Cover image for Reaching the animal mind : clicker training and what it teaches us about all animals
Reaching the animal mind : clicker training and what it teaches us about all animals
Title:
Reaching the animal mind : clicker training and what it teaches us about all animals
Author:
Pryor, Karen, 1932-
Personal Author:
ISBN:
9780743297769
Edition:
1st Scribner hardcover ed.
Publication Information:
New York : Scribner, 2009.
Physical Description:
vii, 258 p. ; 24 cm.
Contents:
1.REACHING MINDS. People and their animals -- D'Artagnan the wolf -- Two scientists, two sciences -- The new technology -- A contagious idea -- It's okay for animals, but we're not animals -- What I do -- Animals without big brains -- What's the potential? -- A shift in perception -- 2. SHAPING. Becoming a trainer -- Dolphins that aren't Flipper -- New kinds of shows -- Kahili learns to jump -- Crossing the bar -- A dolphin meets his subjects -- Dumping the laboratory rules -- Shaping group behavior -- Raising criteria: the path to perfection -- Cues and cuing: the benign alternative to commands -- Shaping adventures -- 3. COMMUNICATION. The lightbulb moment -- Debarking a kennel -- Communicating with a cue -- The extinction curve -- How to teach new cues without pain: shaping -- Controlling misbehavior with cues -- Using two cues to get rid of nuisance barking -- The power of cues -- Cues and trust -- Cues turn behaviors on and off -- Clicking with cues: behavior chains -- Learning to learn -- Training horses, dolphin-style -- Saddle-breaking, clicker-style -- Only in Hawaii... -- 4. FEELINGS. Reading the animal -- Meaning of the breach -- Could an animal say thank you? -- A new social signal in dogs? -- Anecdotes vs. observations -- Lorenz on gratitude -- Feelings in a fish -- Faking it -- The dastardly Dalmatians -- 5. CREATIVITY. The Creative Dolphin Experiment -- Gorillas -- 101 things to do with a box: creative dogs -- The fish -- Hardwired vs. softwired -- The polar bear -- The creative horse -- Panda and ClickerExpo -- The panda game -- 6. ATTACHMENTS. Animal friends -- Romance -- Seeing spotters -- Thousand-hour eyeballs -- Into the net -- The clan -- Releasing the dolphins -- The schools -- The chase -- Escaping -- Dolphin heroics -- Mysteries resolved -- Hoku's new romance --

7. FEAR. Misinterpretation -- Professional blindness -- Crossing over -- Reducing fear: Traditional methods -- Erasing fears by shaping -- Erasing fears with targeting -- The bad loaders: a targeting experiment -- Using cues when clicks don't work -- Fear of failure: when the cue DOESN'T work -- The poisoned cue -- Shaping an absence -- The cost of fear -- 8. CONVERSATIONS. What animals can say -- A conversation with an elephant -- Animals teaching people -- Asking questions -- An audience for a cat -- A dialogue -- Worthy adversaries -- Josephine's golden years -- 9. QUESTIONS. Why can't I just use my voice -- The neutral stimulus -- Voice vs. clicker: a test -- When the click counts most -- Clicker using without clicker training -- How about praise? -- But what about punishment? -- I have a problem... -- The punishers -- Why wouldn't you at lest correct the mistakes? What's wrong with that? -- But that wasn't so bad -- So does clicker training mean you can never say no? -- Clicker training is not all positive anyway, is that true? -- Why is the click so much fun? -- Clicker thrills -- 10. ANSWERS. The Amygdala Involvement -- Clicks and Dopamine -- The conditioned fear stimulus: a "Devil's click" -- Finding Joe LeDoux -- Clarity at last -- Fear of the click -- Levels of reinforcement -- The nature of cues -- An evil side of tertiary reinforcers: fatness -- One reason why quitting is hard -- Science and fun -- Laughing rats -- The SEEKING circuit -- Visiting Panksepp -- The importance of fun -- Respect for the organism -- 11. PEOPLE. Coaching with a click -- The language of the click -- Where's the primary reinforcer -- A new name for clicking -- Peer tagging -- A contagious idea -- Golf -- The Fosbury Flop -- TAGteaching and clicker training -- Tag language -- Tag, don't nag -- TAGteach outcomes -- Tag power -- TAG seminars and certification -- Children without words -- Why teach at all? Isn't the REAL reinforcer better? -- So why don't we use more clicks with people? -- Clicking with Nola -- Tagification -- Clicker training for TAGteachers -- Tagging as communication -- Flying on tags -- 12. INTENTION. Natural operant conditioning -- Intentional behavior in the natural world -- Human-animal cooperation -- Brazilian dolphins -- Trained cooperators -- Teaching clicker teachers -- Teaching tagging -- Saving all hands -- One click at a time -- Online resources: photos, links, and videos.
Abstract:
After thirty years of training creatures both tame and wild, Karen Pryor, pioneer in the field of no-punishment animal training, presents what she knows about teaching animals and what they in turn have taught her. Pryor's clicker-training system is a safe, effective way to modify and shape behavior. Karen can teach anyone to train animals with a cheap, plastic, handheld clicker, rewarding wanted behaviors and ignoring the unwanted. No leash-jerking. No pushing. No smacking. Animals quickly learn that one behavior gets them a reinforcing click and a bit of food, while undesirable behaviors get them nothing. Given the choice, animals quickly focus on what works and abandon what doesn't. Pryor explains the science behind her system, how it works and why it works, and its applications for teaching humans as well.--From publisher description.
Summary:
After thirty years of training creatures both tame and wild, Karen Pryor, pioneer in the field of no-punishment animal training, presents what she knows about teaching animals and what they in turn have taught her. Pryor's clicker-training system is a safe, effective way to modify and shape behavior. Karen can teach anyone to train animals with a cheap, plastic, handheld clicker, rewarding wanted behaviors and ignoring the unwanted. No leash-jerking. No pushing. No smacking. Animals quickly learn that one behavior gets them a reinforcing click and a bit of food, while undesirable behaviors get them nothing. Given the choice, animals quickly focus on what works and abandon what doesn't. Pryor explains the science behind her system, how it works and why it works, and its applications for teaching humans as well.--From publisher description.
Holds: