Congratulations to Karen Pryor on the release June 16, 2009 of her newest book:

Reaching The Animal Mind.

Read an Excerpt and watch the clip here:

Excerpt

The book sounds fabulous and in two minutes Karen was able to communicate to the audience that the click is a signal to the animal and means more then food. Food doesn’t mean much- it is just food but the clickthat marker- is information about what gets the trainer to pay with food. The game is “how” do I get the trainer to click? Karen is a master trainer and communicator. I can’t wait to read the book!

I looked up clicker training on you tube and there are some great videos posted.

The first trainer is teaching a high drive protection dog, the second gal is free shaping a very creative English Setter who learns more about her legs in a five minute session then most dogs learn in a whole agility career.

You cannot hear the clicker in either video- it is not about the click but this IS operant training and a marker is used. Food is so close to the setter the use of a marker is redundant, the trainer with the Mal uses his release word as the marker. The opportunity to do something else (go retrieve) reinforces the previous behavior.

Wired for work

Where are those back feet?

The third one here is a gal from Sweden proofing the retrieve, the best training I have seen this year.

Can you spell hold?

Carmen is back in training after her recent litter to Ch. Puckett’s Andre at Dickendall. Thank you to Carrie Eberhardt for all the work in making sure this breeding happened in Texas and that Carmen could easily step in and out of training. Thank you to Cheryl Mansfield and her family for raising and socializing the litter in the midst of a busy household. Carmen did “amaze” them with her antics- (bringing a roll of paper towels to them in the middle of the night when she had an accident in the house! Really! ) Read more about Carmen at the link below. I will post some of the photos soon in the gallery. Look for Carmen in the show ring this summer and field this fall. Thanks are also overdue to Cheri Bates for training this girl, if you have followed the story of Carmen you know what a challenge she has been. No singleton is easy and Carmen was a bratty teenager when Cheri signed on. She has taken the ugly duckling and turned her into a swan.

There is of course no perfect Labrador and yet with Carmen we have supreme health- she has no ear infections, no skin problems at all, no joint issues- all OFA, heart doppler clear, she is EIC clear, and she can eat anything- food with corn/with out- it IS important to have health be first and foremost in a breeding program. We don’t have data on her but I am beginning to get x-ray results from her dam’s second litter. So far so good with those 10 pups.

Carmen was a singleton puppy and has a very “up” (yes- you can read “hyper” into that if you wish) temperament but lived in the house with the Mansfield family after they taught her what to do. It has taken two years of training and money (8k) to get this girl to where she is today but she is valuable to the breed for several reasons! To me she comes from an outcross and having the health that she has is no coincidence, she got something from her sire. She also has the brains and working ability of her grandmother- a bitch that produced two advanced FEMA search dogs and who had a sibling that was also an avanced FEMA dog- that drive is also not a coincidence. She will have to prove that she can produce- no dog gets to be considered a benefit to the breed without a production record. So far, I like what I see.

I did not keep a pup this time but we have one in a show home and he looks very promising. There were three that were definitely show quality in my opinion. Time will tell if they turn out or not but that is always the case with any litter. They all grow differently too so we don’t really know what age to look at these guys. There are no guarantees in dogs as we all know but I would put good money on this litter as far as health and working ability. Look for more updates this year on Carmen!

Carmen in Texas