Puppy Love: Raise Your Dog the Clicker Way

Karen Pryor, a behavioral biologist and a former dolphin trainer, demonstrates how to build a great family dog by using a thumb sized clicker to reinforce positive behavior. Asserting that puppies get too much freedom too soon, Pryor recommends a program which limits a young dog's range early on (both in the house and yard), and focuses on frequent grooming and handling, while using the clicker in conjunction with an edible reward to encourage desirable behavior. This is a training video which emphasizes positive methods over choke chains, spankings and other militaristic solutions. It even comes with its own clicker, which, I might add, was quickly grabbed by my children who started clicking it in the dog's ear (perhaps I should have raised them better, but that's another video). Although I put a stop to that (by using the clapper), I also discovered that the clicker keeps away children, spouses, grandma, rodents, Bible salesmen and many others. A benevolent training video for puppies, this is recommended. A companion volume, Clicker Magic (VL-9/98), is also available. Aud: P. (R. Ray)