The main idea behind operant conditioning – and clicker training – is positive reinforcement. There’s no “NO” in clicker training. It’s all about “YES.” The dog learns from doing something right and getting a reward, whether that’s a bit of food, a ball, a toy, or a scratch behind the ears and praise. Yes is far more effective than no when it comes to learning. There is a "no reward" marker, but we'll get to that later - it's simply to tell your dog to try again, not that he has done something wrong. 

Dogs don’t learn very well from “no.” Sure, “no” can stop a behavior in its tracks, but no real learning happens in that moment. For example, let’s say that you catch your puppy trying to get into the trash can. You’ll naturally want to stop the pup from doing that, and a firm “no” and physically moving the pup away from the area is effective at the moment. But the only thing the puppy has really learned was that it’s not okay to go into the trash while you’re there. The minute you step out of the room again or leave the house, that trash can is fair game. Sure, if you beat the puppy senseless every time he goes near the trash can, eventually he won’t go near the trash can anymore – he will also come to fear you and it will be very difficult to train him to do very much other than cower and foam in terror of being beaten. In clicker training, there’s never any occasion where you’d strike a dog. Hitting animals is abuse, and there’s no room in a good relationship for that.

So, you’re going to concentrate on rewarding good behaviors and essentially ignoring behaviors that you don’t want (it’s a little more complex, but I’ll get into that later). When the puppy does something you want he’ll get a reward and when he doesn’t, he gets nothing at all. No eye contact, no saying his name, no physical contact. Eventually, the pup will realize that when he does a certain behavior he gets attention and a reward, but when he doesn’t do it, he gets nothing. It’s hardwired into your puppy’s brain to want your attention, and of course to want rewards, like treats or a ball.