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Old December 31st, 2004, 10:48 AM
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tenderfoot tenderfoot is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Boulder, Colorado
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Looks like I have been missing out on another good debate.
Ms Pryor has done a great job and she has changed so many people lives around to her methods. Thinking positively is the best way to teach. Kudos!
For animals who are not relationship oriented I would try bribery. But even my parrots cooperate out of relationship with us - not food. I heard a great story once of Karen Pryor working with a Commodo Dragon and she got him to cooperate wonderfully with a clicker & mice. That makes total sense with such an animal, but dogs are different. It works with dogs no doubt, but is it the best option? That is for each individual person to decide. It certainly isn't the only option.
If 'click and treat' works for you great, but to us it is the difference between a child having good manners out of love & RESPECT for the people around them NOT because they are getting little bits of candy everytime they do something right.
Clickers are simply replacements for your voice and touch. If you can click faster than you can speak then I guess it would be an option. But are you really improving your relationship? Or would your voice or touch build deeper relationship? I would certainly rather have my hubby kiss me than have him toss me a cookie. One is far more personal, and, yes, dogs thrive on relationship - it's why they are such a big part of our lives.
Many of our clients come from other training methods and find they do not always hold up in the average home with behavioral issues. Treat based training (which clickers are) only seem to touch the surface of communication. They keep things on 'a do it for a treat' basis. We prefer to work with our animals from a love & respect foundation that lasts a lifetime. I don't want to carry extra gimmicks with me - it's just me and my friend and we understand each other.
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