Meet Karen Pryor´s Clicker Expo Member

Virginia Broitman

The Fun of Clicker Training

Seminar and Workshop Content

This seminar will cover  theoretical material with video sections and lots of hands-on training

 

FLUENCY -   Foundation to Fluency Building trainers’ skills Beginning with a quick review of clicker training skills, this part focuses on honing both the trainer’s skills and the dog’s skills.  We’ll be discussing ways to build strong behaviors so the dog can perform in a reliable and polished way, no matter what activities you’re involved in, and despite the distracting environments you may work in. <    Knowledge of your animal and good observation skills <    Ability to select and use reinforcers wisely <    Mechanical training skills (i.e. timing and treat delivery) <    Maximizing the power of rewards o   Practical exercises to hone these skills <    Ability to train efficiently o   Breaking down behaviors and creating training plans o   Tracking/assessing progress o   Knowing when to raise criteria o   Knowing when to add cues              Building the dog’s behavior to a fluent level <  How to build a precise behavior <  Adding the cue < Reducing latency, i.e. the dog’s response time to a cue <  Building the speed of the behavior            This section will include both lecture and working sessions. Building behaviors to a fluent level §  Teaching a dog to ignore distractions in all types of environments §  Building duration into the skills §  Teaching the dog to work at a distance from the handler §   Discrimination challenges:  fun tests to check your dog’s understanding of cue This section will include both lecture and working sessions.

          

PET / PRISON PROGRAMS <    How these programs work <    The benefits to dogs, inmates, prison staff and the public <    The challenges encountered in this work <    The rewards of this work Shelter dogs are brought into our program and offer an interesting variety of training challenges and behavioral issues, especially in the context of a prison setting. Very often, these dogs seem to have no concept of self-control and/or they have deficient social skills with other dogs.  I will share some information about: <    Specific exercises for teaching self-control <    Teaching respect for the human’s space <     Improving dog-to-dog greeting skills <     Improving play interactions For more details, please go to:  http://www.sos-penpals.com

 

TARGET TRAINING beyond the basics Targeting can be much more than just nose touches and paw touches.  We’ll discuss additional forms and their applications, such as: <    Eye targeting <    Various body part targeting, including back paws, head, sides, etc. <    Scent targeting <    Acoustical targeting This section will include both lecture and working sessions.

 

TRICK TRAINING     ---------  A variety of advanced tricks will be covered Tricks That Help You Master the Trade Tricks represent a legitimate training effort that can challenge and enhance our training skills. Dogs don't know the difference between tricks and "serious" obedience skills so tricks provide the fun we crave to help balance out our more serious training efforts. This working seminar is for people and friendly dogs that are well-versed in the basics of clicker training and already have some basic trick training on their dogs. Some helpful prerequisite skills would include: basic obedience (sit, down, stay, off); touch; go to a target location; take and hold an item in the mouth. The goal  is to increase the TRAINER'S versatility, enhance your creativity and problem-solving skills by learning how to teach the same trick multiple ways (with demonstrations from audience dogs), increase the DOG'S versatility, experiment with the clicker, and hone your timing and shaping skills in the "safe haven" of trick training. ·     Lateral thinking/analyzing difficult skills and finding a variety of training solutions ·     Behavior chains, and breaking up skills into small steps ·     Working at a distance from your dog ·     Tricks for TV/ film/ print work ·     How to use tricks to solve behavioral problems ·     Using tricks in your classes If you like, tell us in advance of the seminar what types of tricks they’d like to learn.

 

BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS We’ll discuss how to solve common behavioral problems with humane techniques, beginning first by looking at the following: §  Assessing/defining the problem §  Changing the consequences §  Using Extinction §  Teaching and reinforcing appropriate, alternative behaviors §  Smart management techniques Some specific issues that will be discussed include: <    Barking / arousal at doors <    Counter-surfing, destructiveness and other unruly house behaviors <    Jumping up to greet people <    Fearfulness, and fear of handling <    Aggression to other dogs or humans  We can do both lecture and practical exercises here if we arrange to have some dogs with problem behaviors in attendance during this portion of the seminar.

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Virginia Broitman`s Bio and work experience

		Karen Pryor about Virginia Virginia Broitman is one of our most charming faculty members at ClickerExpo. She's a pioneer in clicker training and created stars in the remarkable Bow Wow series of videos. If there are audience members who understand the clicker but don't really understand shaping, or the importance of teaching cues without correction, then it would be worth not only presenting Virginia Broitman but making a new sound track for the video, The How of Bow Wow, to offer for sale at the seminar. No one understands training for precision and reliability with the clicker better than Virginia, and no one explains and teaches it better. I know Ken Ramirez would agree with me! Virginia would be a GREAT act to follow the inspirational Ken Ramirez, and underpin his work with much practical understanding. Karen Pryor
Kathy Sdao about Virginia Broitman She’s an excellent speaker, a very experienced clicker trainer, and she has tons of terrific videos. She’s also kind and funny.Most everything. She’s especially skilled at teaching dogs (and other animals) to be in commercials and on TV/movies and at creating complex behavior chains and adducted behaviors. I do know that everything she speaks about at ClickerExpo is excellent.

Owner of North Star Canines & Co.  ~  This business provides behavioral counseling and obedience training for dogs of all ages & breeds, where positive reinforcement techniques are employed.   Animal training experience ~  My training career began in 1981, and I’ve been utilizing clicker training techniques since 1995.  The bulk of my work has been with dogs, but I’ve also clicker-trained rats, horses, cats, llamas, and chickens.  While in Spain, I had the opportunity to work with several species at a zoo, including a camel, squirrel monkey, lemurs, and wallabees. Head Trainer / SOS Pen Pals ~ This non-profit organization places hard-to-adopt shelter dogs with carefully selected inmates at prisons in Virginia.  The dogs live with the inmates 24/7 for basic training and behavior modification.  I oversee 34 handlers and 17 dogs at three prison facilities.  I temperament-test and select dogs at the shelter, teach the handlers how to clicker train and modify problem behaviors in a humane way, and meet with them on a weekly basis.  Many dogs pass the Canine Good Citizen test before adoption to the public.  Some dogs have gone on to be Therapy Dogs at other prison facilities. For more details, please go to:  http://www.sos-penpals.com Training DVDs  ~  Producer of clicker training DVDs which are sold internationally: ·  Take a Bow…Wow! (’95 with S. Lippman) and Bow Wow Take 2 (‘97) ·  The How of Bow Wow (’03 with S. Lippman) – winner of the Maxwell Award (Dog Writers Association of America) for Best New DVD ·  The Shape of Bow Wow (’07) Other Experience ~ ·    Assistance Dog Training (have worked with five clients with varying disabilities) ·    TAGTeach, Level 2 certification ·    Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator ·     Volunteer with animal rescue groups to evaluate dogs and provide training support to foster homes and adoptive families. Speaking engagements  ~  ·    I have been providing clicker training seminars/workshops since 1998, in the USA as well as in Taiwan, Spain, and Chile ·    Faculty member of Karen Pryor’s ClickerExpos since 2003 Writing projects ~ ·    Contributing writer for the Karen Pryor Academy course for dog trainers. ·    Clicker Journal  ~  regular contributor of training articles. ·     Forward (published by the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors) –Columnist for several years.  My problem-solving column, “Fido Refined,”  was a 1999 Finalist    in its category for the Dog Writer’s Association of America. ·     Occasional training articles for local newsletters. Personal dog interests  ~  Over the years, my dogs have participated in pet therapy visits, agility competitions, herding, and TV/advertising work.  The current menagerie includes three rescues: a German shepherd, an Australian cattle dog, and a papillon; plus two miniature pinschers, and eight rats.

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Virginia has co-produced  the Bow Wow series of four dog training videos, all based on clicker training.

The How of Bow Wow won the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) Maxwell Award for Best New DVD in 2004.

You can buy the DVDs at the seminar or order here:    

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Price for the seminar without rooms :

Kondition - Booking Condition	Zeitraum - time period of booking 2009		Preis - PRICE
Früh - Early reservation	vom 01. Januar bis  31. März ( March) 2009 Zahlung bis spätestens 31.März 2009 / payment until latest 31th of March		420   Euros
		Externe / external	450   Euros
Regular reservation	vom 01. April bis 30. Juni  (1st of April to 30th of June) 2009 Zahlung bis spätestens 30.Juni 2008 / payment until latest 30th of June		470   Euros
		Externe / external	500    Euros
Spät - Late  reservation	vom 01. Juli (July) bis 30.September 2009 Zahlung bis spätenstens 30.Sept. / payment until latest 30th of Sept.		520    Euros
		Externe / external	540    Euros
Hund / pro Tag -    dog / per day			8 Euros

                                       Seminar costs Includes:

•  Seminar participation
•  costs for conference room
•  Coffee / tea breaks in the morning
•  lunch 
•  coffee break in the afternoon with cake and fruits ( only Friday and Saturday )

Other drinks than coffee and tea are available at breaks, but must be payed seperat, the drink for lunch as well.

 

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  ACCOMMONDATION :

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