Clicker Training Community Blog

This is a fascinating story about a CPR self-training device that uses a clicker to mark when chest compressions are being done correctly, with fantastic results:

"They found that the home group learned CPR as effectively as those taking the full-fledged course," Cave said.

The Painting Beagles of Newfoundland will donate a portion of the proceeds from the sale of their paintings to the Courtney Trempe Memorial Fund for Dog Bite Victim Support. The Painting Beagles are trained by Tonji Stewart of Canine Company Clicker Training and Consulting in Holyrood, Newfoundland. The dogs paint using a painting mitt worn on a paw, they were taught using clicker training, an advanced method of training used by elite trainers of marine mammals, search dogs, service dogs and even zoo animals

"Three weeks ago, [police chief] Hocker attended a...seminar on highway safety where more than 20 issues of safety were discussed, but the one everyone agreed was overwhelming was aggressive driving. And in almost all cases of aggressive driving, speed is a factor, Hocker said. In Hocker's opinion, B.F. Skinner holds the answer to reducing speeding: operant conditioning. The negative reinforcement of a driver having to pay for a speeding ticket and getting points on his license helps to shape behavior, Hocker said."

"At the Louisville Zoo, it's not art for art's sake; it's for the sake of the animals -- and, as often as not, their human keepers too.....Keepers bond with the animals -- even through something as abstract as art -- through operant conditioning, 'a training that really is a form of communicating with the animals,' said Diana DeVaughn, the zoo's media/promotions coordinator. 'It builds their trust' by forming an association between a behavior and a positive consequence."

Clicker trainer Tonji Stewart, of Newfoundland, Canada, has seven dogs including rescued beagle Piper. Piper is currently the mascot for North Atlantic Petroleum. His photo appears on billboards and the sides of oil tanker trucks all over Canada. He won the modeling job in a contest which included the province's top obedience dog.