Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training

By Karen Pryor

Description from Author’s website: The bestselling book that has become mandatory reading for clicker trainers — the book that started it all — has become mandatory listening! Now in an audio edition read by Karen Pryor, the wit and wisdom of Don’t Shoot the Dog is ready for you to absorb while driving, cooking, or dog-walking.

Widely loved for its clear and entertaining presentation of behavioral training methods, Don’t Shoot the Dog is packed with the author’s insights into animal and human behavior. It is the book that revolutionized teaching and training by simply and elegantly explaining the power, principles, and practical applications of positive reinforcement.

Unique to the audio edition, Karen Pryor includes new observations and comments on developments and advances in clicker training that have taken place since the latest print edition. Only the audio edition gives you these recent insights and perspectives — as if you were attending a one-on-one seminar with Karen.

Treat yourself to this groundbreaking book in a new format with new updates, or introduce your friends to training and teaching the Karen Pryor way, with the book that started it all — in the most accessible format ever. Available in Paperback, Audiobook, and Spanish Version.

Note: Whenever possible, I have supplied link to the author’s “book store” (click on book’s image). If not available from author’s store, I have linked to Amazon. Most of the books included in our recommendations are also available from Dogwise. If you shop at Amazon, don’t forget to check out their AmazonSmile program where Amazon donates a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization.

In case you are wondering how My Dog’s Best Friend benefits from these recommendations, be sure to check out our Disclosure.

I first learned about training with positive reinforcement in Hawaii, where in 1963 I signed on as head dolphin trainer at an oceanarium, Sea Life Park. I had trained dogs and horses by traditional methods but dolphins are a different proposition; you cannot use a leash or a bridle or even your fist on an animal that just swims away. Positive reinforcers – primarily a bucket of fish – were the only tools we had.

A psychologist outlined for me the principles of training by reinforcement. The art of applying those principles I learned from working with dolphins. Schooled as a biologist and with a lifelong interest in animal behavior, I found myself fascinated, not so much with the dolphins as with what could be communicated between us – from me to the animal and from the animal to me – during this kind of training.

I applied what I’d learned from dolphin training to the training of other animals, and I began to notice some applications of the system creeping into my daily life. For example, I stopped yelling at my kids, because I was noticing that yelling didn’t work. Watching for behavior I liked and reinforcing it when it occurred worked a lot better and kept the peace too. 

KAREN PRYOR