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Fundamentals

Choosing to Come When Called—and Other Choice Morsels on the Science of Choice Behaviour!

Dogs make choices. Training is really about increasing the probability that your dog makes the choice that you prefer over all other choices, and that’s why it's important to understand how animals make choices. The good news is that the probability of a behaviour is actually quite predictable—which is not so comforting if you discover that the behaviour you want has a low probability! But the other piece of good news is that there are ways to increase probability, and the study of “choice behaviour” explains how.

 

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

Listen to Kathy's podcast (available at the bottom of the page) to find out more about Are You Clicker Training, or Training with a Clicker?

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.

If you enjoy Kathy's podcas

How to Create a Reactive Human in 10 Minutes or Less

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?

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

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.

Who Started Clicker Training for Dogs?

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.