Tucker is my Labrador puppy. He's stop-dead-in-your-tracks handsome. Really. Cars have pulled over to tell me how handsome he is. Spend some time with him and you find out just how sweet and calm he is, too. He' so calm, people can't believe it. ("That's the calmest, lab I've ever seen. Golly Jed, come over here. Do you see this sweet puppy. He's real different from my daughter's lab. Is it the same breed?"
Off the Beaten Path
Clicking: The Call of the Wild?
By KPCT on 01/01/2004Daniel J Radziej - Animal Ambassadors - South Africa
Here is a remarkable story of a leopard, a desert, and a clicker trainer. It may suggest a brand-new tool for track and study animals in the wild-and the National Geographic was there to film the whole thing.
Test Your Timing with These Online Tools
By KPCT on 01/01/2004Improve your clicker training skills online. There are a few places tucked away in the ether of the world wide web that can you help you improve your clicker training, or help you see what its like. Here are a few with our comments. Know additional sites? We'll let people know!
The Nurse Trap: Operant Conditioning for Hospital Staff
By KPCT on 01/01/2004I am a hospital volunteer. One day I arrived and was told immediately that the patient in 4B was giving candy to anyone who came into her room. Well, you can imagine the rapid response she got when her bell rang. Indeed, staff and volunteers began to offer behavior by sticking our heads in just to see if she needed anything. Since that day, I have called it a "nurse trap."
Agility Competitions...for Cats!
By KPCT on 12/01/2003There's now a national agility organization and competition for cats. The cats learn to run across obstacles around the house, sometimes for clicks and treats but more often for clicks and chasing a feather lure or some other toy through the course. Cats love it and take well to running new courses in new places. The courses are set up inside an area fenced with special wire net panels that cats can't climb, so there's no risk of contestants going AWOL. The first major competition was won by an eight month old Himalayan kitten (a long-haired breed you'd expect to be a couch potato, but not this one.)
