Karen Pryor Clicker Training Library

How to Potty Train Your Puppy the Clicker Way

Casey Lomonaco — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0500

Are you having trouble teaching your puppy (or even your adult dog) appropriate elimination behaviors? Don't despair. There's an excellent chance that your dog can be trained to eliminate appropriately outside of the house—and it will probably be easier than you think!

Why I Love Freestyle: That Unique Connection

Michele Pouliot — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:00:00 -0500

When I first took the plunge into freestyle, I already had a vision of a routine I wanted to do with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Ennio Morricone's awesome soundtrack from the movie of the same name. I envisioned telling an entertaining story about struggling for the Confederate gold. Thank goodness I chose something a bit easier for the first freestyle routine my dog, Listo, and I would do together, and then had the time to really think about my vision for Good, Bad, Ugly.

On Being a Change Maker

Karen Pryor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0500

So you've become a clicker trainer! Naturally you are very excited. You want other people around you to stop using punishment-based methods and start clicking. So you introduce the clicker at your dog club or high school or wherever you are using it. And guess what: people not only don't change, they get mad at you.

Clicker vs. Traditional Training: What's the Real Difference?

Karen Pryor — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I was talking on the phone recently to a magazine writer—a nice guy who used to be a working cowboy. He spends a lot of time thinking about kind vs. cruel animal training. "So, is that the real difference between clicker training and traditional training?" he asked. "Is it that one is more positive than the other?

Excerpts from Reaching the Animal Mind

KPCT — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:00:00 -0500

One of the pleasures of Karen’s new book, Reaching the Animal Mind: What Clicker Training Teaches Us About Animals, is the way science is made accessible through compelling stories of real training events.

How to Create a Reactive Human in 10 Minutes or Less

Casey Lomonaco — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0500

Recently, I was chatting in the classroom with a few of our more experienced students. They mentioned encountering the following scenario quite often while exercising their dogs at a local park:

Individual is walking dog on leash. Dog sees other dog, barks, leash goes tight. Owner pulls dog back on leash, saying, "Be nice! Be nice!" and fumbling with a tight leash until the distraction has passed.

Sounds like a recipe for reactivity, right?

Got Puppy Nipping? Take the Clicker Approach

Karen Pryor — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0500

All puppies like to play and wrestle and nip each other. When they come to live with people, they want to play in the same way. They don't know that our skin is far more tender than their littermate's fur—so sometimes those nips can hurt!

Taking it on the Road

Karen Pryor — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -0500

I've upgraded my hairstyle. I've been power-walking to build extra stamina. I'm practicing sound bites, using eye makeup, studying Diane Sawyer's wardrobe, and trying to figure out if it's possible to train dogs on camera while wearing jewelry and a skirt—never mind the high heels. ClickerExpo faculty member Joan Orr calls this look "Book Tour Karen." I guess it is! Reaching the Animal Mind will be published officially on June 16, 2009, with television appearances and plenty of press interviews to follow.

Loving Sascha: Clicker Training and a Canine Wheelchair

Christina Waggoner — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:00:00 -0500

There can be many reasons people find themselves in an animal shelter, prepared to surrender a dog. Life-changing events occur, homes or jobs are lost, unrealistic expectations come home to roost (yes, dogs do poop in real life!), and on it goes. Animal control officers and animal rescues have heard all the stories. This story begins at a busy county animal shelter in southern California.

Pro Trainers: How to Increase Revenue via Memberships

Casey Lomonaco — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:00:00 -0500

In difficult economic times, how can a dog trainer establish and develop a thriving professional enterprise?

How to Toilet-Train Your Cat, Clicker Style

Julie Soller — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Training your cat to use the toilet is becoming more and more popular. The benefits of having a toilet-trained cat can be well worth the training effort. Can you imagine never buying cat litter again? Never cleaning a litter box? No grit on the floor? No smell? There are even more advantages of kitty potty training. As you train your cat, you will become more aware of your cat's personality and health. Successful potty trainers really get inside their cat's head; they are able to see things from a feline point of view.

Podcast: Are You Clicker Training, or Training with a Clicker?

Kathy Sdao — Fri, 01 May 2009 09:00:00 -0500

Kathy Sdao is a top trainer and ClickerExpo faculty member. She began teaching people how to clicker train their dogs in 1996. “At that time, most pet owners had never heard of clicker training and few class instructors took it seriously. Mine was the only advertisement in the local Yellow Pages that mentioned the word ‘clicker.’ I had to persuade students to even try this novel gadget. A decade later, clickers are now common in dog training classes. But, I suggest, clicker training still is not. I do believe 'clicker training' is an unfortunate term for what we do.” Why? Listen to Kathy’s podcast and find out. Read the original article here.

Dog Bite Prevention Week 2009: Free Resources from Doggone Safe

Joan Orr — Fri, 01 May 2009 08:00:00 -0500

During the third week in May, the U.S. Postal Service, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AMVA), Doggone Safe Inc., and other organizations will be calling attention to one of North America's most commonly reported public health problems: dog bites.

Reaching the Animal Mind...at last!

Karen Pryor — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500

For several years I've been hard at work on a new book. Now it's being published by Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, on June 16, 2009, and we'll start shipping orders for autographed copies on that date.

How to Socialize Your Puppy

Aidan Bindoff — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:00:00 -0500

If you have a new puppy, or are planning to get a puppy, you may have heard about "socialization." It's been established that pups are more likely to grow into stable, well-adjusted dogs if they experience a wide variety of new things at a very early age.

Chocolate: What You Really Need to Know

Laura VanArendonk Baugh — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:00:00 -0500

My active young dog burst into the room and, seeing us eating, immediately checked herself and lay down. To reward this show of self-control, I tossed a piece of my candy her way.

Podcast: Click vs. Voice—an excerpt from ClickerExpo, a preview of Reaching the Animal Mind

Karen Pryor — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:00:00 -0500

This month's podcast is an excerpt from Karen Pryor's lecture Neuroscience and Clicker Training presented at this year's ClickerExpo. During the lecture Karen addresses many topics that she writes about in her new book Reaching the Animal Mind. One of the more popular topics, Click vs. Voice, is addressed in this podcast. Listen to the podcast to hear Karen present her research and results on this topic.

Lick It!

Karen Pryor — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Karen Pryor Academy's Dog Trainer Program combines online education, at-home training exercises, and a series of workshops with a KPA faculty member. One of the first exercises in the online web lessons is to teach your dog to lick its lips, on purpose, for a click and a treat at home.

It's a Clicker Win-Win: Shelter Animals and their Volunteers

KPCT — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:00:00 -0600

If you've ever had a rewarding experience volunteering, you know that it's not always clear who benefits more: the person donating their time and services, or the recipient. This is especially true when working with animals. That win-win scenario is exemplified in The Latham Letter article "A New Wrinkle in Animal-Assisted Therapy," written by Lynn Loar, Ph.D., LCSW, President, The Pryor Foundation and Ken White, President, Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA.

Who Started Clicker Training for Dogs?

Morgan Spector — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:00:00 -0600

A question was posed on the ClickerExpo Yahoo Group e-mail list recently: "Who started clicker training for dogs?" Here, Morgan Spector supplies the answer.

101 Things to Do with a Box

Karen Pryor — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0600

101 Things to do with a Box: A Good Exercise for an Older, Suspicious, or Previously Trained Dog

This training game is derived from a dolphin research project in which I and others participated, "The creative porpoise: training for novel behavior," published in the Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior in 1969. It has become a favorite with dog trainers. It's especially good for "crossover" dogs with a long history of correction-based training, since it encourages mental and physical flexibility and gives the dog courage to try something on its own.

Attachments

Karen Pryor — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0600

February means Valentine's Day, a happy time for me as a child. I lived with the principal of our school, Mrs. Sturley, who set up a card table in the parlor so I could spend hours pasting together the paper, lace, stand-up figures, and stick-on hearts and lovebirds to make twenty-one special valentines for my twenty-one classmates. Sometimes I signed mine; sometimes, daringly, I wrote "Guess who?"

A Valentine Letter to the Obama Girls

KPCT — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0600

Authors and clicker trainers Evelyn Pang and Hilary Louie—who happen to be kids themselves—encourage Sasha and Malia Obama to choose clicker training.

How to Write a Training Plan—Part Two

Laura VanArendonk Baugh — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 11:00:00 -0600

When you are ready to move on from a basic training plan, one with simple goals and behaviors defined step-by-step, it's time to learn about expanding behavior, record-keeping, and those inevitable mistakes.

The Life of One Clicker Trained Dog: A Love Story

Virginia Broitman — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

In 1995 a little papillon was born. Thanks to an impressive overbite, she was labeled "pet quality" and made available to a "pedestrian" like me. Papillons can be hard to come by, so I jumped at the chance to meet her. After a long drive to the breeder's home (sadly, more like a puppy mill), I found a litter of pups cowering in the corner of an oversized terrarium. The room's pervasive odor must have choked the voice of reason in my head, as I found myself handing over $500 (cash only, please) to rescue a two-pound bundle of fuzz.