The Power of Marker Training

What is marker training?

Marker training is a communication tool that tells the dog “the instant” they did something we like. It provides a non-punishment method of telling a dog “the instant” the dog does something we don’t like and it provides a motivational method of telling a dog that we like they are currently doing and we want him to continue to do exactly what he is doing at this moment in time.

In order for our dogs to understand this type of communication, we first must do something called charging the markers. This means we are conditioning our dog through treats and repetition what each verbal marker means. You have the word Yes that means the dog performed something you like and the word good to provide duration to something a dog is doing.

Marker training has endless capabilities and can be used in obedience training, trick training, aggressive or reactive dogs and service dogs. This is why we provide lessons to all of our clients about marker training. Once this communication tool is in place, it’s amazing to see how quickly a dog and their handler excel in training.