is going to be effective if it is clear and used consistently. (Usually) the problem with words, especially for novice trainers, is they aren’t consistent with their timing or how they are using their words. In this case, giving a novice owner a clicker is going to help them focus and (often) improve their timing and consistency.

But, using any marker is a learned skill. I know several very good trainers who use verbal markers and are successful with them. They probably get better results with a verbal than they would with a click, merely because they are more practiced with their verbal marker. Likewise, someone who’s been using a clicker for years is going to be more accurate with a clicker than with a verbal marker.

I use a click sound I make with my mouth. It’s clear to my horses and gives me a free hand.

Mary