Know Way, Know How:
The Science and Art of Clicker Training 
A Workshop with Kathy Sdao, MA, CAAB (associate)

This hands-on workshop, with or without your dog, is an in-depth journey into studying the science and practicing the art of clicker training. Clicker/marker based training goes far beyond using the box or word. Learn the finer points of training, expand your repertoire, increase results and improve clarity so your dog (or students' dogs) learns with speed, accuracy and  less stress. 

18.5 CEUs for CPDTs approved.

Kathy balances lecture, training experiments, demonstrations, student participation, and dog training for an exciting integrated workshop. Learn the "Science" with lecture and discussion and then practice the "Art" by training/experimenting with people & dogs.

Tentative Schedule (Subject to adjustment depending on the participants needs and flow of the workshop.)

Saturday
A Moment of Science: Learning Theory in a Nutshell
Getting Geared Up: Leashes, Treats, Clickers and Posture
Behavior, Get It! 

Timing is Everything (people and dogs)
Ivan vs. Burris Fred: Applications of Classical Conditioning
Shaping (dogs and people)

Sunday
Homework Review and Questions
Cues Control: Name or Refrain
Reinforcement, You Rate It (dogs)
What's Premack Got To Do With It?

What Criterion? (dogs)
More on Cues: Chains and Tertiary Reinforcers
Stimulus Control (dogs)

Monday
Questions
Increasing Behavioral Variability (dogs -demonstrations)
Are You Sure You Should Lure?
Chained Behaviors (dogs)
One Way, No Way! (creative thinking with people)
Questions

You can attend as either a working participant with your dog or as a "Lab Assistant". Working participants will join us all three days. Dogs should be conditioned to a clicker. Dogs and puppies at all levels of training are welcome. Lab assistant attendance is flexible. Lab assistants will participate in all the human exercises and assist the dog trainers by collecting data, observing and offering insight during the dog training exercises.

Participants review the workshop:

• “Kathy is contagious. She makes me want to go home to train & look forward to my classes & students.”

• “Kathy takes subject material that could be boring and brings it ALIVE!”

• “Everything was clear and exciting…Kathy’s is wonderful and has a dynamic way of presenting…It was one of the best seminars I have attended.”

• “Kathy is very knowledgeable but is able to keep her discussions in “layman’s” terms….Her enthusiasm keeps the seminar fresh and engaging.”

• “ At the end of each day I was totally exhausted…the next morning I was ready to go again because I could not wait to see what I was going to learn today.”

• “ As a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and dog sport competitor, who has been in the industry for over 18 years, I was thrilled to pick up a number of “gems” of information that further solidified and deepened my understanding of my profession and hobby. I highly recommend this workshop for the beginner through the advanced professional. Kathy has something to offer for all of us who strive to be the best trainers possible. Her enthusiasm is a joy to behold.”

• “Kathy’s passion is infectious!!! Even if I didn’t understand all the concepts, yet, I am so on this boat she launched….Thank you Kathy for doing so much to “shape” a better world for us all…one person at a time!”

• “The demo with the Aussie puppy brought tears to my eyes.”

• "Kathy breaks things up nicely. She makes the environment seem like a safe place to learn and make mistakes."

• "The same principles I learned here I can apply to people."

• "As I told you (speaking to Kathy) at the end of the workshop, you really have changed my life, but more importantly you've changed the life of my dogs." - DC 2006

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Early bird registration is available according to location. Registration ends 5 days prior to the event.

Click on the location links at the top of this page or below to get specific information, including tuition, for the location of your choice.

You may pay for tuition by:

• Personal or Bank Check

• Paypal - using your account or opening a new account

• Visa, MasterCard or Discover - by contacting the office and providing
  your credit card information

Complete payment information will come up on the screen after you complete registration. General Payment Information

If the seminar does not meet the minimum and must be cancelled, currently registered participants will be refunded the full amount without penalty. Please familiarize yourself with the Registration/ Refund Policy and the Waiver before signing up.

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As a graduate student at the University of Hawaii in the 1980's, Kathy was part of a team that trained dolphins to solve complex cognitive puzzles. These dolphin "mind games" were part of intensive research into how animals think and process language. After receiving a master's degree in experimental psychology, she was hired by the U.S. Navy to train dolphins for applied open-ocean tasks.

Kathy Sdao has earned a living as a full-time animal trainer for the past 20 years, first with marine mammals and now with dogs and their people. Kathy was a marine mammal trainer at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. There she expanded her training skills by working with beluga whales, walruses, sea lions, polar bears and otters. Years later, Kathy and another zookeeper left their jobs to create Tacoma's first dog daycare facility, Puget Hound Daycare. This is where Kathy began teaching group classes for pet owners. 

Since leaving Puget Hound in January 1999, Kathy has been lecturing nationally on operant conditioning, sharing her passion for the science of training, and the awesome power of clicker training she has experienced with so many species. She is a dynamic instructor with infectious enthusiasm that will keep you on the edge of your seat! In 2004, her speaking engagements include presenting "Know Way, Know How," a three-day workshop hosted by Dogs of Course, Karen Pryor's "ClickerExpos" and the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual conference.

At home in Tacoma, WA, Bright Spot Dog Training's services include: teaching private lessons to dogs and their owners, consulting with families about their "difficult" dogs, coaching novices and professionals to cross-over to clicker training and chaperoning doggie field trips to local parks. She also has trained animal actors, written for The Clicker Journal and the APDT Newsletter, served as a subject matter expert for the Delta Society's Service Dog Education System, conducted rat-training camp for Terry Ryan's DogSense, instructed at Dogs of Course's Instructor Training Course and appeared as the "Way Cool Scientist" on an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy! 

As a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, Kathy is available for private lessons and classes, day and evening workshops, coaching for instructors who want to bring clicker training to their students, and consultations for behavior issues through her business, Bright Spot Dog Training.

Kathy lives with her two rescue dogs; Effie, a sweet and intense foxhound and Nick, an Aussie-cross that came to her with serious aggression issues.

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Only dogs registered in the workshop will be allowed to attend the weekend due to space considerations.

Working dogs must be: 

• tolerant of both dogs and people in fairly close working situations

• quiet in a crate or ex-pen when he/she is not working with the owner

• conditioned to a clicker

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