Karen Pryor was surrounded by heartfelt applause on Valentine's Day when she accepted an award for her latest book, Reaching the Animal Mind. The award was presented at the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) Annual Awards Banquet in New York City, which recognized the best dog-related works among 200+ nominees in more than 50 categories. Karen received a Maxwell Medallion for best training and behavior book for 2009. The DWAA award was presented to Karen on the heels of Bark Magazine's "Best & Brightest" which honored those whose contributions have helped reshape the world of dogs and our understanding of it.
We are so pleased to see the shift that Karen's work has made in the dog world as people begin to understand that there is an alternative to traditional punishment-based training. There is a crossover as people begin to see what was invisible before -- the possiblity of training dogs without the use of force. Many dog enthusiasts at the DWAA awards ceremony expressed their gratitude to Karen for what she has brought into the dog world and how it has changed their lives.
In Reaching the Animal Mind, Karen wrote that her hope was to bring us past the "behavioral stone age" of traditional training by sharing what she has learned about animals and what they have taught her. Well, Karen, it looks like it's really starting to click!
