There’s nothing I love more than a weekend at ClickerExpo. Okay, so I’ve only been to two of them so far, but most recently it was in the country music capitol of Nashville, Tennessee at the Sheraton Music City Center Hotel between March 30th and April 1st. If you’ve never heard of ClickerExpo, here’s a brief description from the website: “The [2012] ClickerExpo program is filled with innovative courses, creative teachers, and fun events… Our faculty brings you to the frontier of understanding and best practices, sharing each year’s newest research, techniques, tools, and skills” on positive animal training and clicker training. It’s always an exciting weekend. For me, it’s like fun family reunion. I get to see people that I know from my Karen Pryor Academy class. It’s also a pleasure to get to know the newest KPA graduates and see their enthusiasm for positive training and the practical … Read More
Giving Up on Perfect
There was a time early on in my dog training career when I wanted to be perfect. And I wanted a perfect dog, too. At the time, I was volunteering at a service dog organization, and was obsessed in my interactions with service dogs who were bred and born to be working dogs. They started training at 8 weeks old, were trained every single day, attended class once a week for 18 months with their puppy raisers and then had another 6 months of dedicated training by advanced trainers. Whew! That’s a lot of training… And these amazing dogs, seemingly, were perfect. They never barked in public, they never bothered anyone, and no noise, distraction, crowded mall or cramped space seemed to phase them ever. (Of course, as you might wonder, they did have the opportunity just to run and play and “be dogs” when they weren’t working, too.) But … Read More
Functional Cues: Palm Targeting and “Here”
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since my last post. It’s been pretty busy, so I wanted to leave everyone with something that is quick, yet useful. Nothing is quicker to teach your dog, or more versatile of an exercise, than nose targeting. If you haven’t already taught your dog to nose target, great, it’s time to get started! In this video, the wonderful and creative Emily Larlham asks the dog to target her index and middle fingers with the use of the word “Touch.” This is a very common way to teach targeting and extremely useful, when trying to guide your dog via pointing. However, another common method of teaching targeting is to have the dog touch his nose to the palm of your hand. I love to teach targeting this way for many reasons. Think of the inside of your hand as a magnet, and your dog’s nose … Read More
How Many Different Things Can You Catch With Honey?
For many readers, you might know a little about author and innovator, Karen Pryor… Karen is most easily known for training dolphins with whistle-marked behavior and tasty fish rewards. Being the pioneer that she is, she eventually transferring all of that great experience to dog training via the clicker method. She is the author of one of the most popular how-to positive reinforcement manuals of dog trainers and corporate executives alike, “Don’t Shoot the Dog.” This musing isn’t a mantra to Karen Pryor. Although, she is pretty great. It’s simply a reiteration of what we all know about human nature, and dog nature too, is that “you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” (Why the first person to say this wanted so many flies, I’m sure I don’t know…) Anyway, a key takeaway of Pryor’s book is that positive reinforcement and a dash of creative thinking and preparation … Read More
The Ultimate Jedi Mind Trick for Your Dog
What’s the most fun, versatile and quickest thing to teach your dog? It’s nose targeting, of course! Nose targeting means that the dog will touch his nose to your hand – or the tip of a target stick – to earn a reward, and it is one of the most basic building blocks of clicker training. Once your dog is trained to target and will follow your hand for extended periods of time, the sky’s the limit on the number of things your dog can learn. I love to tell my clients that targeting is like playing Jedi mind tricks on your dog. “You will come to me… Your nose will touch my hand… You WILL spin in a circle.…” All important and practical things for the Rebel alliance, yes? For me, the most fun thing about targeting is communicating with your dog without physical prompting or manipulation. How incredibly … Read More