ClickerExpo Central in Chicago was a smash educational success. Over 200 people attended three days (of three tracks) of sessions, all on some aspect of clicker training. They brought about a hundred dogs with them: calm, sweet, well-behaved dogs, and quite a few were fresh from shelters and rescue organizations. They all brought an aura of positiveness, of acceptance, friendliness and interest, that wowed all of us-staff, volunteers, and speakers alike. Everyone at the conference, including dogs, seemed to embody the principles of good clicker training: respond to what you like, ignore what you don't like, reinforce improvement, stay open to new challenges, and have fun.
On the Chicago evaluation forms, a whopping 92% said the program met or exceeded expectations ("That you met expectations means a lot," one trainer wrote, "because my expectations were high.") One in four checked "WOW." Read comments
Perhaps the biggest dilemma people face at ClickerExpo is that the program is so rich in learning opportunities that you want to go to everything-and you can't be in two or three places at once! Luckily, we can all learn from each other. In debriefing attendees after the Chicago program I was interested to discover they had picked up a lot of accurate new information from sessions they had NOT attended, through talking with other attendees. That's a benefit from these clicker gatherings that you can only get by being there.
One of the amazing and to me humbling aspects of ClickerExpo Chicago was the number of people who came to help as volunteers. Janece Rollet, who is conference chair for the Assoc. of Pet Dog Trainers conferences, came on her own and brought experienced people with her to serve as room monitors, man the registration desk, support the speakers, back up the AV system, help people with dog problems, and much more. Janice is a clicker trainer and an authority on training dogs for the deaf. She hails from Kentucky where she has her own training school www.dogsday.net. Graduate students from Rutgers University Veterinary School and the University of North Texas provided help in the bookstore and the session rooms. In Berkeley our student volunteers will come from the University of California Veterinary School. Thank you to all.
A Learning Environment
Now that the first ClickerExpo is over and I've had time to reflect a bit, I thought you'd like to know some of the highlights both as I experienced them and as reported to me by others.
Many people remarked on how accessible the faculty was. The speakers hung around between their sessions, and were willing to go on teaching and answering questions in the halls and even at meals. Well you bet we were, because clicker-oriented people are such a joy to be with! Click! Furthermore, at ClickerExpo speakers have a great time meeting each other and going to each other's sessions. We all have a lot to learn and share; and coming from such widely varied worlds-from horse training to rehabbing shelter dogs to teaching sports skills to children, all with the clicker-we don't normally get a chance to meet. One of our volunteers, graduate student Nicole Dorey, remarked that she goes to a lot of conferences, but Chicago was the first one where the presenters were constantly quoting new ideas from each other.
Beyond Canines: The Interdisciplinary Opportunity
ClickerExpo also provides a unique opportunity to learn from clicker trainers who are tops in their fields, in applications OTHER than dogs. In planning these programs, we understood that many people would be focusing on training their own dogs, and we created plenty of sessions for them, from entry-level programs to advanced topics. But by focusing on a single area of interest, one can get a little closed in; it's the mix of disciplines that creates the opportunity for big leaps in learning.
As a writer, a publisher, a scientist, and a trainer, I have worked with a lot of 'outside the dog world' clicker experts. The work they do is often very sophisticated; they have a lot to teach us. At ClickerExpo, I'm proud to say we offer you some of the best. It was no surprise to me that many people at the Chicago event found that the most important new information they learned came from speakers who were talking about clicker training, but not necessarily dogs.
Angi Millwood, for example, from the Fort Worth Zoo, gave an intensive workshop in developing training plans for new behavior, and in structuring a framework of planning, record keeping, and communication so that groups of trainers can work together effectively. You don't want to miss this if you are teaching classes with assistants, or working in a veterinary clinic, shelter, or volunteer organization. Angi, who herself was trained at Disney's Wild Kingdom, will also be teaching at Berkeley and at Pennsylvania.
Joan Orr and Theresa McKeon wowed their audiences with video and details of using clicker techniques to teach athletic skills to children: to shape improved gymnastics performance for example, in just a few clicks, a vast improvement over the usual hours and weeks of nagging and correction. The quickness of their shaping was a lesson for all of us; coming from a tradition of teaching by control, luring, and repetition, dog trainers don't always take advantage of the speed with which the clicker can communicate what the learner should be doing. Joan and Theresa will be presenting again at ClickerExpo East in March.
Ken Ramirez, head trainer from Chicago's huge Shedd Aquarium, showed glamorous videos of training medical procedures in whales, teaching sharks (yes) to come when called for feeding, handling (yes) and medical care, leading sea otters around the halls with a target stick, and much more. Ken came to give one talk and stayed three days, sharing his expertise with everyone. For example his trainers (more than 30 of them) routinely teach descriptive cues: left/right, far/near, fast/slow. You can teach these in pairs, reinforcing both alternatives (British clicker trainer Kay Laurence is one dog trainer who teaches these techniques.) Ken pointed out that when the animal has learned three pairs, it 'gets' the idea of alternatives, and can learn subsequent pairs in just a few clicks, a great shortcut to teaching your dog new cues. Descriptive cues can give you awesome control at a distance, for example with search and rescue dogs.
In Berkeley our invited speaker from the top ranks of oceanarium and zoo professionals will be Gary Priest, Curator of Behavior for the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. In Pennsylvania it will be Thad Lacinak, head trainer for all of the Sea World/Busch Garden theme parks. You want to know how to train mine-sweeping dolphins? How to use the clicker to handle a murderous bull elephant safely? Go to their sessions; or ask them in the halls. You'll look with new eyes at the problem of a dog that runs away or won't let you clip its nails.
From the academic world, Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, Ph.D., a pioneering clicker researcher from the University of North Texas, came to Chicago and will be coming again to Philadelphia. Jesus brought four graduate students with him, to talk about their research projects, such as two fast ways to trailer load difficult horses with the clicker (one uses targeting; the other, just a clicker-trained cue.) Jesus enriched all of us, not just through the sessions he taught but through the wisdom he imparted all day every day, on subjects ranging from fading prompts to avoiding superstitious behavior when handing out treats.
In Berkeley, from the academic and scientific world we are looking forward to hearing from Lynn Loar, Ph.D., and Barbara Boat, PhD., will talk about their S.H.I.P. program in the Bay area and in Cincinnati. This multi-agency project teaches children and parents to clicker-train shelter dogs, and uses this process to strengthen family ties and teach empathy. It's another "Boy, I'm glad I went to that session!" opportunity at ClickerExpo: a dramatic use of clicker training, with lessons for all of us on internalizing the principles and helping them apply to our own growth. And if that's an area in which you've had personal experience, follow it up with Kathy Sdao's session, "Positive reinforcement: the life impact of becoming a clicker trainer."
Choosing your sessions
Many of the sessions taught by the core faculty-Steve White, Kathy Sdao, and myself, have specific audience skills in mind - some beginner, some intermediate, some advanced, some for everyone.
For example, Kathy Sdao's introductory program, A Moment of Science, provides everyone who comes the vocabulary and the basis of clicker training. New to clicker training? Definitely start with this entertaining but useful lecture. But it's not just for beginners. In fact, many attendees who did not consider themselves beginners were so thankful they took the session because it gave them the FULL foundation and allowed them to make the most of the rest of their three days.
In Chicago, Kathy's Clicking with Class attracted over 100 people who are already teaching training classes to the general public. Kathy's guidance ranges from the practical (no more than eight dogs, and each beginner dog needs 150 sq. feet of space) to the personal: Learn to get your treats ready before you click, instead of dipping into your bait bag every single time.
Steve White's scent workshop was a hit. In Berkley and Philadelphia Steve's going to increase the skill level even higher. This is definitely an advanced workshop!
Emma Parsons' session on using clicker training to manage and calm dogs with aggression issues is great for all levels and provides very specific steps you can take to use clicker training to help turn around aggressive behavior.
Melissa Alexander, founder of the Clicker Solutions list, teaches popular 'intermediate'sessions such as "Clicker Solutions to Everyday Problems". Melissa will be at Berkeley, where she's looking forward to meeting many members of her list. In Philadelphia these topics will be presented by Virginia Broitman and Sherri Lippman, creators of the popular BowWow video series. Virginia and Sherri are superb clicker teachers. In Chicago they were extremely popular as coaches, teaching the hands-on exercises in Melissa's sessions and in two of my sessions, Get a Cue and Speed Shaping.
In many sessions, if you registered to work with their dogs, you'll sit in the front two rows and get special attention during exercises. But, space permitting, everyone in the room who brought a dog can try the exercises too, on their own. (For example, in Speed Shaping, "Teach your dog to bump each fist with its nose twice, for a click." Or, in Get a Cue, "Teach a new behavior by reinforcing with the cue for a known behavior, instead of the click." This is a good one to try out at home.)
Learning While Playing: The Clicker Challenge
One of the most educational parts of ClickerExpo is the Clicker Challenge, the team event we hold at lunch time all three days. I know some people are skeptical when they hear about it: "I'm not going all that way just to watch some game." But the Challenge is a lot more than that.
Right before the lunch break we announce the Challenges for the day. For example in Chicago one of the Challenges was this: "A dog must run three times through a rolling hoop."
If you have less than an hour to train brand-new behavior, it helps to know where to start-for example NOT by baiting or luring the dog through a moving hoop, but by clicking a dog through a hoop that someone else is holding perfectly still. (Then you move the hoop slowly and a short distance between two people, then faster and farther, while the dog learns to gauge the speed, distance and direction for himself.) Starting with the end behavior leads to a lot of collisions and missed hoops; if you know how to make and use a shaping plan, a lively dog can get the point and get good at the job in a few minutes.
Breaking an untried behavior down into little steps and figuring out where to start is a new mental skill for many. It's a fundamental part of clicker training and the Clicker Challenge is a wonderful way to teach it. In Berkeley and Pennsylvania, we're adding a Pro-Am feature to the Clicker Challenge. Each team will have one of the speakers assigned as Coach, to help them devise their training plans to make maximum use of the time available. Spectators will be encouraged to pick a team, listen to the coaching, and watch the shaping (and cheer for their team, of course.) You don't have to compete to relish the experience; just watching is a painless way to learn more about free-shaping and how to develop shaping plans.
And the dogs themselves do the teaching. Many people come to ClickerExpo with a background in lure-and-reward training. Watching the Clicker Challenge one can really see the difference in attitude, speed, and just plain brain-power, between clicker-wise dogs and dogs trained with treats alone.
One Trainer's Comments:
"I am currently a dog trainer who has been using strictly lure-based training. I have a great business but can't even imagine how much more successful I will be when I learn to be a clicker trainer. My single mission is to help the dog(s) to be a happy member of the family, not just "obedient." I am just blown away by clicker training…I see that you truly do have communication and a real relationship with your dog using a clicker."
~ JM.
Rethink What's Possible
So there's a lot to learn at Clicker Expo. We learned enough so that we think Berkeley and Philadelphia will be even more exciting. We've invited Kay Laurence to join us for the Berkeley ClickerExpo-a great opportunity to meet this wonderful clicker teacher. Alexandra Kurland, the authority on clicker training for horses, will be teaching at Berkeley only. Helix Fairweather will give a session on clicker agility, at Berkeley. Emma Parsons will continue to offer her extremely helpful courses to those new to clicker training. Kathy, Steve White, and I will be presenting some increasingly complex topics in our advanced sessions. We're also adding some evening functions and get-togethers, increasing your opportunities to meet the speakers and each other.
PS. Keep an eye out for the next What's News letter and the new 'content' we put on the website each month. We have some AMAZING stories about new clicker applications coming in January.
Karen Pryor is the founder and CEO of Karen Pryor Clicker Training and Karen Pryor Academy. She is the author of many books, including Don't Shoot the Dog and Reaching the Animal Mind. Learn more about Karen Pryor or read Karen's Letters online.
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