Karen Pryor's Blog, page 4

What to Do When Your Dog Loses His Cue: Training Outdoors with Distractions

Training outdoors around distractions can often lead to statements like:

“He only does what I ask when he wants to. It’s really hit or miss.”

“She hears me calling her, but ignores me.”

“My dog is very stubborn. He does what I ask when he feels like it.”

As a dog trainer, I hear statements like these from frustrated and embarrassed pet owners frequently. Believe me when I say I feel your pain. It is no wonder pet owners are baffled when the very same dog that returns when called at ...

101 Things to Do with a Box

101 Things to do with a Box: A Good Exercise for an Older, Suspicious, or Previously Trained Dog

This training game is derived from a dolphin research project in which I and others participated: "The creative porpoise: training for novel behavior," published in the Journal of Experimental Analysis of Behavior in 1969. It has become a favorite with dog trainers. It's especially good for "crossover" dogs with a long history of correction-based training, since it encourages mental and physical flexi...

Behavior Chains – Untangling the Confusion

Behavior chains seem pretty straightforward: it’s when an animal does a series of behaviors in a row, like links in a chain, ending in a reinforcer. Yet, behavior chains aren’t that simple! There is a tremendous lack of clarity in the training community about the definition of the term “chain.” I have researched the origins of the term and hope to clear up the confusion so we can better communicate with one another about chains and their many uses. 

Behavior Chains

Before addressing the di...

Foundation Behaviors: A Practical Perspective

I am asked regularly, “What are the first behaviors that we should train our animals? Does the order matter? How do we determine what should be trained first?”

It depends!

No two animals are exactly alike, and no two training situations are exactly alike, so my initial response to the question of what to train first is always, “It depends!” However, I do use a specific sequence when I train a new animal, and I will share it with you here.

1. Approach and eat

If an animal do...

How to Communicate with a Deaf Dog

Challenge: a hearing-impaired dog

Do you care for a deaf dog? Have you ever had the opportunity to work with a deaf dog? I had not—until Blanca.

In 2013, my friend Milena rescued a large, but skeletal, dog from an abandoned gas station and contacted me for some training help. The dog delivered 10 puppies the day after her rescue, and was big, strong, and exuberant. I agreed to help evaluate and do some training with the mom, as well as assist with puppy duty.

Although I had fostered, ad...

How to Use a Snuffle Mat

Does your dog scarf down his food in record time? 
Do you wish you could slow him down as he eats his meals?
Would you like to find a way to make mealtime fun for your dog?

A snuffle mat might be what you’re looking for!

What’s a snuffle mat? A snuffle mat is usually square and made with fleece material. Strips of fabric are woven through a sturdy backing and tied off so that there are “fingers” on the top side of the mat. The fingers make the snuffle mat an interactive feeding toy that chal...

How to Teach Loose-Leash Walking

Oh, my aching arm

Get your dog to walk without pulling! But how? We are masters at allowing our dogs to drag us down the street. The most asked question at obedience classes and private consultations is “how can I get my dog not to pull on his leash?”

As far as dogs and leashes are concerned, we want to arrange things so that loose leashes “pay off” and tight leashes don’t.

Historically trainers encouraged folks to act like a tree the moment their dog began to pull on the leash. This...

Ignorance Is Bliss: Real-World Use of Modifiers with a Search & Rescue Dog

A search-and-rescue start

Sometimes trainers venture into uncharted training territory without realizing how novel or new it might be.

I have been teaching a graduate course on animal training at Western Illinois University since 1995. One of the students in my very first class was a firefighter named Bill, who also trained search and rescue dogs. Throughout the semester, he would ask great questions about the use of positive reinforcement, because most of his experience was with more trad...

Making Cats Friendly, Clicker Style

Clicker training, the science-based system of teaching behavior with positive reinforcers and a marker signal, is becoming immensely popular, world-wide, with some dog owners and trainers, while still being rejected by others. It seems so alien, so different from traditional training, that many are very reluctant to try this new system on their already well-trained dogs. Why not leave your dogs out of the picture for the time being, and explore the clicker experience for yourself, with an ani...

History of Clicker Training II

Yes, it is charming; but it is also rather sad. We have been training animals for thousands of years, and we almost never ask them to DO this! To bring their own abilities to the table. To think. If you'll excuse the expression. ((laughter)).

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