Karen Pryor Clickertraining - Small Pets

Ready, set, BOO!

Miranda Hersey Helin — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:23:44 -0500

Halloween is fast approaching! And why shouldn't your pet get in on the haunting fun too? For inspiration (and a few laughs) see our photo album of pets in costume from 2006 and the latest from 2007.

Don't forget to e-mail us a photo of your pet dressed for the big night. We'll post the photos for everyone's enjoyment, and we'll pick a prize winner, to be announced next month!

October groaner: What do positive trainers say when they go door-to-door on Halloween night? "CLICK OR TREAT!"—of course!

Parrot uses 950 words to talk with people, crack jokes

Bill Peña — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:17:24 -0600

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short. The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

Read the full post for more, and hear an excerpt of the parrot talking with his teacher!

A Spoonful of Sugar

Melissa Alexander — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Medicating a sick pet is a source of frustration for many owners. On the Clicker Bunny and Critters mailing list, a list member needed to give oral medication to an unsocialized frightened bunny who had recently joined her family. She was using a syringe to squirt the medicine into her bunny's mouth, but the process was a struggle each time.

Maximize Your Results!

Melissa Alexander — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500

From the Bird-Click mailing list comes a fabulous breakdown of clicker basics. A new trainer wanted to know if she was capturing the right information in her training journal. The thread that followed provided not only a critique of the information she recorded, but made an in-depth examination of how she could maximize her training sessions.

New "Clicker Bunny" rabbit training website launched

Bill Peña — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 22:04:23 -0500

Joan Orr, author of Getting Started: Clicker Training with Your Rabbit has launched a new website all about clicker training rabbits. Besides featuring her new book, it has links to articles, discussion groups, adoption, videos and more!

ClickerExpo 2007: Training with the Stars!

Bill Peña — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:14:59 -0500

The new ClickerExpo.com is now live, including registration for ClickerExpo Los Angeles (Jan. 26-28, 2007)!
We've listened to all the attendee surveys and feedback, and we've kept all your favorite parts of Expo, while making lots of improvements:

Feral Rabbits Trained and Socialized with Clickers

Bill Peña — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 15:55:34 -0500

A great story with some incredibly cute pictures from the Best Friends Animal Society, sent to us by Joan Orr, author of Getting Started: Clicking with Your Rabbit and ClickerExpo faculty member:

Clicker Training for Birds chosen for national library collection

Miranda Hersey Helin — Tue, 23 May 2006 01:35:54 -0500

The National Agricultural Library has selected Clicker Training for Birds to add to its significant collection.

Keeping pet birds flying

Miranda Hersey Helin — Sat, 20 May 2006 13:08:35 -0500

From the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon, an article about not clipping pet birds' wings and instead using clicker training to help keep them safe:

Most pet-bird owners wrestle with the decision about wing-clipping early in their birds' lives. Salem veterinarian Dr. Madeline Rae said for most owners, the decision to clip is based on two simple thoughts: to keep the bird safe and to keep it from escaping.

Announcing ClickFlicks! Download a video training lesson

Aaron Clayton — Mon, 01 May 2006 16:24:57 -0500

Karen Pryor Clickertraining proudly announces the launch of ClickFlicks Learning Center.

Bunnies in Your Easter basket? Better Get this Book, Too!

Miranda Hersey Helin — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:18:52 -0500

Just in time for Easter, Karen Pryor Clickertraining has published a new and indispensable guide for bunny owners. Getting Started: Clicking with Your Rabbit by Joan Orr and Teresa Lewin will show you exactly how to bring out the best in your bunny friend.

Help for Animal Shelters, One Click at a Time

Bill Peña — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 14:34:19 -0600

Redondo Beach, CA (PRWEB) March 4, 2006 -- Karen Pryor Clickertraining (KPCT), organizer of ClickerExpo, the highly acclaimed educational conference specifically for animal professionals and pet owners, and 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com, North America's largest nonprofit online pet adoption service, have teamed up to help more pet owners and shelter professionals learn new skills for successful pet adoptions. How? KPCT and 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com are going to pay partner shelters $25 for each individual that attends ClickerExpo in Newport, RI March 31-April 2, 2006!

Training fish to play soccer?

Bill Peña — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 22:24:05 -0600

Several discussion groups are buzzing about fish training. Here's an article that details some of the highlights from our friends at Fish School:
A Pine man and his son have trained a pet goldfish to "carry" a football, "shoot" a soccer ball into a net, even "dance" the limbo.

ClickerExpo Tucson: It was hot

Aaron Clayton — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 22:12:05 -0600

If you were from the northern climates, Tuscon's temperatures were wonderful. If you were from the southern climes, perhaps it seemed a bit cool. But no matter where you were from, everyone agreed that CickerExpo was hot.

ClickerExpo Tucson - a photoset on Flickr

Bill Peña — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 19:23:10 -0600

Photos taken by roving cameraphone photographer Bill Peña at ClickerExpo Tucson. Here's a basketball-playing rabbit to whet your appetite!

Just two weeks left before ClickerExpo Tucson!

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 15:05:14 -0600

There's nothing else like ClickerExpo.
It's all about positive training, and always cutting-edge. Five tracks of sessions, hands-on Learning Labs, lunchtime Topic Tables, evening games and dinner with the faculty. Nowhere else can you get this much info, this accurate, this focused, and this easy to assimilate—in just three days. Join us!

KPCT Underwrites Public Radio

Aaron Clayton — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:48:23 -0600

Karen Pryor Clickertraining (KPCT) is underwriting National Public Radio broadcasts in Tucson AZ beginning January 11th on KUAZ 89.1 FM/1550 AM. The underwriting, will help spread the word in the local community about Karen Pryor's ClickerExpo, "where pets and people learn together" January 27-29th at the DoubleTree Hotel at Reid Park in Tucson. "It's great to be able to sponsor a valuable show like Morning Edition and other great programming on this NPR affiliate", said KPCT president, Aaron Clayton. "NPR broadcasts and clicker training appeal to people who know the value of good observation; I'm sure we'll get a few more people and their dogs introduced to the power of clicker training through affliation with KUAZ and NPR".

Zoo Uses Chickens To Train Trainers

Bill Peña — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 15:19:16 -0600

"Because of their lack of intelligence, they respond to exactly what you ask them to do," zoo trainer Colleen Baird said. "It teaches our keepers how to concentrate on the three elements of training, (including) timing, criteria and rate of reinforcement."

Big Apple Dims Lights For Birds

Miranda Hersey Helin — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 13:27:31 -0500

"The bright lights of New York City will be a little dimmer starting next week. That's because many of the city's buildings—including famous skyscrapers such as the Chrysler Building and Rockefeller Center—have agreed to turn down the glow in an effort to protect migratory birds. Millions of birds pass through New York City during the fall and spring migration seasons. Window reflections and bright city lights disorient the birds, causing many to crash into buildings and die. The new bird-friendly policy, crafted by the city and the Audubon Society, requests that buildings taller than 40 stories dim or turn off their lights at midnight during the September, October, April, and May migrating periods. Glass buildings along the migration corridors of the Hudson and East Rivers were also asked to dim their lights. Daniel Klem, an ornithologist at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, estimates that 100 million birds die every year from building collisions, and the Audubon Society has collected more than 400 dead birds from a small sampling of buildings in New York City since 1997. A similar program in Chicago has resulted in 80 percent fewer bird deaths." (California Wild This Week)

If you can, your toucan can...

Karen Pryor — Tue, 27 Sep 2005 19:55:05 -0500

This question came up recently on the AZA training list:

"Does anyone have experience handling/training Toucans? If so, or if you know of anyone could you e-mail me the contact name." Thank you-