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Volunteers Can Play the Clicker Game

By KPCT on 03/01/2003

Clicker training can seem mysterious until you experience it personally.

Pick one person to be the subject, and someone else to be the clicker teacher. Use pennies, paperclips, or wrapped candies for treats. Send the 'animal' out of the room while the group chooses an everyday behavior: switch the light on, pour a glass of water, pick up a book, turn in a circle.

Clicker Questioners

By Karen Pryor on 02/01/2003

Once upon a time I was teaching a clicker class to this West Highland Terrier Club. People were laughing and clicking and two dozen little white dogs were learning different things all over the room. Then I noticed one woman just sitting there, with her dog hiding under her chair.

"Don't you want to try? It's fun!" I said.
"Oh, it wouldn't work with MY dog," she said, glancing disdainfully around the room. Her air of certainty aroused my curiosity. Perhaps her dog had some unusual medical problem.
"Really?" I said. Why not?"
"My dog's from England!"

Click for Attitude

By Debi Davis on 02/01/2003

In the show ring, it's often that "watch me" attitude which captures the judge and spectators' attention, sending one dog to the front of the line over other excellent dogs. Is that winning attitude and presence something a dog must be born with, or can it be taught? Biologist and behaviorist karen Pryor, whose articles on this topic have appeared in the AKC GAZETTE, not only believes it can be learned, but explains in step-by-step fashion how to easily and quickly capture that almost indefinable essence, in her book, Click to Win, on clicker training for the show ring.

Some Bosses Are Barking Up the Wrong Tree

By KPCT on 02/01/2003

If you want better employees, maybe what you need is a little dogged pursuit. That strategy has worked for years in Karen Pryor's world.

Teaching Adopters the Meaning of Click