Clear Signals Training

Clear signals training is based on three ideas:

1. Teach commands with rewards, not force.
2. Establish clear communication with the dog.
3. Use corrections when necessary and only in a fair and effective fashion.

Make sure the dog understands what you want by breaking training into two three phases. The teaching phase, the training phase, and the proofing phase. 

Teaching phase: You concentrate on motivating the dog in a low distraction environment and reward it when it performs correctly and withhold rewards when the dog makes a mistake.

Training phase: You take the known command that the dog has learned in the teaching phase and put it under some sort of physical correction. For example, when you give the "sit" command, you give a soft pop of the leash. This connects the correction to the sit.

Proofing phase: The handler reduces the frequency of the reinforcement (random or intermittent rewarding) and begins to fade physical cues and begins to ask the dog to perform in increasingly distracting environments. The dog may be corrected at this phase but it must be fair and effective. 

There are four markers the dog is conditioned to. Yes, No, OK, and Good. 

Yes: The dog can break from position to receive his reward. 

No: This lets the dog know to stop doing something or to leave something alone.

OK: The dog can break position, but won't get a reward. 

Good: Used before the Yes marker and is used to tell the dog that he is in the correct position.

The goal is to get a dog motivated by your verbal praise and affection and to only provide a physical reward at the very end of the session. A few examples are a kong with peanut butter, a piece of hotdog, a game of tug, a bite on a bite sleeve, or a few throws of a ball. Keep the rewards varied to keep the dog excited.