One of the pleasures of Karen’s new book, Reaching the Animal Mind: What Clicker Training Teaches Us About Animals, is the way science is made accessible through compelling stories of real training events.
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Behavior Boot Camp: A New Clicker Training Certification Program
By Julie Shaw-Lewis on 05/01/2008I had my first experience with animal training more than 20 years ago, with my own dog. I attended a traditional training class, which used a method I called "yank and thank." We waited for the dog to "get it wrong," then yanked on its choke collar and promptly "thanked it" by offering praise. This method makes as little sense to me now as it did then, but at the time I knew of no other options.
Look, Ma, No Hands!
By Gale Pryor on 06/01/2005"Clicker training is easy," said the woman in the puppy class. "It's growing a third hand that is hard!" Like many beginning clicker trainers, she's discovered that clicker training is as much a mechanical skill as it is a training method. (Many people also say it's a way of life, a philosophy, and the secret to saving the world, but let's not go overboard.) Rather than grafting a new limb, the technique of tethering is gaining followers.
Hidden Aversives: Are You Punishing Unconsciously?
By Karen Pryor on 01/01/2005Are you still treating your dog with hidden aversives? A year ago, Karen Pryor suggested that as a community of clicker trainers, we should stop punishing our dogs "by accident." We're featuring this classic for the New Year, to help with that list of resolutions.
