It seems to be a common thread in homes with animals and teens, and
once more it surfaces in the home of Joan Orr, who will speak on
"Clicker Training Your Ferret" at the Portland Symposium. And what
might that common thread be? Why, "a husband who is very tolerant of
the parade of dogs and other critters that come through our house"
to participate in training experiments.

With three cats and two rabbits, Joan has trained ferrets, but has none
of her own. She does, however, remember Gwen the ferret who was so
excited to have learned how to control the clicker game "by doing
behaviour to get the trainer to click she went wild. The video of this
is now famous in clicker training circles. We also use clicker training
with people and call it TAGteaching. The TAGteach community refers to
the 'happy ferret dance' when they are talking about a particularly
insightful and exciting moment in their TAGteaching."

As with others, Joan Orr will admit that she found her most memorable
non-ferret experience to be having a baby! And, family is important to
Joan, who would spend her time with her husband "since we get along
well, have lots of fun, but don't get enough time to relax together."
She might spend some of that time on her sailboat, a Hobie cat. For
fun she trains animals, coaches kids sports, makes training videos,
works in her garden and sails. But, relaxing entails reading, watching
movies, gardening and playing games with her kids.

Joan's hero is also the author of her favorite book, *Don't Shoot the
Dog.* Karen Pryor "brought clicker training to the animal training
world against tremendous odds and was a lone voice advocating that
physical force has no place in the training of animals or the teaching
of humans. She has written numerous books, given hundreds of lectures
and stuck to her principles. She has shared her knowledge freely and
generously with all who care to know and now trainers around the world
use her methods and share her philosophy. Through her brilliance and
generosity and ability to communicate the lives of many thousands of
animals around the world in zoos, aquariums, shelters and in people's
homes have had their lives changed for the better. Her mentoring and
contributions to TAGteach has helped fast track this approach of
positive reinforcement based teaching into the world of human teaching
and has touched the lives of many people. Through Karen's direct
influence a large collegial group of clicker trainers and TAGteachers
is spreading the world, bringing joy and success to teaching and
learning and changing the world one click at a time."

Joan would like to be remembered "as a person who made a contribution
to society through the promotion of positive-reinforcement based
teaching and training principles." Come learn how to use a clicker
to train YOUR ferret! See some of the things Joan has done and learn
more about clicker training at one of the following websites:
Doggone Crazy (http://www.doggonecrazy.ca)
and TAGTeach International (http://www.tagteach.com)
See also http://www.doggonesafe.com and http://www.clickerbunny.com

-- 
renee :)
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets the
credit!
Ferret Emergency Response, Rescue & Evacuation Team (F.E.R.R.E.T.)
http://www.ferretemergency.org
[log in to unmask]
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org

[Posted in FML 5631]