All training offered by Cowichan Canine is based on Positive Reinforcement / clicker training. Although the use of a clicker is recommended, you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to. A verbal marker, like “Yes!” or “Good Dog!” will work, too, although research has actually shown that the use of a non-verbal reward marker can speed up learning by up to 30%.
“Data from the present study provide strong evidence that the rate of novel behavior acquisition is significantly faster for dogs trained with the clicker bridging stimulus in comparison to dogs trained with the verbal word “good.” Clicker dogs learned the target behavior on average of 20 minutes faster than verbal dogs and required an average of 38 fewer primary reinforcements. Furthermore, this study is the first demonstration of the significant effect of the clicker in facilitating learning of each task within a single behavior. As behaviors are often composed of multiple tasks, the clicker’s impact is considerable not only at the initiation of training, but also in the ease with which animals learn the new tasks that comprise a single, final behavior.”
You can download the full text of this published study here:
Wood_Lindsay_CLICKER_BRIDGING_STIMULUS_EFFICACY
If knowing this and you still prefer to use a verbal reward marker, such as “Yes!” or “Good Dog!”, then that’s perfectly fine.
Personally, I use a regular clickers a lot, but when I need both my hands or I’m moving around a lot, I use a “mouth click” (like what people often use with horses). Whatever kind of marker you use, our method is still called “clicker training”.