Gina Spadafori, writing in the Boston Globe (9/1/05) describes the 'boot-camp mentality' of many pet owners, who view training and training classes as "a way to break the dog of annoying behaviors, bark commands at him, and correct him for being 'bad.' "
Instead, she says, citing trainer/authors Liz Palika and Deborah Jones, teach him tricks and you'll both have fun. "Clicker training uses a small noisemaker to 'mark' a good behavior, and then follows that noise with a treat....The use of a clicker has really gained ground in dog training in recent years, and it's well-suited for training tricks.'
Karen