Karen Pryor Clickertraining - Success Stories

Saving Jack: Clicker Training an Aggressive Border Collie

Renee Premaza — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:00:00 -0600

I'd like to tell you the story of my relationship with a 14 month-old Border collie. This dog was used to having his own way in life; he was dominant/aggressive and extremely hand-shy when I adopted him. If it weren't for the use of a little clicker toy, I am positive he would not be alive today.

2007 in Review: Building the Power of the Click

Aaron Clayton — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:11:41 -0600

In a business article I wrote for this website in 2005, I noted that clicker training needs to become popular with the mainstream, to be the people's choice. One of the central tenets of that proposition must be raising the goals that pet owners have for their relationships with their dogs. If pet owners are bogged down by what could be called a culture of obedience, they are saddled with low expectations for interactions with their pets. And, if they have low expectations, in most cases they don't need something special. "Any ole" training method can get a dog to perform a down.

Vet Assistant Discovers Magic of Clicking

KPCT — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 15:32:10 -0500

When Katie came to our veterinary office, she was a skinny, sickly, 1.8 lb tabby kitten with a fever and lots of worms. We estimated her at about 4 months old. Katie had been born into a band of stray, mostly feral cats. We admitted Katie for care and grew so attached to her we adopted her as one of the office cats.

The Life of One Clicker Trained Dog: A Love Story

Virginia Broitman — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0600

In 1995 a little papillon was born. Thanks to an impressive overbite, she was labeled "pet quality" and made available to a "pedestrian" like me. Papillons can be hard to come by, so I jumped at the chance to meet her. After a long drive to the breeder's home (sadly, more like a puppy mill), I found a litter of pups cowering in the corner of an oversized terrarium. The room's pervasive odor must have choked the voice of reason in my head, as I found myself handing over $500 (cash only, please) to rescue a two-pound bundle of fuzz.

Clicking with Inspiration: Gemini Dogs

Miranda Hersey Helin — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500

It wasn't until 2000, however, when eight members of the Gemini training staff attended the APDT conference in Houston, that clicker training really "clicked." As Paul remembers, "We sat around and talked about it and said 'It's truly more effective and it's better for the dogs. We're going to close our eyes and jump.'" Looking back, Paul is proud of that decision. "It took guts to walk out of Houston and say 'We're going to throw the choke collars out and order some clickers.'"

Troubled Teens and Shelter Dogs Find Their Way Together

KPCT — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

During the summer of 2004, 16-year-old Lia of Camas, WA, was in trouble. She was on probation, had a social worker watching over her, and had to serve community service hours for an assault conviction. With no goals for her future, Lia figured she would join the Marines when she graduated from high school. It only took three weeks in August for everything to change.

1-800-Save-A-Pet.com Adopts Clicker Training!

Gale Pryor — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0600

The Humane America Animal Foundation (HAAF) was formed in 1999 to build a "no-kill community," working with communities to lower euthanasia rates through spay/neuter programs and saving adoptable pets. As HAAF, we developed a comprehensive no-kill program for Los Angeles, which unfortunately was not implemented at the time, although it has new legs with the new general manager of LA Animal Services, Ed Boks. In 2001, we added a website to our program that became 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com, a nonprofit charity that helps shelters, humane societies, SPCAs, and pet rescue groups nationwide advertise their homeless pets to adopters for free.

Kudos for Alexandra Kurland and Clicker Training for Your Horse

KPCT — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0600

From Bettye Baldwin, Pleiades Pony Farm, TX: I'm getting pretty excited about this clicker stuff. I specialize in teaching timid riders or those that have lost confidence so anything that can help in that is exciting. I've been dinking with the clicker training this past week while waiting for your articles to arrive. I used some of the target training I read about in your on line articles with an old school pony of mine that is a real case. He was in complete charge of his people for many years and did NOT appreciate my trying to exert any control. He was a mugger first class and had NO sensitivety whatsoever. Within moments I had him focusing on touching the target instead of searching my hands and pockets for the treats he knew were there. I haven't given him treats by hand for the 2 years I've had him, but he would still try to "mug" me, so observing this change in a matter of moments was incredibly exciting. I'm going to attempt to train the youngest of the Arabian mares I bought last month to put her halter on herself. She is coming along pretty well as is, but this should be good for both of us.

Ridin' the Storms Out

Angi Millwood — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 00:00:00 -0500

During the hurricane season of 2004, Florida endured a phenomenon never before encountered in recorded history. The "Sunshine State" took the brunt of not one, not two, not three, but four major hurricanes! Three of these amazing storms, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Jeanne, blew directly through Central Florida and impacted the two animal facilities maintained by Natural Encounters, Inc. (NEI).

I Didn't Plan to Be a Clicker Trainer But...

KPCT — Sat, 01 May 2004 00:00:00 -0500

From Emily S.: This method is wonderful, and I can't even imagine going back. We all smile now when we train. Me and the dog! It dawned on me today that I never got a chance to thank you, or even let you know that I converted! After my intro yesterday, and receiving my new copy of Don't Shoot the Dog today I thought I would write you and tell you thank you so much. You changed my life.

Success with Puppy Weaned too Early

KPCT — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0500

From Charleen Cordo: I am a member of APDT and have been clicker training and teaching clicker training in my classes for about the past 7 years now. I also have the youth at the Colorado Boys Ranch learning to use it. We work with shelter dogs whom we adopt out to appropriate homes through a program called New Leash on Life. These are "throwaway" dogs but they respond so well that they adapt readily and appropriately into their adoptee families after we work with them for 9 to 10 weeks.

Midnight at the Oasis: Clicking with Camels

Karen Pryor — Mon, 01 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0600

Recently, Alexandra Kurland, author of Clicker Training for Your Horse, Clicker Training Your Horse, Step-by-Step in Pictures, and a series of videos corresponded with Jim Wiltens, co-leader for the Camels Over the Himalayas Expedition. Jim came to ClickerExpo to get his first exposure to clicker training and met Alexandra Kurland at her sessions. Immediately, he set out to use his education in the field. The piece is a great example of the transformative nature of clicker training and how people and animals learn quickly together. The log of Jim's training adventure begins below.

Crossing Over: A Trainer "Unleashes" with Clicker Training

KPCT — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0600

I just wanted to write you a short note to say "Thank you."

I have "trained" dogs for about 18 years, obviously the compulsion way. I have what I refer to as the reverse Midas touch. Everything I do seems to fall apart. I have a couple wonderful working bloodline German Shepherds who were quite frankly a little more than I was capable of "controlling" because of course that's what compulsion is largely about.

Learning a New Language with the Clicker

Karen Pryor — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0600

"To do all this looks like a lot of effort and waste of time," our clickerwise student writes. "But it really wasn´t. Crazy as it may sound, it was fun! I passed the test successfully. I made some grammatical mistakes but I could remember all words I had taught myself with the clicker perfectly!"

TAG, You're Right! Making a Positive Impact on Dance Instruction

Beth Wheeler — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0600

My students grasped the idea of tagging immediately. "It's either a click or it's not a click," noted Jake Corcoran, 9, after a tagging class. The results have been astounding. How many times have you told your dancers to keep their heels down in demi plie? With a group of twenty-five 7- to 9-year olds, each child was able to master the skill after one tag session. Subsequent classes focusing on everything from grand jete's to battements met with similar success.

Fear of the Elevator

KPCT — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0600

I took four dogs to dog shows this weekend, one of them was a young Labrador that I own with a family about an hour away from my home. I had seen the dog off and on for the past year but she has had no real training other than coming to puppy class. This pup is clicker wise. I stayed in a hotel and had to bring each dog up to the fourth floor of the hotel! Pearl had never been in an elevator and decided to put the breaks on—there was no way she was taking a step into that scary looking place with the shiny floor.

Are Puppies and First Graders Alike?

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

We avoided the whole subject of getting a dog for a long time. There were good reasons not to get a dog: we can't because we're moving, because we will be in a rental, we don't have the time. But logic lost, "Angel" won, and an adorable puppy joined our family.

Clicker Training For Horses: Liberty's Story

Karen Pryor — Thu, 01 May 2003 00:00:00 -0500

Liberty was born here to an Arab mare named Sky that I got for $300. Sky was an abuse victem. She was beautiful, and only 10, but she was unbroke, and unmanagable, terrified of people, and bred. By the time Liberty was born, I could manage Sky well enough to do foot care, etc, but I was then in the midst of a terrible divorce, and didn't do much more than toss feed to the horses during that time. Incidentally she adopted her dams attitude of dislike and disdain for people, but not the fear. When she was about 6 months old, I started attempting to create a relationship with her. And I did, unfortunately it wasn't a good one. She was completely out of control, and although it burns my pride to say so, I was afraid of her.

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.