Clicker Trainer Course 2026/2027

Do you want to become truly skilled at clicker training? Understand how and why, and become excellent in practice? Canis' clicker instructor course gives you a systematic overview of clicker training skills, from your first click to complete exercises. The course runs over six months, with thorough coverage of important principles and practical training, so that key theoretical principles are transformed into established mechanical skills for the handler.

This course is perfect for you both...

• if you've already decided which dog sports you want to pursue, and want systematic and structured training over a longer period with instructor guidance every step of the way
• if you're not quite sure which dog sport you want to pursue, but you know that you and your dog enjoy training together, and you'd like to learn much more!

The course is based on weekend gatherings, with 4 weekends from November to April.

TIME & LOCATION

The weekend gatherings are:

• 14–15 November
• 16–17 January
• 13–14 February 2027
• 10–11 April 2027

The course weekends will be held indoors in our heated facilities at Skedsmokorset, 11:00–17:00 each day. Each course day we alternate between theory and practical training, so the dogs get plenty of breaks and handlers get variety 🙂

TOPICS:

• definition of clicker training, what is it really? (Hint: It's enormously much more than just using a clicker! You don't even need a clicker to clicker train…)
• learning techniques, advantages and disadvantages of the different methods
• how and why to work with your dog offering voluntary behaviour
• how and why we train for flow
• how and why we want a clicker-savvy, repetition-savvy dog
• stimulus control
• effective reward (reward placement, reward quality and adjusting stress levels)
• ABCs of clicker training and behaviour analysis, learning theory
• classical conditioning, Pavlov and why it's important when we work with operant conditioning
• foundation skills, the dog's ABCs
• training planning with criteria plans
• logging and the 80% rule
• back-chaining and forward-chaining

EXAMINATION\
The course concludes with both theoretical and practical examinations, both of which must be passed to receive a course certificate. The practical examination (final course weekend) consists of demonstrating your training via the behaviours you've worked on throughout the course from the behaviour list you receive at the first course weekend. At this first weekend you choose your behaviour list and level (beginner, intermediate or advanced) based on the dog sport you want to focus on, or already pursue. If you're unsure about your choice of dog sport, you'll receive tips and guidance from the instructor.

COURSE GOALS

The dog should after the course:

- have learnt the entire behaviour list and become very "clicker-savvy"

The handler should after the course:

• have good training skills
• have solid theoretical knowledge of clicker training and behaviour analysis

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

All types of handlers and dog breeds are very welcome! 🙂

To get the most from the course, it's an advantage if you've completed some basic clicker training courses beforehand, such as Foundation Skills for Dog Sports Level 1. However, this is not a requirement, and it's possible to participate in the course without prior knowledge, but then you should have read thoroughly through at least one of these recommended textbooks before the course starts:

• Klikkertrening for din hund (Egtvedt & Køste)
• Lydighetstrening i teori och praktik (Egtvedt & Køste)
• Don't Shoot the Dog! (Karen Pryor)
• Målrettet miljøarbeid, del 1 (Horne & Øyen)

PRICE

The course fee is 15,000 kr. The course will be invoiced per weekend, that is 3,750 kr per weekend.

CONTACT

Feel free to contact instructor Marianne directly at marianne.mjelva@canis.no if you have any questions before you enrol 🙂