2015 ClickerExpo Highlights: What's New in Dearborn

Learn more in three days than you thought possible!!

The 2015 ClickerExpo program is filled with innovative courses, creative teachers, and fun events. If you’ve been to a ClickerExpo event once or many times, you’ll find a wealth of path-breaking new courses at your level! Our faculty brings you to the frontier of understanding and best practices, sharing each year’s newest research, techniques, tools, and skills.

This year’s program includes an expanded curriculum—more than 65 courses in each location—and expanded faculty of 18 talented teachers in each location. Our programs now start officially at 8am and the program is different for both ClickerExpo locations, so be sure to check the schedule for your location.

What hasn’t changed is what sets ClickerExpo apart — unparalleled interaction with so many top–level teachers and trainers! Our ClickerExpo faculty members are not only great trainers, they are skilled and enthusiastic teachers. Plus, in ClickerExpo’s unique culture of mutual discovery, teachers and attendees listen, practice, and learn from each other.

Maybe that’s why just about every attendee who turned in a survey said that ClickerExpo met their expectations, exceeded their expectations, or gave them a “Wow” experience. The positive surveys came back after ClickerExpo 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008—in fact, for every year of ClickerExpo. Wow!

“The best conference there is—approachable trainers and top–quality, intelligent information.” See more attendee reviews.

Reserve your spot for 2015 and a chance at your own “Wow” experience!

See registration information

An Amazing 2015 Program

We’ve broken new ground with this program! Use the menu below to get a summary of the key themes and happenings at ClickerExpo 2015.

Keep reading to learn about some of the courses and activities that will help you get to the next level of your development and have a great time doing it! Looking for an hour by hour agenda? Have a look at the full schedule for Dearborn (Detroit). When you click on any title, you can view the detailed description of that course.

Core Themes

Training Skill Development
Aggression and Behavior Management.
Science
Teaching Others
Training for Sport, Service, and Competition
Special Beginners Program: The Foundation Curriculum

Enhancements

Love Those Learning Labs!
Nighttime and Mealtime Activities
The 2015 Faculty & Speakers

Training Skill Development (back to top)

The core of ClickerExpo is an emphasis on helping attendees absorb and put into practice new skills, replace unproductive habits with productive ones, and become inspired once again to bring out the best in themselves and their animals. Explore!

Note 1: This is a partial listing of courses available.

Note 2: The full listing of courses for newcomers and beginners on the fundamentals of training skill development is NOT included below; see the Foundation Curriculum.)

What a Concept! New Frontiers in Concept Training
Do You See What I See? The Benefits of Keen Behavioral Observation (New!)
Blind Trust: The Next Level of Partnership with Your Dog (New!)
Trick & Treat (New!)
Getting Along Famously! Winning Strategies for Multi-Dog Households (New!)
On Target! Tip-Top Targeting (New!)

Power of Choice Part 1: How Choice Works and Power of Choice Part 2: Putting Choice to Work (New!)
Old Dogs, New Clicks: Teaching, Loving & Living with Your Older Dog (New!)
Parameters of Premack: Part 1 and Part 2 (New!)
Thoughtful Play (New!)
You Will Love Him Again, One Day: Adolescent Dogs (New!)
Fluency: How to Get the Behavior You Want, When You Want It (New!)
The Power of Habit: Use Operant Conditioning to Become a Better Trainer (New!)
The Joy of Training (New!)
At Your Service: Teaching Service Dog Behaviors (Expanded with Lab)
In the Game: Creative Ways to Motivate Distracted Dogs (New!)
Puppy Einsteins: Teaching Cued Behaviors to Young Puppies
So You Want to Train a Horse? Especially For Horse Owners
The Sound of Silence: Accessing the Power of a Withheld Click (New!)
When the Floor is Food: Training through Distractions
The Volunteering Horse: Training Without Pressure (New!) Especially For Horse Owners
What Our Body Language Says to Animals
The More Advanced I Get, The Fewer "Advanced" Tools I Need (New!)
Love It!: Effective Non-Food Reinforcement
Super Friendly to Super Cool: Teaching Impulse Control
Train That Chain: Behavior Chains
An in-depth introduction to cues and cueing is provided in a standout series — a Session and two Labs by Kathy Sdao. What A Cue Can Do is the lead Session in this series followed by the Labs Cue Control and Cue Comprehension. Learn and practice the essentials of this powerful and vital training concept. Part of the Foundation Curriculum.

Aggression and Behavior Management (back to top)

A core mission of ClickerExpo is to provide light and clarity in training areas where there is confusion. This year we have a deep cross section of courses on this topic. They are sure to help you help others.

Stranger Danger! Dogs Who Are Reactive to People (New!)
Competing Interests: Reactive Dogs and the Ring (New!)
Food for Thought: Tactical Treat Delivery for Fearful Dogs (New!)
Teaching Reactive Dog Class ( Maxwell Award Nominee!)
Power of Choice Part 1: How Choice Works
Power of Choice Part 2: Putting Choice to Work (New!)

Science and History (back to top)

The leading edge is where science and application come together. Sometimes new scientific understandings lead to new application breakthroughs. Sometimes great training or unique behaviors lead us to explore or re-explore the fundamental science. There is perhaps no more fascinating area to trainers than the interplay between animal intelligence and clicker training because it promises even greater ways to facilitate the human–animal bond. Join us for a series of courses on these topics:

Teaching Others (back to top)

Most of us not only teach and train our animals, we teach others. Too few trainers take full advantage of clicker training when working with clients and customers. But clicker training presents enormous opportunities to rethink what we teach and how we teach it.

Training for Service, Sport and Competition (back to top)

Get ready. We have put together courses that address the underlying skills and techniques that trainers need in complex situations where there are deadlines, high–level performance expectations, competition, or lives at stake. Whether you are training a sport competition dog or a working dog, a theme at Expo this year is to help you build the skills that are common across these fields and sports. Our faculty includes world-renowned coaches and competitors in agility, obedience, search and rescue, freestyle and more who know the specific challenges you face and how to overcome them!

Courses for all Sports and Working Fields:

At Your Service: Teaching Service Dog Behaviors(Expanded with Lab)
Click Your Heels! Heeling for Performance (New!)
Obedience Competition: Break It Down...To Build It Up!
Curtain Up! Unlock The Secrets to Top Ring Performance (New!)
Who Nose? Scent Discrimination (New!)
Fluency: How to Get the Behavior You Want, When You Want It (New!)
At Your Service: Teaching Service Dog Behaviors (Expanded with New Learning Lab)
Blind Trust: The Next Level of Partnership with Your Dog (New!)

Special Beginners Program (back to top)

For the trainer new to clicker training, looking for grounding in the science, or making the leap from lure and reward training, we have the acclaimed Foundation Curriculum. Through this curriculum newcomers get up to speed quickly and take full advantage of all three conference days. The Foundation program includes courses on science, shaping, cueing, and more!

Love Those Learning Labs! (back to top)

Our Learning Lab format is a huge hit. Learning Labs get dog and handler partners out on the floor to practice and hone new skills under the experienced eyes of ClickerExpo faculty. Many Learning Labs are linked to Sessions so that you can attend the Session and then put into practice what you just learned in the Learning Lab.

You can reserve a participation (also called dog and handler) spot for you and your dog in as many as four Learning Labs. Plus, we have Learning Labs during the Saturday afternoon general session, so now you have a choice of attending the general session or going to one of the Learning Labs scheduled on Saturday afternoon.

Remember, most Learning Labs have a limited number of spots for dog and handler teams. These limits are set by the faculty who teach them to provide an excellent learning experience. We advise that you to register early if you want to have working spots in the Labs.

No dog? No problem! Learning Labs are incredibly valuable teaching forums for observers as well. For attendees coming without their dogs, we have special seating arrangements in the Labs to optimize viewing. Remember to select and register your observer spots in advance.

Nighttime and Mealtime Activities (back to top)

ClickerExpo attendees enjoy one another’s company!

Kick off ClickerExpo on Thursday evening with a complimentary cocktail reception sponsored by Karen Pryor Academy.
Every day at lunchtime join in the roundtable discussions and connect with like–minded people on topics of mutual interest or with people in your geographic area. Register for lunch to join the discussion.
Friday and Saturday Dinners. We have two fabulous evening events:

On Friday night, we invite you to join us at our Friday Night Dinner and Networking Event. Make professional connections and new friends while you enjoy a well–deserved meal. Don’t forget your business cards!
On Saturday night, please join us for a special Dinner with remarks by Karen Pryor; Friendly Takeover: The Growing Influence of All of Us.

Our 2015 Faculty (back to top)

The ClickerExpo faculty is truly unique. From premier institutions and schools, they are an all–star group of 17 top clicker trainers, competitors in canine sports, and leaders and innovators in the field of operant conditioning. Meet the entire ClickerExpo faculty.

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