Clicker Training Goldfish
What does teaching a Goldfish tricks have to do with dog training?
There are a lot of lessons to be learned about behaviour and operant conditioning by going through the work of teaching a common goldfish to swim through a small hoop or chase a plastic straw.
- A dog has a considerably larger brain than a fish. Every dog, therefore, should have enough grey matter to amaze his or her owners.
- You cannot use a choke, prong, or shock collar on a fish. You cannot hit a fish either. So the trainer needs to use his or her grey matter to figure out how to make this work.
- Even a goldfish can be trained without lures. Notice when the food is presented to the fish? After the event marker (penlight), and after the behavior is performed. This fish KNOWS what the meaning of that little plastic hoop is. It KNOWS that it is following a plastic red straw. It is not mindlessly chasing food dangled by its nose (figuratively speaking, of course).
- Your dog is considerably more forgiving on the timing of the click and food delivery that most fish are.
Enjoy the video!