Editor's note: Debi Davis is an innovative, skilled clicker trainer, who writes well to boot. Whenever one of her keen observations comes our way, we're delighted—and hurry to share it with visitors to clickertraining.com. Recently, Debi wrote to tell us a story about her service Border collie, Finn. As with all of Debi's stories, it contains an insight: clicker training provides true learning, and behaviors taught through it are not forgotten. Therefore, we asked Emma Parsons, KPCT's training director and author of Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog, to add her comments on the light that Debi's piece sheds on the durability of clicker trained cues.
Dogs
Does the Click End the Behavior?
By Gale Pryor on 10/01/2005It seems straightforward: we click to mark a desired behavior, and then we reinforce. The act of reinforcing the behavior necessitates a change in action: the horse eats the treat, the dog plays with its favorite toy, and the animal in the process of being reinforced no longer performs the behavior for which it was clicked. The click, therefore, ends the behavior. The phrase has become a widely-repeated tenet of clicker training. Yet, is it true?
Don't Shoot the Dog! Reviews
By KPCT on 09/01/2005"Karen Pryor has been a pioneer ... anyone who wants to be more effective in rearing children, teaching, or managing his or her own behavior will find her book very useful."
—B.F. Skinner
A Food-Aggressive Beagle
By Karen Pryor on 09/01/2005Q: About three weeks ago, I rescued an adorable beagle. In the last few days, however, we've found he's food aggressive. He will take his own food/treat without a problem, but then go to one of my other eight dogs' bowls and growl, then bear teeth, and then bite if the dog won't give up his/her food. More disturbing is, he is now going after the other dogs' treats. He doesn't respond to "leave it!" When held by the collar and told to "leave it," he continues to go after the dog and snap at either myself or my husband.
Minneapolis and Oprah
By Karen Pryor on 09/01/2005The best way to get results is to get the producer of the show who might like the idea, to think it good enough to put on the air and fight for it during meetings on what the content of future shows should be. Check out the credits at the end of the show. Send a letter to the person named the executive producer or creative producer (not the supervising producer or associate producer, as the latter two usually are in charge of handling costs of the various shows rather than selecting content).
