Karen Pryor Clickertraining - Gem Posts

Clicker Dogs and Owners Respond to September 11

KPCT — Thu, 18 Oct 2001 00:00:00 -0500

From Bob Sessions, Thunder, and Sky: Karen, I must thank you again for the training foundation skills you share so generously. I am with Maryland Task Force 1, one of the FEMA Task Forces. I was on the first recon team to enter the Pentagon on 9/11.

Monkey Business: Natural and Learned Behavior in Capuchins

Karen Pryor — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0500

What's more fun than a barrel of monkeys? TRAINING a barrel of monkeys!

Congratulations to the Canis Film Festival Winners!

KPCT — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0500

Laura VanArendonk Baugh won Grand Prize at the first-ever Canis Film Festival, a contest designed to showcase innovative animal-training videos. This unique festival focuses on short films of seven minutes or fewer that educate animal owners and professionals about the power of training based on the science of operant conditioning.

The Nurse Trap: Operant Conditioning for Hospital Staff

KPCT — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0600

I am a hospital volunteer. One day I arrived and was told immediately that the patient in 4B was giving candy to anyone who came into her room. Well, you can imagine the rapid response she got when her bell rang. Indeed, staff and volunteers began to offer behavior by sticking our heads in just to see if she needed anything. Since that day, I have called it a "nurse trap."

Puppies Wave Instead of Jumping

KPCT — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0600

Joan Orr, a TAGteacher, took on a litter of German shepherd puppies while their owner was away for a week. She quickly clicker-taught them several behaviors, including "come when called," even in the woods—and this wave.

Learning by Observation: Dogs

KPCT — Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:00:00 -0500

From Tarrah Skowronski, Phoenix, AZ: Only yesterday that I was amazed at my own dog "learning by observation" of another dog! I have a little rat terrier mix named Brie, and I take her to the dogpark constantly. She has struck up a friendship/playship at the dogpark with a little Border collie. Now this Border's way of playing is by laying in wait and stalking Brie, then laying down again before suddenly bursting full speed to pounce and/or chase Brie. Brie LOVES this and they do this over and over, with Brie being the "prey" or should I say "sheep." They have been playing like this for about 2 weeks, and we go to the dogpark 3-5 times a week generally.

Learning by Observation: Pony See, Pony Do

KPCT — Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:00:00 -0500

From Abigail Curtis: I did my science fair project on learning by observation when I was in the fifth grade. We put eight ponies in a ring, tied up so that they could all see what the pony in the middle was doing. Before we brought them in we had put a treat under a bucket on a chair. Then we let one of the ponies, go and timed how long it was before the pony found the treat. The first timing was about 2 minutes (it was so long ago that I have a hard time remembering exactly what the timing was). When we let the next pony go the time was much shorter (about 30 seconds). After that all the other ponies ran straight to the chair when we let them go.

The Funnies File: Bedtime Story

KPCT — Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0500

From Kim Cassidy: This is such a funny story that I thought I would share it with you. It happened almost two years ago but I'll never forget it. I was training my then 6-month-old female Boxer pup Tir na nOg and I was attempting to teach her to "Stay" on her bed. She knew the cue to "Go to her Bed" and if I asked for it she would do it.

Clicker Service Dogs Learn to Dance

Debi Davis — Sun, 01 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0500

From Debi Davis, service dog trainer: Karen, your heart would have soared if you'd seen the group who met in Delaware for a week last month. It was the very first clicker service dog conference, and it was out of this world wonderful. You would have loved seeing all the service dogs offering behaviors, all the upbeat handlers and happy dogs having a total blast learning. Having attended many service dog conferences, I can assure you this is NOT the norm. Force and coercion is still the mainstay in service dog training, so seeing this gathering of like-minded people all enjoying learning with their dogs just was too cool for words!

Pet Columnist Steve Dale, with Clicker Cats

Karen Pryor — Mon, 05 May 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Steve Dale is one of the country's leading pet journalists. He is host of the Pet Central program on WGN Radio, owned by the Chicago Tribune, the host of Animal Planet Radio, and a correspondent and columnist for Dog World and USA Weekend. His syndicated columns and programs appear in over 100 newspapers and on 80 radio stations. Steve probably reaches more homes, directly, than any other journalist in the pet field. In addition he is active in an enormous range of pet-related civic endeavors.

Children, Music Lessons, and the Clicker

KPCT — Thu, 01 May 2003 00:00:00 -0500

From Karen Willmus: All this last year my children, (boy age 7 and girl age 5) have been taking Suzuki violin lessons. We've had pretty good progress even though I never push them to practice every day. (Mom usually doesn't have time to supervise and forgets.) Well, as you all can imagine, kids that age don't practice on their own. Anyway, as the year's gone on, the kids have been more and more resistant to practicing. I don't like to fight, so the practice is becoming less and less. (Classical conditioning, you say!)

Click vs. Word: Calming a Stressed Dog

KPCT — Sat, 01 Mar 2003 00:00:00 -0600

From Sophie S.: Last week I noticed another situation in which there is a distinct difference between clicker training (using a marker signal!) and giving goodies without a clear-cut signal: calming a stressed dog.

Let me give you an example. I've been a clicker trainer for about three years now, but I never clicked my aunt's shepherd-Doberman mix (now 10 years old). Mascha's history is this: My aunt saved her from being put down, because her previous owner wanted to get rid of her. She was then six months old. He also probably hit her.

How Clicker Training Changed My Horses

KPCT — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0600

From Karen Willmus: I've been clicking several of the same horses, now, since Alexandra Kurland first published her book Clicker Training for Your Horse about five years ago. I've used it on Arabs, Quarters, Andalusians, and ponies. Also used it on the cats and dogs. With the horses I piggyback the clicker to Parelli, Lyons, and Classic dressage-type principles. Some of my horses have daily training, and sometimes some go for months between training.

Herding Dogs: Clicker Training Resource

KPCT — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 -0600

Are you interested in training a herding dog? Wondering where, if, and how the clicker fits in? Stuck with an expert trainer of the old school, who believes in punishment, and lots of it, for your dog and for you? Here's some help! Lary Lindsay has been running the Yahoo group ClickHerd for a year, now. Here's Lary's introduction:

Training a Mini Pig

KPCT — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0600

From Elisabeth & Piccolino: Is there anything published about clickertraining with minipigs? I'm experienced with clickering dogs and horses, but I found a lot of things very different with minipig Piccolino. We'd be very grateful for any support.

Clicking in the Shelter: It's all about Communication

KPCT — Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0600

From Nancy Lyon, Upper Valley Humane Society: For those who might encounter resistance introducing the clicker to their shelters, how about selling clicking as a method used to communicate and not call it a "training" method. We all want to get our shelter dogs to repeat good behaviors and stop repeating bad behaviors. In the shelter environment most of the dogs have a wide array of "bad" behaviors; most are the result of no self-control.

Clicking Miracles: An Unmanageable Dog

KPCT — Fri, 01 Nov 2002 00:00:00 -0600

From Sue Ailsby: There's a certain kind of dog-owning household that produces, entirely out of kindness and good intentions, an almost unmanageable dog. This dog doesn't just jump up on people, but careens into them, grabs and tears at their clothes, knocks over furniture and small children, steals, digs, barks, and carries on incessantly. The family have almost always had the dog since puppyhood: sometimes it is two or three years old before they begin looking for help.

Did Dolphins Go AWOL?

KPCT — Fri, 01 Nov 2002 00:00:00 -0600

Steve Dale, nationally syndicated pet writer and radio host, recently interviewed Navy representative Tom La Puzza, on Animal Planet. Navy dolphin trainers use operant conditioning and positive reinforcement, exactly as clicker trainers do-with fish, patting, and social attention for rewards, and a whistle or other sounds for the clicks and cues. Steve Dale writes:

In Class: Pass the Peaceful Puppy

KPCT — Fri, 01 Nov 2002 00:00:00 -0600

From Nina Bonderenko: We have a "Pass the Peaceful Puppy" session in the first puppy class, so that all puppies can learn the correct way to behave when handled. One reason why some dogs become really pushy and even growly when handled is that, when they are puppies, people put them down if they struggle when held. This is an automatic response by people to a wriggling, struggling puppy which wants to get back to its littermates or to play. However, it simply shows the puppy that 'Resistance is fertile'(!), or in other words, it is productive to resist something you don't want or like. You are teaching the puppy to complain and argue with you. The puppy gets what it wants.

Clicker Service Dog Joins Firefighters

KPCT — Tue, 01 Oct 2002 00:00:00 -0500

From Katherine Huggins, Team Aspen: When we first considered the possibility of Aspen being hoisted or lowered in a harness I outlined a series of behaviors Aspen would need to keep us both safe. I had our veterinarian check Aspen suspended in the harness to make sure there weren't any pinch points, her distal pulse stayed normal, spine wasn't compromised and determined what her hang time could comfortably be without risking harness induced pathology.