Clicker Training Community Blog

The reach of clicker training and Karen Pryor continues to stretch globally, thanks to Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP) Lynn Martin. Back in April, we received an inquiry from Ingo Schnabel, the director of the Himalaya Rescue Dog Squad Nepal (HRDSN). His organization provides search and rescue teams in the wake of natural disasters, or when people are missing. Ingo and his team had just read Don't Shoot the Dog, and were eager to introduce clicker training to their Nepalese Junior Search and Rescue Workers.

A great review of Reaching The Animal Mind by clicker training community member Eve Alexander at examiner.com. An excerpt:

 

Karen Pryor's highly anticipated new book, Reaching The Animal Mind: The Clicker Training Method and What it Teaches Us About Animals is a masterpiece on so many levels!

 

First and foremost, it is a book about clicker training. Karen Pryor is the best-known name in clicker training because she is a very good teacher. She knows how to explain the concepts and the application of clicker training in simple terms that everyone can understand. As the book progresses, so does the information about the psychology behind clicker training. Like a clicker trainer, Karen builds on each chapter to introduce new learning in a way that never overwhelms the reader. She sets you up for success from the very first page!

Second, it's a book about Karen Pryor's career which began in the early 1960s when, through a series of unexpected events, she found herself training dolphins at her husband's Hawaii oceanarium, Sea Life Park. This compelling book recounts more than four decades of her remarkable life and career, told with humor and humility.

Third, this is a story book, filled with fascinating and surprising tales of Karen's experiences observing and training a wide variety of species from hermit crabs and fish, to dogs, horses, elephants, dolphins and whales. If you didn't already appreciate the intelligence, warmth and personality of animals, after reading this book you will. Near the end of the book, Karen tells you about new interest in using clicker training (called TAGteach) with people! Even if you don't have any pets and don't care a lick for clicker training, you'll enjoy the fascinating fabric of stories that is this book, Reaching the Animal Mind.

You can read the full review here. Thanks, Eve!

One thing I can't get out of my own mind after reading Karen Pryor's new book, Reaching the Animal Mind, is the fascinating neuroscience about how the click follows deep physiological, non-cognitive pathways involving the amygdala. Combine this with the "seeker circuit" physiology, and you have a big part of what make the clicker training process so powerful—it's permanent and impossible to resist.

Our very own Casey Lomonaco, Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Certified Training Partner (CTP) and KPCT contributor, has been awarded the APDT Dogwise John Fisher Essay Award for 2009.

You know how well clicker training works with animals. Did you know that those extraordinary results can be replicated with humans? It’s called TAGteach—a system of marker-based positive reinforcement for teaching humans.

TAG is an acronym for Teaching with Acoustical Guidance. The focused, positive nature of this method yields immediate and stunning results that are clearly evident to teachers, students, and parents. TAG is a modified application of clicker training applied to humans, currently being used in a wide array of disciplines including corporate training, sports, classroom teaching, physical and occupational therapy, music instruction, and more. For an illustration of TAGteach in action, watch this video.