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Click for Joy: Reviews

"Whether you are an accomplished clicker trainer or have never clicked in your life but are curious, read this book! This book will answer your most compelling clicker questions. Most importantly, it will help you and your canine friends fully experience the potential and joy of clicker training. I love the apt association of 'joy' with 'click': clicker trained dogs tend to have a joie de vivre that is frequently lacking in those trained with harsher methods. Dogs who are conditioned to the clicker quickly learn to offer desirable behaviors; a clicker-savvy dog learns new behaviors with awesome speed, and will turn himself inside out trying to figure out what his trainer is asking of him."
~Pat Miller, Pat Miller, author, president of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
BARK magazine, Summer 2003


"Click for Joy! makes the concepts of clicker training simple to understand and easy to apply. Recommended for anyone teaching or attending clicker training classes."
~Gerilyn Bielakiewicz, co-founder of Canine University and author of The Everything Dog Training and Tricks Book


"I recommend it not only to dog trainers, but also to trainers in zoos and aquaria and to animal trainers doing stage or theater work."
~from the Foreword by Robert Bailey


"At last, all answers in one place, enriched by the wit and experience of the 2,000 clicker trainers from the author's online ClickerSolutions forum."
~Karen Pryor, author of Don't Shoot the Dog: The Art of Positive Reinforcement, founder, Karen Pryor Clickertraining


"Click for Joy is definitely a joy to read. It presents terrific information in a format easy to follow and comprehend. I highly recommend this book to dog owners at all stages of training. Anything you ever wanted to know about dog training and then some. Major kudos to Melissa Alexander and Sunshine Books!"
~Israel Meir, Behaviorist and trainer, Brookline Animal Hospital, and Owner, Sit & Stay


"I love this book. I read the success stories at the end of class. When I see someone struggling in an area I use that section to help them. My classes have become much more successful."
~Crystal Coll, Mesa, Arizona www.allwayspawsitive.com


"I don't know if your group had anything to do with getting the Click for Joy! book written but... I LOVE the book. I have other good clicker books but this one is great. It's well written, great format, divided up well, and I love that reference boxes are included in each chapter/page directing the reader to related topics. And the antecdotes are not only fun to read, they are pertinent, helpful, and give food for thought."
~Beth Newcom, satisfied customer


"I received Melissa's book yesterday, AWSOME is the word. I have a Jack Russell puppy, four months of age and keep a web album of her up on my website and the books I use. I was very very pleased to read exactly the things I am doing such as training in the bathroom for thirty seconds. I can't thank you enough! I will certainly recommend this book."
~Pat Robards, Australia, satisfied customer


"Melissa's book is AWESOME! As always, thank you for bringing clicker training into the mainstream. It's truly changing the world. I love the layout and design—great job!"
~Debi Davis, service dog clicker trainer
P.S. A Success Story


"Thanks so much for sending Click for Joy! I had no sooner told my staff I wanted to order a copy when your gift arrived in the mail. My congratulations to Melissa. It is a wonderful book. Well written, easy to follow, with excellent explanations of all the questions and concerns people have."
~Leslie Nelson, Tails U Win in Hartford CT


"Wow Melissa, my copy of your new book arrived a couple days ago and I want to tell you I think it's *fabulously wonderful*!! I'm recommending it to all my training students. I bring the book out to my dogschool before each class so students can browse through and see all the wonderful tips and explanations in it. (The rest of the time it's on my kitchen table, open, while I enjoy reading it.) Thanks for doing such a great job on your truly great book! I'm sure it will bring thousands more people into the clicker training fold."
~September Morn, Bellingham, WA


"Melissa, I wanted to write you a short e-mail to comment on your book Click for Joy—it is truly marvelous As a full time trainer and teacher of training, this book has filled an important niche in the training community. It answers basic questions in an easy to understand and yet very accurate manner. I am in the process of writing a review of your book for SOUNDINGS (the quarterly magazine for the International Marine Animal Trainers Association). I think your book will be a great help to beginning and experienced trainers alike. Even in the marine mammal world, the techniques you describe and the questions that you answer are right on the mark. Congratulations on a job very, very, very well done! I am going to recommend the book to every trainer I know."
~Ken Ramirez, Vice President, Marine Mammal Programs and Animal Training, Shedd Aquarium


"Melissa, you don't know me from the thousands on your list <g> but I just had to write to you and rave about your book, which I just received today. While I was intrigued by the advance publicity, love your articles in Teaching Dogs and your website, and your advice on the list, I was still blown away by the excellence of your book—excellence at multiple levels.

"I'm probably a lot like you and many other clicker trainers. I started in about 1996 but I still insisted at that point that the clicker was only one tool, and so I deliberately trained 3 crossover dogs in a row. Then in 1998 I ran into a dog that forced me to use purely R+, P-, which was my true epiphany as a clicker trainer (http://www.awca.net/rescue/babestor.htm) and now I'm on my second purely R+ operantly trained dog. Like many of us, I'm largely self taught, for the most part lonely (except that I found your list), and really hungry for advanced information on this wonderful method. Your book very much fills an unmet need and is just as good for beginners as for advanced but mostty self taught trainers. Thanks very much for the good work that you do."
~Cathy Toft, American Working Collie Association


"I finally received my copy of Click For Joy! today. It was worth waiting for. This book is a wonderful introduction to clicker training. Melissa has broken down theory, method, and practical application beautifully. I am training my Assistance Dog Zoe, using clicker training. Zoe is a 19-month-old German shepherd. I started clicker training Zoe at 6 monoths. I have Cerebral Palsy, have only the use of my right hand and arm, and use a power chair all the time.

"There are many excellent clicker training books. Many of them talk about theory which is good, but they are very hard to understand and even harder to apply to real life situations. Clicking With Your Dog by Peggy Tillman is a great step-by-step beginning clicker training book with pictures. I think that Click For Joy! is a must for everyone's clicker training library because it answers so many of those questions that can be stumbling blocks when you're first learning to clicker train. Questions that seem too silly to ask anyone, if you can find anyone to ask. Melissa's email group is wonderful too. Now you can have answers to a lot of questions discussed repeatedly on ClickerSolutions in a very easy to read book that you can refer to often. It's well worth the money. Thank You Melissa, Zoe thanks you too."
~Jodi & Zoe


Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 02:27:17 -0000
From: "Suji"
Subject: Click for Joy

Hi everyone,

I've been reading a lot of books lately and many of them include clicker training books and the sort. Really not *cat books* mostly dog books. Yee Gads...What's a cat owner reading dog books!!! However, Robert Bailey mentioned once that using only a little imagination, a trainer can easily apply the technology described to work with virtually any animal.

Has anyone read Melissa Alexander's new book, Click for Joy? You can get it on Karen Pryor's website (listed in our links) Melissa started the yahoogroup, Clicker Solutions and is a very good writer. She discovered from the readings and postings on the internet that the same questions frequently conflict, even those posted by experienced trainers. She states that ironically even the seemingly contradictory answers are frequently "right" they just aren't complete. What she did in her book was to make sure people got the more complete answers to common questions so they could make educated choices. And throughout her book, she has success stories from the internet group. I would recommend this book. Here's a sampling of some questions: What happens if my pet is scared of the clicker sound? What happens if I want to mark a good behavior and I don't have the clicker? My pet isn't food oriented. Can I still clicker train? Can I treat without clicking? Are adversives and punishment the same thing? What is "fluent" and how do I get there? How do I handle aggression? How do I crate train? If something sounds confusing when learning clicker training ....the answers are all there. (-:

Take care,
Suji and her Cat RATTS

PS **.....then again, there is always room for more answers somewhere... out there....only for someone with imagination to discover them. (-:


"Click for Joy is the most promising recent clicker training book I've read. Simple yet comprehensive, it provides a superb explanation of clicker training and how to do it. Click for Joy would be an excellent choice for someone new to clicker training or the pet owner who needs to train her dog but is also suitable for an experienced trainer. Even if you are totally familiar with the science and mechanics of clicker training, this book has enough unique ideas and tips to make it a worthwhile purchase. Click here to read full review. Excellent book! "
~Jessi Clark-White
K911dogtraining.com | africanserval.com

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