Karen Pryor Clicker Training Library

The spring of 2008 was one of those times in my professional career when two wonderful opportunities merged into one. I was a few months away from completing the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Dog Trainer Program, honing my skills as a clicker trainer to help both animals and people. Just as my hard work began to come to fruition and I was about to graduate from the course, I received an e-mail from Niabi Zoological Society asking if I wanted to be considered as an applicant for their recently available Animal Training & Behavior Consultant post.

The previous Consultant is a dear friend and colleague of mine. I met Meg Hudson Dye in 1991 while we were both marine mammal trainers with the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Her career path moved her toward exotic animal training consulting, which led her to Niabi Zoo. When Meg moved to North Carolina, she resigned her position with Niabi Zoo to pursue other amazing opportunities (one as the training consultant for Duke University’s Lemur Program). Why is this relevant? As a result of the amazing groundwork that Meg began with Niabi Zoo, I joined a team of proactive and positive trainers, a team that already had great learning experiences with Meg. My thoughts went from, “Wow, this is such a treat to be Meg’s successor!” to “Wow…I have some big shoes to fill!”

The spring of 2008 was one of those times in my professional career when two wonderful opportunities merged into one. I was a few months away from completing the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Dog Trainer Program, honing my skills as a clicker trainer to help both animals and people. Just as my hard work began to come to fruition and I was about to graduate from the course, I received an e-mail from Niabi Zoological Society asking if I wanted to be considered as an applicant for their recently available Animal Training & Behavior Consultant post.

The previous Consultant is a dear friend and colleague of mine. I met Meg Hudson Dye in 1991 while we were both marine mammal trainers with the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Her career path moved her toward exotic animal training consulting, which led her to Niabi Zoo. When Meg moved to North Carolina, she resigned her position with Niabi Zoo to pursue other amazing opportunities (one as the training consultant for Duke University’s Lemur Program). Why is this relevant? As a result of the amazing groundwork that Meg began with Niabi Zoo, I joined a team of proactive and positive trainers, a team that already had great learning experiences with Meg. My thoughts went from, “Wow, this is such a treat to be Meg’s successor!” to “Wow…I have some big shoes to fill!”

Pet stores sell lots of interactive cat toys you can use to amuse your cat: feathers on springs, battery-operated mice, and so on. We sell a few toys of our own, too—the Kong Swizzle Bird Cat Toy, the Kitty Lure Caster, and the Cat Dancer. One of the best toys in the world for most cats, however, is the laser pointer, which you can get from any office supply store.

A chilly start

On New Year’s Day my otherwise wonderfully sane son-in-law took his family to the beach and went for a swim. Big deal, right? But this is Boston.

The scientific study of behavior has led to some very useful ideas and insights about how dogs learn, really about how all animals learn. All organisms—dogs, cats, parrots, alligators, or humans—learn pretty much the same way. We each find different things reinforcing or punishing, of course, and we experience sensory perceptions differently. Some species or individuals are more tenacious, others more sanguine, some sleep most of the day, some are capable of learning more complex skills. Our unique environments play a large part in shaping us. But whether we live under the sea or in the desert, spend most of our lives perched on a tree branch, eat grass or hunt large prey, there are over-arching principles that govern how we learn.

When Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA CTP) Laura Monaco Torelli began her training career, she knew she would meet many interesting animals—and humans. In the past she has worked with beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, river otters, and penguins (at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago), primates, large cats, birds of prey, horses, parrots, macaws, tree kangaroos, and red pandas (at the San Diego Zoo and Brookfield Zoo), and, of course, dogs (just about everywhere).

A recent referral from the Shedd Aquarium led Laura to one of her newest, youngest, and most interesting clients—an 8-year-old girl named Emily Bear. Emily and her family have worked with Laura over the past year training the family dog, Winston.

Psst! Do you want to know the secret to getting things done?

Do you feel guilty about not walking your dog every day? Or not training as often as you should, or even not training when you really need to?

I’ve had a lot of dogs in my life, Labradors and poodles and Great Danes and Border terriers, a Weimaraner, a collie, a golden, and a great mutt named Goulash. But I never had a fearful dog—until the current Dog-in-Residence, Misha, my German spotted poodle.

Draw the lines yourself

Would you like to train your dog to stay in your yard without resorting to electrical shock?

Essentially, TAGteaching is clicker training for humans. It has numerous applications, and is popular among athletic coaches, educators working with learning-disabled individuals, pilot instruction schools, and, yes, clicker classes!

Experienced dog owners and trainers often note that every dog needs a job. A dog with something meaningful to do rarely gets himself into trouble.

Hunting for clothespins is a task that is easy to teach, and gives your dog the opportunity to solve a problem and complete a significant job. Once the behavior is trained, it's something you can do every day without breaking a sweat or putting aside much time, yet your dog will work really hard and will finish the exercise happy and satisfied.

Recently I had a client call about her deaf cat. She wanted to train him to come inside when she called because he needed medication in the morning and evening. Giving the meds in the morning was no sweat, simply because he was in the house and "catchable." Giving the evening meds was an absolute nightmare.