Showing posts with label Karen Pryor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karen Pryor. Show all posts
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Through a Dog's Ear
Last night as I turned off the television and looked at all six dogs lying down in various areas of the living room, I laughed as each head popped up and looked at me waiting for me to say, “Okay, let’s go to bed!” When those wonderful words were said, each dog jumped up and filed into the bedroom going to their favorite spot to rest for the evening. Two on their dog beds and four on the bed! Once they get situated they might move around one more time but then at 5:30 am all six are up, barking, licking my face and Glacier, my newfie/husky mix has jumped on the bed and is now laying his rather large head and neck across my face. My coonhound is sitting up, nose straight in the air and howling. I have tried to ignore them, to no avail, I have sat up and told them to, “Go to bed” which might work sometimes. I have just given in and gotten up, let them out, fed them their breakfast and then I have gone back to bed for another hour. Even I have to laugh some mornings, but as comical as it is, there are mornings I would love to sleep in or just be able to wake up slowly!
Knowing that I would go through this whole morning ritual in a few hours, I began thinking of what I should try differently to help my dogs sleep a little longer in the morning. Then I had this great idea! I got back out of bed and went to the office and grabbed the CD player. I returned to the bedroom and set it up on the nightstand. I grabbed the CD, “Through a Dog’s Ear” which I had picked up at Karen Pryor’s ClickerExpo inserted it into the player, pushed the repeat button and let this play softly all night. Well, thirty minutes into the CD, all the dogs were sleeping extra soundly. I too had a hard time staying awake! Seriously, the dogs did not shift at all last night and at 5:30 one dog raised her head, looked around, and as I held my breath she put her head down and went back to sleep!! The rest of the dogs were out cold! They slept until I woke up at 7:00 am and shouted, “Okay, let’s go!” All the dogs were up without all the barking and craziness, just very happy tails and out they went to use the bathroom. I was a very happy person!
What is “Through a Dog’s Ear?” It is music therapy, a cutting edge science on how dogs react to sound and how to use sound as a tool to manage your dog’s anxiety due to change of environment, separation, storms and so forth. I first heard about this piece of music on a special about shelter dogs. A particular shelter began to play it to see if it would bring the anxiety level down among the dogs. They began to notice that in the area of the shelter where the music was playing, the dogs began to come in from their runs and settle down nicely and would even sleep. After watching the program and doing a little research myself I began to ask a few clients to try it with their dogs that were dealing with some anxiety issues. Once again the results were very positive.
I highly recommend the book, it comes with the cd, and it is a great story on how the research came about, how the music works and it is very relaxing, even for people. I will try it again tonight and keep you updated on how we are all sleeping!!! Goodnight!!
For free listening samples click the following link: Listening Samples
The following is a video from the "CBS Early Show":
Knowing that I would go through this whole morning ritual in a few hours, I began thinking of what I should try differently to help my dogs sleep a little longer in the morning. Then I had this great idea! I got back out of bed and went to the office and grabbed the CD player. I returned to the bedroom and set it up on the nightstand. I grabbed the CD, “Through a Dog’s Ear” which I had picked up at Karen Pryor’s ClickerExpo inserted it into the player, pushed the repeat button and let this play softly all night. Well, thirty minutes into the CD, all the dogs were sleeping extra soundly. I too had a hard time staying awake! Seriously, the dogs did not shift at all last night and at 5:30 one dog raised her head, looked around, and as I held my breath she put her head down and went back to sleep!! The rest of the dogs were out cold! They slept until I woke up at 7:00 am and shouted, “Okay, let’s go!” All the dogs were up without all the barking and craziness, just very happy tails and out they went to use the bathroom. I was a very happy person!
What is “Through a Dog’s Ear?” It is music therapy, a cutting edge science on how dogs react to sound and how to use sound as a tool to manage your dog’s anxiety due to change of environment, separation, storms and so forth. I first heard about this piece of music on a special about shelter dogs. A particular shelter began to play it to see if it would bring the anxiety level down among the dogs. They began to notice that in the area of the shelter where the music was playing, the dogs began to come in from their runs and settle down nicely and would even sleep. After watching the program and doing a little research myself I began to ask a few clients to try it with their dogs that were dealing with some anxiety issues. Once again the results were very positive.
I highly recommend the book, it comes with the cd, and it is a great story on how the research came about, how the music works and it is very relaxing, even for people. I will try it again tonight and keep you updated on how we are all sleeping!!! Goodnight!!
For free listening samples click the following link: Listening Samples
The following is a video from the "CBS Early Show":
Friday, January 28, 2011
ClickerExpo 2011
Last weekend I attended Karen Pryor's ClickerExpo in Newport Beach California. Karen Pryor is is the CEO of Karen Pryor Clickertraining and Karen Pryor Academy. Karen is a great spokesperson and teacher of force-free training. She transformed animal training through her work with dolphins and layed the groundwork for force-free training methods based on operant conditioning and the conditioned reinforcer. I attended some great seminars and met several well known, accomplished clicker trainers. I learned many new training techniques that I can't wait to use in our classes and private sessions.
I had the pleasure of attending a session with Kathy Sdao, a certified applied animal behaviorist, who trained marine mammals to detect mines for the US Navy. This session explained the difference between cues and commands. Commands are threats that imply "do it or else", signaling opportunity to avoid punishment. Cues are "go signals", green lights for specific behaviors, signaling opportunity to gain reinforcement. At "Taming the Wild Side" we will only use cues so that your dog is always willing to offer you behavior and training is viewed by your dog as fun and a new game! Some other points that Kathy brought out, were how to make a cue leap out from background distractions and how to deliver cues clearly and consistently.
Another session I attended was with Ken Ramirez, Vice President of Animal Training at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Ken discussed aggression treatment and context and this was one of the sessions where I learned the most! He outlined several approaches to treating dog aggression, such as Counter Conditioning, Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT), Click to Calm, Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT), the "Look at That" game (LAT) and many others. He highlighted the pros and cons of using each technique. His explanation of the various techniques has given me more insight into developing a training plan for dogs that need behavior modification.
Emma Parsons, author of the book "Click to Calm", combined her session with Leslie McDevitt's "Control Unleashed". Her session focused on teaching a dog how to control himself, and continue to be in control, when they are exposed to a chaotic environment. These techniques included massage, working within the threshold, letting the dog look at the object of distraction, foundation behaviors and games to help gain control. "Taming the Wild Side" will offer a course utilizing these techniques to help manage reactive dogs.
Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh, Swedish authorities on agility training, and authors of the book, "Agility Right From the Start", had an awesome session about building confidence with Noise and Movement. Using noise and movement as the marker for reinforcing a behavior is a new technique to me. Basically, this means that noise and movement predicts the appearance of great stuff. I am excited about this training because I can see how this can be beneficial for sound sensitive dogs and possibly be used in our therapy dog class.
Julie Shaw, an animal behaviorist at Purdue University, conducted a session that was my absolute favorite! This session focused on reactive dogs and their triggers. Some dogs may have a trigger that is controlled. Controlled triggers give you a starting point allowing you to desensitize them to the trigger that is causing the behavior issue. Triggers in the environment that you cannot control are more difficult because the dog is in a constant state of arousal and their anxiety level must be brought down through medication before the dog will be relaxed enough to focus on training. I loved this session because Julie worked with reactive dogs and showed us that dogs that appeared to be well behaved were actually shut down because their anxiety level was so high that they could not react to anything. It was amazing to see the small changes in body language that indicate that a dog is completely fearful of his environment instead of being just a well behaved dog. For example, one dog that was used was observed laying quietly by his owner, didn't mind being petted by strangers and seemed to be a very confident dog. Two days later in the training lab, when we worked with him one on one, we realized his good behavior was a symptom of the anxiety he felt due to loud noises, other dogs and fast moving objects. This is a dog that would require medication in order to begin his training. Determing if the trigger is controlled or uncontrolled is a key step in behavior modification.
I also had the chance to meet and visit with Victoria Stilwell, from Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog". Victoria has a true passion for dogs and her goal is to do what she can to make their lives better. She was delightful, funny and took her commitment to enhancing the lives of dogs very seriously.
Come join us at "Taming the Wild Side"! Your dogs are going to have a blast!!
I had the pleasure of attending a session with Kathy Sdao, a certified applied animal behaviorist, who trained marine mammals to detect mines for the US Navy. This session explained the difference between cues and commands. Commands are threats that imply "do it or else", signaling opportunity to avoid punishment. Cues are "go signals", green lights for specific behaviors, signaling opportunity to gain reinforcement. At "Taming the Wild Side" we will only use cues so that your dog is always willing to offer you behavior and training is viewed by your dog as fun and a new game! Some other points that Kathy brought out, were how to make a cue leap out from background distractions and how to deliver cues clearly and consistently.
Another session I attended was with Ken Ramirez, Vice President of Animal Training at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. Ken discussed aggression treatment and context and this was one of the sessions where I learned the most! He outlined several approaches to treating dog aggression, such as Counter Conditioning, Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT), Click to Calm, Behavioral Adjustment Training (BAT), the "Look at That" game (LAT) and many others. He highlighted the pros and cons of using each technique. His explanation of the various techniques has given me more insight into developing a training plan for dogs that need behavior modification.
Emma Parsons, author of the book "Click to Calm", combined her session with Leslie McDevitt's "Control Unleashed". Her session focused on teaching a dog how to control himself, and continue to be in control, when they are exposed to a chaotic environment. These techniques included massage, working within the threshold, letting the dog look at the object of distraction, foundation behaviors and games to help gain control. "Taming the Wild Side" will offer a course utilizing these techniques to help manage reactive dogs.
Eva Bertilsson and Emelie Johnson Vegh, Swedish authorities on agility training, and authors of the book, "Agility Right From the Start", had an awesome session about building confidence with Noise and Movement. Using noise and movement as the marker for reinforcing a behavior is a new technique to me. Basically, this means that noise and movement predicts the appearance of great stuff. I am excited about this training because I can see how this can be beneficial for sound sensitive dogs and possibly be used in our therapy dog class.
Julie Shaw, an animal behaviorist at Purdue University, conducted a session that was my absolute favorite! This session focused on reactive dogs and their triggers. Some dogs may have a trigger that is controlled. Controlled triggers give you a starting point allowing you to desensitize them to the trigger that is causing the behavior issue. Triggers in the environment that you cannot control are more difficult because the dog is in a constant state of arousal and their anxiety level must be brought down through medication before the dog will be relaxed enough to focus on training. I loved this session because Julie worked with reactive dogs and showed us that dogs that appeared to be well behaved were actually shut down because their anxiety level was so high that they could not react to anything. It was amazing to see the small changes in body language that indicate that a dog is completely fearful of his environment instead of being just a well behaved dog. For example, one dog that was used was observed laying quietly by his owner, didn't mind being petted by strangers and seemed to be a very confident dog. Two days later in the training lab, when we worked with him one on one, we realized his good behavior was a symptom of the anxiety he felt due to loud noises, other dogs and fast moving objects. This is a dog that would require medication in order to begin his training. Determing if the trigger is controlled or uncontrolled is a key step in behavior modification.
I also had the chance to meet and visit with Victoria Stilwell, from Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog". Victoria has a true passion for dogs and her goal is to do what she can to make their lives better. She was delightful, funny and took her commitment to enhancing the lives of dogs very seriously.
Come join us at "Taming the Wild Side"! Your dogs are going to have a blast!!
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| Karen Pryor and faculty welcoming everyone to Clicker Expo |
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| A wonderful lunch and a funny moment with Karen Pryor |
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| Karen Pryor, Debbie Martin and fellow Karen Pryor Academy graduates |
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| Jack Russell learning how to target at a Helix Fairweather dog training session |
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| Shaping a yes or no cue at a Kathy Sdao training session |
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| A training session with Emma Parsons from the book "Control Unleashed" |
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| Victoria Stilwell from Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog" and Ken Ramirez with Shedd Aquarium |
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| Dinner and entertainment with Victoria Stilwell |
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| Kathy Sdao, certified applied animal behaviorist, trained marine mammals to detect mines for the US Navy |
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| Victoria Stilwell from Animal Planet's "It's Me or the Dog" |
Saturday, December 18, 2010
It's Official!
Terri Elkins is now a graduate of the Karen Pryor Academy For Animal Training and Behavior!
According to the Karen Pryor website:
Dogs that are trained using a clicker are confident dogs that are not afraid to offer behavior and love to participate in training. Watch Glacier's happy tail and his focus on Terri!
According to the Karen Pryor website:
Check out Terri and Glacier's final training assessment showing the "Ten Behavior Chain Exercise":The Karen Pryor Academy Dog Trainer Program takes an innovative approach to developing and supporting outstanding dog trainers who teach the general public. Our students learn from some of the most experienced teachers in the field, using a curriculum designed exclusively for Karen Pryor Academy. Our goal is far greater than having trainers add a new title to their name. Graduates of Karen Pryor Academy become part of a community of trainers who have achieved and demonstrated a consistent level of excellence and can represent themselves and the Karen Pryor Academy name proudly.
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