I was talking on the phone recently to a magazine writer—a nice guy who used to be a working cowboy. He spends a lot of time thinking about kind vs. cruel animal training. "So, is that the real difference between clicker training and traditional training?" he asked. "Is it that one is more positive than the other?
clickers
Excerpts from Reaching the Animal Mind
By KPCT on 06/01/2009One of the pleasures of Karen’s new book, Reaching the Animal Mind: What Clicker Training Teaches Us About Animals, is the way science is made accessible through compelling stories of real training events.
How to Create a Reactive Human in 10 Minutes or Less
By Casey Lomonaco on 06/01/2009Recently, I was chatting in the classroom with a few of our more experienced students. They mentioned encountering the following scenario quite often while exercising their dogs at a local park:
Individual is walking dog on leash. Dog sees other dog, barks, leash goes tight. Owner pulls dog back on leash, saying, "Be nice! Be nice!" and fumbling with a tight leash until the distraction has passed.
Sounds like a recipe for reactivity, right?
Got Puppy Nipping? Take the Clicker Approach
By Karen Pryor on 06/01/2009All puppies like to play and wrestle and nip each other. When they come to live with people, they want to play in the same way. They don't know that our skin is far more tender than their littermate's fur—so sometimes those nips can hurt!
Clicking in Court?
By Marie Clougher on 05/12/2009Donna DeVoist, a student of KPA faculty member Steve Benjamin, could not get away from the impact of positive reinforcement when she was performing her civic duty recently. She shared her story, with a familiar theme, with Steve—and now with all of us.
