Reaching the Animal Mind: Clicker Training and What It Teaches Us about All Animals

Not Just for Animals!
I feel the need to stress, up front, that while this book would appear to be a book about training animals, it has fundamental applications for anyone wishing to change or shape behaviour.You may have heard of Karen Pryor because of her now famous book, Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training. It was purchased by many dog lovers who then discovered it wasn’t necessarily about training dogs!Reaching The Animal MindKaren Pryor’s book is based on BF Skinner’s research with operant conditioning. The clicker is basically a metal tongue in a plastic housing that makes a click sound when pressed and is used to `mark’ quite specifically the desired behaviour. There is hard scientific evidence to back up her work. Pryor, however, avoids the usual boring academic style of writing in favour of a lighthearted approach that makes it fun and humorous to read.Pryor began training dolphins at Sea Life Park in Hawaii in 1961. Remember that very little was known about dolphins in 1961. Her main qualification for getting the job was that she was married to the Director of the park.The other trainers were having only limited success with training the wild caught dolphins. This book follows Pryor’s journey as she trains creatures as diverse as wolves, dolphins, horses, elephants, fish and dogs. She even trained a hermit crab to ring a bell.Have an open mindThis book should be read with an open mind and the many step-by-step examples make it easy to understand why clicker training can be used to train ANY animal (including the human animal). There are many short videos on her web site showing how clickers are used with animals and people to achieve amazingly quick and often stunning results.When used with humans, clicker training is renamed TAG training (Teaching with Acoustical Guidance). Although it’s exactly the same, some objected to the term `clicker training’ being used with people because it’s become associated with animal training.Improve sports performanceGolfers, gymnasts and other sports people have all improved their performance with TAG training and children are able to TAG each other as peers. Autistic or disabled children have been taught ways to improve their behaviour. A group of fishermen were also trained to improve their performance despite language barriers. There’s a description of how a group of young girls were taught to do a Fosbury Flop over a high jump in just 15 minutes of TAG training. You can watch the excellent video that goes with it on the Reaching the Animal Mind web site.The impact on the brainKaren proves that you can train any animal to do anything that it’s physically and mentally capable of doing. The thing that I’ve found the most fun is exploring just how far those mental and physical capabilities extend.One of the most fascinating things about this book is that the `click’ sound the clicker makes has a direct impact on the amygdala, the reptilian part of the brain. It registers the click as `new information’ and all brains are wired to search out new information.Absolutely fascinating reading and recommended for those who have an interest in how people and animals learn and how behaviour can be shaped using only positive reinforcement.

If you love animals, you need to buy this book. (Which, as an added bonus, it will teach you a lot about humans too).
As an already disabled woman, a recent diagnosis of a progressive brain disorder on top of everything else I live with daily was pretty devastating. One of the most highly recommended cognitive supports for me was a service dog. I don’t know how long I will be able to personally train such a dog before my condition is too advanced, so we immediately set to work choosing a puppy and a training program. I could not be happier with the choice I made with this book and clicker training in general. “Reaching the Animal Mind” is both supremely practical in it’s approach and very enlightening as to how both animals and humans really learn, and can become more active, happy participants in learning. It is an excellent way to tune in to an individual animal and connect, because to do it at all requires you to be focused on POSITIVELY REWARDING THE BEHAVIOR YOU WANT, and spotting the very first instant that the animal moves in the direction of that behavior. The animal is getting attention and instant reinforcement for doing well, instead of having meaningless words thrown at it in increasingly frustrated tones, while it tries to figure out what you could possibly want. I thought I was a positive person with my animals until I tried the training set out in this book. I was amazed at how hard it was at first to stop looking first and foremost at the negative and reacting to it over and over. It is still a challenge, but the great results and even greater happiness it brings to myself and my puppy when I do it right make it very worthwhile. As a side note, if you have trouble lining up your words the way I do now, you will love how the clicker allows you to respond to the animal’s behavior instantly, with no frustration, while you try to get out that “good dog” before the behavior is already past and done. I highly recommend this book.

Très éclairant en ce qui concerne les apprentissages (du chien en ce qui me concerne). A recommander !

I love this book! Lot of wonderful stories about animal training. She also gives good effort at explaining the science behind clicker training. Karen Pryor herself has an extensive experience in animal training, she is not just someone with just theories behind the training but her methods actually works. Thanks to her, animals are trained more humanely