When I was four, my mom, perhaps in response to nagging from my sister and me, bought us goldfish. We came home with eight goldfish in a tiny one-gallon tank. They all died within 48 hours, due to overcrowding in the tank. I remember realizing that we must have been doing something wrong. I was left with the important lesson that pet ownership is something to take very seriously and to learn to do properly.
Trainer Interviews
Healing the Dog that Bites: An Interview with Emma Parsons
By Julie Gordon on 07/01/2012Aggression in dogs is one of the most common and most serious concerns for dog owners, and it is the primary reason dogs are euthanized.
Fifty Years of Positive Change: An Interview with Karen Pryor
By Julie Gordon on 06/01/2012Editor's note: Karen Pryor first learned about training with positive reinforcement almost 50 years ago, in 1963, when she began her animal training career as head dolphin trainer at Sea Life Park in Hawaii. She became fascinated by all that could be communicated between humans and animals using positive training. Karen applied what she had learned training dolphins to other animals (and humans!) and began teaching others the same pioneering techniques. In 1984, Karen captured the world's attention with the release of her first book about operant conditioning, Don't Shoot the Dog. Close to thirty years later, readers have learned more than we could imagine about the minds of animals, and about the possibilities for communicating and interacting with them, from her most recent book, Reaching the Animal Mind. On the book's third anniversary, and just past Karen's own 80th birthday, we talked with Karen to find out what is new in the world of animal training, and what she is up to now.
Plenty in Life is Free: An Interview with Kathy Sdao
By Julie Gordon on 04/01/2012“Infectious enthusiasm.” Those are the words often used to describe trainer and ClickerExpo faculty member Kathy Sdao’s personality and the key to her popularity.
Thinking Beyond the Cue: Ken Ramirez Takes Animal Training to a New Level
By Julie Gordon on 01/01/2012Editor's note: Can an animal think beyond specific cues and generalize to a broader concept? Can you teach a dog to copy a behavior that another dog just performed? Can you teach the difference between big and little? Left and right? When we think of animal training, we don't often think beyond teaching certain cues. ClickerExpo faculty member Ken Ramirez offers a chance to think beyond the cue and rethink what dogs are capable of—when the right training method is used.
