Yes you can :)

I used clicker training with Auggie, also … for teaching him to come and for not going out:

Clicker training is based on B.F. Skinner’s “Operant Conditioning” but turned into Positive Reinforcement by Karen Pryor when she was tasked with teaching sea animals to perform for the first “Sea World” kind of park.

Karen Pryor’s work is wonderfully documented in Reaching the Animal Mind. If you are interested in the development of clicker training as well as the science behind it, it is a great read! It is not dull at all. The last chapters are more scientific and maybe a bit dullish, but the first 2/3 of the book, the story of Karen Pryor’s development of method, her anecdotes and examples are easy reading. If you thought (as I did before I learned…. ) that clicker training was a gimmick … it is not and this book illustrates why.

I was introduced to clicker training by a young dog trainer that I contacted to help me help Bear, my last Karelian Bear Dog, be more comfortable around other animals. She did not pressure me to use the method, but left some reading material and asked if I would consider it. I read and agreed and we made great progress with Bear. I used some of the concepts to help Bear adjust to kitten Auggie.

And then, I studied more and clicker trained Emmett in addition to going to classes with a local “Karen Pryor Academy” person.

Bottomline, I love the method and how it fosters trust and respect between me and my dog and cat. We have all learned and we all continue learning. And that is another of the key differences: teaching vs training. The idea is to teach … and it is so much less stressful than “training”.

So, Oscar knows “Ring the bell” and we are working on “In your place”. We didn’t use much clicker training, but he is doing well at “Oscar come”. Oscar watches Emmett and I playing and learning things as well as Emmett responding to my requests. It is interesting to see how Oscar learns from Emmett and me. When Auggie was a kitten, Bear was an elderly dog so there was not the same kind of opportunity.

I am ever hopeful that I can teach “off the counter” … a girl can dream!!