Instructor Training at Canis

1. Timing
2. Criteria
3. Reinforcement frequency
4. Reinforcement quality.

This is a very good start, and it directs your focus in the right direction – towards things that are observable, and away from mind-reading and abstract interpretations.

But still, it can be difficult to capture "everything" that has to do with timing, "everything" that goes into effective criteria, "everything" that has to do with reinforcement and so on. There are very many small things that have to do with, for example, timing when you train a dog. And as a dog instructor, it is your job to see all of this, and then convey it to your course participants.

At Canis's clicker instructor course, we place extremely great emphasis on developing these observation skills of yours. Good observation skills are not innate – they can be trained. And what upgrades your observation skills more than anything else is simply that you KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR.

At Canis's clicker instructor course, we therefore take you many steps further from simply focusing on TCFQ (timing, criteria, frequency and quality). You will learn to observe and improve training (both your own and your course participants') based on a system with over 60 specific observation points.

When you have worked with this throughout a whole year (both in practice and with the help of video analysis), you will begin to automatically notice the most important areas for improvement when you observe dog training. It is the same whether you are observing an elite competitor or Mrs. Hansen doing her first sessions with the clicker. You will immediately see where it is possible to improve the training from whatever level the dog handler is at.

On the instructor course, we focus not only on dog training, but also on human understanding and pedagogy. As a dog instructor, it is first and foremost people you work with. People are (very) different, and they also learn best in different ways. Sometimes it is important to be very concrete and specific when you give instructions to your course participants, so that there is no room for misinterpretation. Other times it is much more valuable NOT to give the answer, but instead to ask questions and let the course participant find the answer themselves and make their own insights. Throughout the instructor course, you will learn to use this entire spectrum in your teaching.

DOES THIS SOUND INTERESTING TO YOU?

When you follow this education seriously throughout the whole year, in a year's time you will be even better equipped to instruct other dog owners in clicker training with a completely new toolkit, understanding and confidence than before. It will require effort from you throughout the year, but if you are ready to take the step up, you will find no comparable instructor training programmes.

Read more and enrol on the course (as an observer or participant) here: www.clickerinstructor.no