Using a clicker in operant conditioning is very efficient. I already knew that. I already knew operant conditioning is extremely powerful. Just how powerful was a surprise to me. My Australian Shepherd, Clue, and I worked together a few weeks ago to find our lost cat, Marmalade.

Marmalade is a foundling orange cat who adopted us early last spring. She moved into a machine shed we have at the back of our property. It's entirely enclosed and is very safe and warm. She stayed all summer. We tried to find her owners and tried to find her a home. We finally gave up and decided she was going to be our kitty. She's been spayed, so we were pretty sure she'd been somebody's loved companion. Whether she walked away or was dropped off, we will never know. She's a very loving kitty and comes when we call her. We decided that since she seemed to want to stay, we would try to make life a little nicer for her. My husband, Ron, fixed up the area so she had lots of places to sleep, climb and be safe. I have an allergy to cats, so having her move in with us didn't seem to be an option.

He rigged the door in the shed so she could come and go at will. We made sure she had lots of straw in which to sleep and we took food and water to her everyday.

Suddenly Marmalade seemed extremely nervous and her behaviour changed. On a Sunday evening Ron was closing up for the night. He'd worked all day getting things ready for winter. He was locking the back gate and heard mewing. Standing by the south fence was Marmalade. She was a VERY long way from her shed. Ron took her back to the shed and she bedded down, but seemed uneasy. The next evening he went to check on her and, as he approached, a big gray feral tomcat zipped in front of him and ducked into the bushes. Marmalade was gone. In the pitch black, he walked and called. No luck. He came in with a crestfallen expression and said she wasn't on the land.

Needless to say we both felt terrible. She was without shelter, food or water and to compound the situation she was vulnerable to owls, coyotes and who knows what else.

The next day, I was in conversation with my closest friend, Marie. She suggested it would probably be a good idea to use the dogs to try to find Marmalade. None of our dogs have had much to do with cats and that got me to thinking. Even though Clue didn't know how to track, I wondered if, by using the clicker, I could quickly teach him what I wanted him to do. I wanted to teach Clue to follow Marmalade's track.

Clue and I walked the entire 40 acres. I was afraid I would find her lying injured somewhere. I kept Clue on a short line and we walked together. I kept calling her name and each time he stopped to investigate something, I walked over to see if by chance it might be our kitty. No luck. No sign of a struggle. No evidence of anything.

I had my clicker and Clue knows what the clicker means. I reasoned that perhaps it would be worthwhile to try to use the clicker to get Clue to follow where Marmalade had gone. Since I've trained several dogs to their tracking titles I thought that if I could get him tracking, I would be able to read his movements and maybe together we could find her. After all, his nose and eyes are better than mine. Because the clicker is a marker and marks the moment of correct behaviour, I hoped I might be able to communicate to Clue the behaviours that where correct for the task at hand.

I took Clue to the area where Marmalade had been living and put on the tracking harness. I showed him her bed and encouraged him to investigate. For Clue, the scent of Marmalade was a new smell and most intriguing. As a result, he was naturally interested and kept investigating. I kept repeating, "Find Marmalade". Each time he sniffed, snuffled or showed any interest in checking the area, I clicked and praised and sometimes I gave him a small treat. I attached the 50' tracking line and gave him a slack line. I kept repeating "Find her, Clue, find Marmalade". He returned to the straw bed, sniffed then ventured slowly away from the area with his nose on the ground several times. I kept clicking, praising and encouraging. We returned to the bed so many times I was beginning to think this was a waste of time. Suddenly he looked at me as though to say, "I get it Mum, let's go!".

He dropped his head settled into the harness and began to track hard toward the south road, which leads to the county road. We tracked down the south road, through the south gate and onto the county road where he began casting. He found the track and indicated north.

For those of you who have never trained a tracker, I'll define some of the terms used in the sport. Dogs who track normally wear a harness, which allows them to comfortably drop their heads to the ground, and which also allows them to settle into the harness and pull. "Indicating" means that the dog will either pull in the direction of the track or will move his head toward the scent they are following. "Casting" means the dog moves in various directions to find the scent they have momentarily lost. Often this occurs when the track turns a corner. The dog will "cast" until he finds the track again. Then he will "indicate" the new direction.

When we reached the county road, I decided I'd better walk Clue back to the truck (which was now 40 acres away) and try driving the road, rather than having Clue track it. I drove north slowly, with my hazard lights blinking. I kept calling Marmalade. I thought if I didn't have any luck using this method I could always get Clue out again and we would track from the point where he first indicated north on the county road.

As we approached a fence post on the other side of the road and a good 1/4-mile from our place, I saw an orange tabby. She was frightened, hungry, and thirsty but otherwise she was all right and VERY happy to see me.

The whole thing from beginning to successful conclusion took 3 hours. Incredible. Normally it takes weeks to train a dog to track. Clue caught on in a few hours because of the clicker (operant conditioning). Clue isn't a brilliant dog and he doesn't have an ability to track that is exceptional. I think by most standards Clue would be considered a very nice, average dog. By using the clicker, I was able to explain to him what I wanted very clearly.

My doctor suggested an allergy medication which he considers safe and made the observation that he has become used to the fact that when allergies are present, the norm is that the animal stays. It's his job to make his patients comfortable in spite of the animals they keep. Pretty wise fellow. I guess we have a house cat now.

It would be nice for Marmalade to be able to play with the dogs. I'll teach Marmalade what the clicker means and then we should be able to go to work. I hope be able to use the clicker and ease her into having a relationship with the dogs. Likewise, I hope to ease the dogs into having a happy relationship with Marmalade. I'll start with Buddy, then Clue, and then the girls.

A little reminder --

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