pet connection

We spent the weekend in Woodland Hills honing my very basic clicker skills at ClickerExpo. I had grandiose visions of live-blogging it, but it was all I could do to manage one of two “I want to be in your lap” Cavaliers, take notes or at least pay attention to the lectures, and try not to nod off from lack of sleep in a strange bed.

My dogs have learned some of the basics with clicker training–including Twyla’s patented twirl-and-roll-over trick–but I was hoping to pick up some tips on dealing with Twyla’s barking and Bella’s habit of snatching treats from people.

Faculty included clicker guru Karen Pryor who moderated some live training demonstrations, Helix Fairweather and Joan Orr, who led the shaping lab I attended with Bella, and Emma Parsons, who led the practice session for new clickers and their dogs, which Bella and I also attended. Bella’s breeder kept clicking her for jumping up and begging for treats. “Thanks,” I said. She claimed it was a grandmother’s privilege to reward bad behavior.

Twyla went to lectures with me to practice being comfortable in large crowds. She did very well, no doubt thanks to the frequent clicks and treats she received for sitting and lying quietly and paying no attention when other people and dogs walked by.

Saturday evening, students had an opportunity to eat dinner with the faculty member of their choice. I chose dressage rider Alexandra Kurland since I grew up being one of those horse-crazy girls (maybe that’s redundant) and was fortunate enough to have quarter horses that I rode bareback in our pasture. Our table was an equal mix of dog people and horse people, which made for interesting conversation about the ways people got started in and use clicker training.

Besides the 350 or so clicker attendees, many with dogs, there were, of course, “normal” hotel guests. We were frequently stopped and asked what was going on with all the dogs. To one couple, I explained that the people were attending a dog training conference. They wanted to know if there were any famous dog trainers there, “like Cesar.” Oh yes, I said, lots of them and rattled off several names. They walked away looking blank. Jerry said I should have replied that Cesar was too “old school” for this group. If nothing else, I hope that the presence of so many well-trained dogs was an eye opener and that they served as ambassadors for their species.

Bella’s breeder was there and gave us an update on the personalities of the three puppies we’re considering. As far as I can tell, we’ll be happy with whichever one we choose. We loaded up on new toys and a couple of clicker training DVDs, as well as a book on clicker training birds. Larry Bird could use some excitement in his life.

“Was it worth it?” Jerry asked as we drove home.

I guess I’ll find out in the coming weeks as we start practicing (more consistently than in the past) some of the things we learned. Certainly the puppy we’re picking up in a couple of weeks should benefit, and whenever Twyla sees the clicker she falls all over herself trying things that might elicit a click and treat. We’re working on “play dead.”

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