Just about everything is new!
The 2010 ClickerExpo program is filled with innovative courses, creative teachers, and fun events. If you’ve been to ClickerExpo before, you’ll find that almost 100% of the courses at your level are brand-new! Once again, our faculty brings you to the frontier of understanding and best practices, sharing each year’s newest research, techniques, tools, and skills.
What hasn’t changed is what sets ClickerExpo apart—unparalleled interaction with so many top-level teachers and trainers! Our ClickerExpo faculty members are not only great trainers, they are skilled and enthusiastic teachers. Plus, in ClickerExpo’s unique culture of mutual discovery, teachers and attendees listen, practice, and learn from each other.
Maybe that’s why just about every attendee who turned in a survey said that ClickerExpo met their expectations, exceeded their expectations, or gave them a “Wow” experience. The positive surveys came back after ClickerExpo in 2009, 2008, 2007—in fact, for every year of ClickerExpo. Wow!
“The best conference there is—approachable trainers and top-quality, intelligent information.” See more attendee reviews.
Reserve your spot for 2010 and a chance at your own “Wow” experience! See registration information.
ClickerExpo 2010 Highlights
Amazing Courses
Just about every course for trainers with Advanced or Intermediate skills is brand-new. So whether you’ve been to ClickerExpo many times before or are attending for the first time, you’ll delight in the unparalleled breadth and depth of the courses. The unique offerings include training skills, of course, but cover teaching others and developing professional partnerships, too. There are even specific courses that help you compete in agility and canine freestyle. We think we’ve broken new ground with this program and we are very excited to share it with you!
Have a look at the full schedule, or keep reading to learn about some of the new courses!
Training Skill Development
The core of ClickerExpo is an emphasis on helping attendees absorb and put into practice new skills, replace unproductive habits with productive ones, and become inspired once again to bring out the best in themselves and their animals. In 2010, almost every course for attendees with Advanced or Intermediate training skills is brand-new, so explore!
- Dogs can learn by imitation. Ken Ramirez will teach you to teach your dog mimicry in Copycat? Copy Dog! Go to the Session and then participate in the Lab.
- A sit is not enough. Join Kay Laurence for her eye-opening courses on Teaching Self-Control (Session and Lab).
- Preempt serious behavior issues before they occur with ”must-have” planning and exercises for any teacher or owner. Join Emma Parsons and Helix Fairweather in this Learning Lab: An Ounce of Prevention: Training that Heads Off Behavior Issues.
- Stay calm, cool, and collected while learning what to do about the most vexing problems facing trainers working at a high level in What to Do About…: Vexing Training Issues & What to Do About Them, with Steve and Jen White.
- Acquire, integrate, and internalize the training skills you need to be great. Join Ken Ramirez for The Complete Trainer: A Road Map for Education & Skill Development.
- Has learning slowed for your dog or horse? Innovative trainer Alexandra Kurland teaches you how to overcome learning plateaus in her Session: Breakthrough! Six Powerful Strategies Get You Through Training Blockages.
- Play time and game time can be the most powerful learning times for your dog. Learn why, and learn which games to use to develop various skills, with Kay Laurence in Learning Games & Play.
- Confused by different claims about the clicker? You are not alone. Sort fact from urban legend with Professor Jesús Rosales-Ruiz in Clicker Research: The Good and the Bad.
- “Targeting” is a learning platform for your dog. Acquire the skills that will change how you approach a myriad of advanced training objectives in the special two-hour Learning Lab, Total Targeting! Teach Your Dog Advanced Targeting Skills.
- Translate animal body language into meaningful information. Join Joan Orr for Rosetta Bone: Understanding Animal Body Language.
- What does science say about the optimal way to deploy the marker? Find out in The Conditioned Reinforcer Scientifically Explored.
- Learn next-generation techniques for calming reactive and aggressive dogs with Emma Parsons in Click to Calm Unleashed! (Session and Lab)
- Want to train with non-food reinforcers? Learn to use and transition to non-food reinforcement successfully in Smart Reinforcement, a popular Session and Lab with Ken Ramirez.
- Take the guesswork out of training and experience success much faster using training data. Join Helix Fairweather for Accelerating Success: Data-Driven Training.
- Teach complex behavior efficiently using Loopy Training techniques. You’ll soon see that it’s not so crazy!
- Back by popular demand! Learn the risks and rewards of complex and controversial training tools in Simplifying Complex Training Tools.
- If you want to develop top handling skills, try training blindfolded! You will learn more about communication, cues, and partnership than in ten sighted training sessions. Join Michele Pouliot for Sightless! Develop All Your Training Senses.
- Traditional punishment-based dog training has become not just entertainment, but a cultural phenomenon. Join Karen Pryor as she shares her thoughts about punishment, the public, and the way forward in Punishment and the Public.
Teaching Others
Too few trainers take full advantage of clicker training and TAGteaching working with clients and customers. But clicker training presents enormous opportunities to rethink what we teach and how we teach it.
Professional Partnering
Examine opportunities to build productive, win-win relationships with two major constituencies: veterinarians and shelters.
Compete: Freestyle and Agility
We have a series of unforgettable courses to get you rethinking how you train right from the start.
Agility: The Swedes are here with a ground-breaking perspective on agility—completely different from anything in the US. Swedish National Agility champions, silver medalists, and expert clicker trainers Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh share their unique insights into training for agility competition. Join them for their leading-edge approaches to agility in:
- Agility Right from the Start. In this Session, you’ll learn both what to train and how to train it! Because the ideas presented are novel, even the most experienced agility competitor will find this information valuable.
- Good Agility Practices. Good agility practices ensure that your dog’s learning—and your own—will progress quickly and smoothly while you’re having tons of fun! You’ll learn to transform your standard training sessions into great agility training. (Session and Lab)
Freestyle: Michele Pouliot is arguably the world’s most accomplished canine freestylist now in competition. Michele is not only a great competitor, she is a skilled and passionate teacher. She brings all of her energy and skill to ClickerExpo in these Sessions and Learning Labs:
- Dancing with Paws is a special two-hour Learning Lab where you will not only teach your dog some freestyle skills, but learn to move more like a dancer and less like a dog trainer! Michele teams up with TAGteacher Theresa McKeon.
- Going Up! Learn what platforms can do for your training success and how to integrate them into your routines. Don’t miss this Session if you compete or plan to compete in freestyle!
- The Special Sauce! The difference between a good and an extraordinary freestyle routine is what Michele calls the special sauce—hidden cues and other deft moves that make the judges say “Wow!” Learn and practice the secrets of executing stunning routines in this Learning Lab.
Special Beginners Program
For the trainer new to clicker training, looking for grounding in the science, or making the leap from lure and reward training, we have the acclaimed Foundation Curriculum. Through this curriculum newcomers get up to speed quickly and take full advantage of all three conference days. The Foundation program includes courses on science, shaping, cueing, and more! View the Foundation Curriculum.
Love those Learning Labs!
Our Learning Lab format is a huge hit. Learning Labs get dog and handler partners out on the floor to practice and hone new skills under the experienced eyes of ClickerExpo faculty. Many Learning Labs are linked to Sessions so that you can attend the Session and then put into practice what you just learned in the Learning Lab.
Attendees who bring their dogs sometimes wish they could take more Learning Labs. We’ve made it possible for the serious working handler and dog team to participate in more workshops than ever before. You can reserve a spot for you and your dog in as many as four Learning Labs at ClickerExpo 2010. Learn more
Remember, many Learning Labs, especially the Advanced and high-activity Labs, allow a maximum of 15 dog and handler teams, and many have even lower limits of 5 or 10 dog and handler teams, so register soon—especially if you are planning to take advantage of the early bird discount!
No dog? No problem! Learning Labs are incredibly valuable teaching forums for observers as well. For attendees coming without their dogs, we have special seating arrangements in the Labs to optimize viewing. Remember to select and register your observer spots in advance.
Nighttime and Mealtime Activities
ClickerExpo attendees enjoy one another’s company!
Every day at lunchtime join in the roundtable discussions and connect with like-minded people on topics of mutual interest or with people in your geographic area.
Kicks off ClickerExpo on Thursday evening with a cocktail reception sponsored by Karen Pryor Academy. Your invitation will come via e-mail after registration.
On Friday night, we invite you to join us at our 2010 Friday Night Dinner and Networking Event. Make professional connections and new friends while you enjoy a well-deserved meal.
On Saturday night, we’re planning a scrumptious dinner and a fun, entertaining event. We’re still building the details of the Saturday evening event and will update this space soon!
Our 2010 Faculty
The ClickerExpo faculty is truly unique. From premier institutions and schools, they are an all-star group of 18 top clicker trainers, competitors in canine sports, and leaders and innovators in the field of operant conditioning. Meet the entire ClickerExpo faculty.
New faculty members joining in for 2010 include:
- Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh, top Swedish national competitors in agility and talented clicker trainers. Eva and Emilie bring a wealth of practical knowledge of the field of agility, where they successfully compete (and win!) at the highest levels.
- Julie Shaw is the past president of the Society of Veterinary Behavior Technicians and is affiliated with Perdue University. A clicker trainer and teacher, she brings vast experience working in veterinary settings on a range of training and behavior-related issues.
- Kay Laurence, from England, rejoins the ClickerExpo faculty. An innovative and skilled teacher and trainer, Kay is a welcome addition to our group.
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