Ken Ramirez is the Executive Vice-President (EVP) and Chief Training Officer of Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT). A 50+-year veteran of animal care and training, Ken is a biologist and animal behaviorist who has overseen or consulted on training projects for many zoological organizations throughout the world. He began his training career working with guide dogs for the visually impaired and continues to work with organizations training dogs for service work, search-and-rescue, bomb detection, and narcotic detection. Ken has also maintained a close affiliation with pet training throughout his career.
Prior to his work with KPCT, Ken served as EVP of Animal Care and Animal Training at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium where he developed and supervised animal care and animal health programs, staff training and development, and public presentation programs for more than 32,000 animals.
The Butterfly Project
As I write this article, I am in the middle of an exciting and quite lengthy period of travel. Jokingly, I have referred to this as my International Consulting
1, 2, 3, 4 . . . Can Dogs Count?
I’ve always been fascinated by the cognitive abilities of animals. I used to teach a graduate course on animal intelligence. The popularity of the course was indicative of
The End-of-Session Signal
Is the end-of-session signal beneficial or harmful? Should trainers use it or not? At a conference, I got into a debate with a group of search-and-rescue trainers about
Cat Training
Dog Training
Ken Ramirez's Letters
Science
Skill Development
Teaching Others
Training All Species
Is a Clicker Necessary?
The controversial clicker Should we stop using a clicker? Is it really needed? A study by Chiandetti et al. published in November of 2016 in Applied Animal Behavior Science has raised many questions
The Steep Price of Conservation
My letters are usually training-related, but this time I want to share with you a personal story that affected me in a profound way. The details of the
Ignorance Is Bliss: Real-World Use of Modifiers with a Search & Rescue Dog
A search-and-rescue start Sometimes trainers venture into uncharted training territory without realizing how novel or new it might be. I have been teaching a graduate course on animal
Conservation Training
One of my greatest passions is conservation training; I lecture about this topic at every opportunity. I always end my talks with a call to action, inviting more
Foundation Behaviors: A Practical Perspective
I am asked regularly, “What are the first behaviors that we should train our animals? Does the order matter? How do we determine what should be trained first?”
