From the Bird-Click [1] mailing list comes a fabulous breakdown of clicker [1] basics. A new trainer wanted to know if she was capturing the right information in her training journal. The thread that followed provided not only a critique of the information she recorded, but made an in-depth examination of how she could maximize her training sessions.

Some of the tips the list members gave included:

• Define and record what you're going to click before beginning your session.
• Review your prior session before starting a new one. Expect your bird to start a little behind where you ended the previous session.
• A "bored" bird is likely telling you that your criteria [1] is too high or your rate of reinforcement [1] is too low.

One list member presented a "mock" journal example of how she might teach a dog to lie down. She illustrated the importance of rate of reinforcement [1] in her example, pointing out that many times the reason professional trainers seem to get "magical" results is simply because they know how to maintain a really high rate of reinforcement.