Will Ferrell, Dog Trainer

Very funny!

Clicker training works well for training neutral tricks, such as those shown here, but the clicker actually does very little -- it's simply an always-consistent mechanical noise-based-marker without tone or timber or variation in volume.

The understood joke here is that so many clicker trainers are pretty miserable at timing and lean far too heavily on the clicker as a tool, failing to understand that in order to be a successful clicker-trainer you have to be calm and assertive -- the opposite of Will Ferrell in this sketch.

Here we see Ferrell talking too much, moving too much, working with too many poorly trained dogs at once, and claiming expertise he does not have. How often do we see that in the world of dogs?

As I have noted before, the key to successful clicker trainer is being calm and assertive.

The clicker helps people who are not very good at that get better at it, but a really good trainer who has learned to be calm and assertive (and ego-free), and who has good timing, will generally chuck the clicker in order to keep his or her hands free, trading in the clicker for a simple cluck or mouth noise, or perhaps a hand signal. There is nothing magical about a clicker!

• Related Links:
  ** Calm and Assertive Clicker Training
  .