THINK OUTSIDE THE TREAT POUCH
Get Smart about the When, Why, and How of Reinforcement.
(WITH SMART REINFORCEMENT, FOOD IS JUST THE APPETIZER.)
THINK OUTSIDE THE TREAT POUCH
Get Smart About The When, Why, and How of Reinforcement.
(WITH SMART REINFORCEMENT, FOOD IS JUST THE APPETIZER)
LEARN CONFIDENTLY
Work directly with Ken, at your own pace, in an engaging program with hours of personalized feedback.
TAKE THE FREE DEMO FOR A RIDE
33
DEMONSTRATION VIDEOS

13
LEARNING GOALS

15
TRAINING EXERCISES

4.5
HOURS OF ONLINE COACHING
MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU KNOW!

Non-food reinforcers raise
your training to a new level
CRITICAL TOOL FOR TRAINING SERVICE, WORKING, AND COMPETITION DOGS
MORE POWERFUL
THAN YOU KNOW!

Non-food reinforcers raise
your training to a new level
CRITICAL IN TRAINING SERVICE, WORKING,
AND COMPETITION DOGS
READY WHEN YOU ARE
START ANYTIME
Begin on your schedule
FROM ANYWHERE
Learn wherever there is internet access
USE ANY DEVICE
Tablet, cell, desktop, laptop. All good to go!
Training with both food and non-food reinforcement will make you a better trainer and strengthen your relationship with your animal. You will hone your training skills, learn to evaluate reinforcers effectively, and benefit from generous amounts of 1:1 coaching from Ken.
- Condition novel stimuli as reinforcers in a step-by-step plan
- Increase and maintain the value of any reinforcer
- Determine the motivating factor behind natural reinforcers
- Use reinforcement variety accurately and effectively
- Transfer the value of play to dog sports and everyday activities that you enjoy with your dog
- Teach clients how to incorporate non-food reinforcers into their training
- So much more!
See all 17 Learning Goals.
The skills taught in this course are essential for anyone working in competition or in a working context, including service animals, search and rescue, scent detection, agility, and more. The course is also important for anyone teaching others and for those with non-food motivated animals. Lessons from this course are widely applicable in daily life with any animal. The course assumes that the student has:
- A clicker trained animal
- A strong relationship with the animal
- A diverse repertoire of fluent behaviors already trained
- An animal that enjoys learning and eagerly participates in the training process
MEET YOUR TEACHER
Your Passion, Our Expertise.
EXCEPTIONAL TRAINER & EDUCATOR COMMITTED TO YOUR SUCCESS.

Ken Ramirez
KPA Faculty Member
Marine mammals • Movie buff • Views of Mount Rainier
Ken Ramirez is Executive Vice President and Chief Training Officer at Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT). He oversees educational programming and teaches courses online at Karen Pryor Academy, in-person at ClickerExpo conferences, and at KPCT's National Training Center.
A trainer and consultant for nearly 40 years, Ken is highly active in animal conservation worldwide. Prior to joining KPCT, he served as Executive Vice President, Animal Care and Training, at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. Ken is the author of a seminal book on animal training. A selection of his lectures is available on streaming video.

Ken Ramirez
KPA Faculty
Marine mammals • Movie buff • Views of Mount Rainier
Ken Ramirez is Executive Vice President and Chief Training Officer at Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT), where he oversees educational programming and teaches courses online at Karen Pryor Academy, and in-person at the ClickerExpo conference, and the KPCT's National Training Center.
A trainer and consultant for nearly 40 years, Ken's is still highly active in animal conservation worldwide. Prior to KPCT, he served as Executive Vice President, Animal Care and Training, at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. Ken is the author of a seminal book on animal training and a selection of his lectures are available on streaming video.
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
Individual coaching from Ken Ramirez
Step-by-step protocols and clear milestones
START TODAY!“This course was easy to follow. I found the way the information was presented made it easy to absorb and use in daily training sessions and daily life with my dogs. Ken was always prompt with a reply, always kind in his evaluations, and demonstrated his great gift for making concepts and principles easily understood.”
– Karen Ryder
“The course is an excellent way to improve the relationship you have with your animals, provide more variety in your training sessions, and make sure you are training effectively. Get ready to look at your sessions with a more in-depth perspective!”
– Megan Vens-Policky
“This course gave clarity to a complex and sometimes mysterious subject. The course was laid out in a clear manner. It taught what it set out to teach. It clarified and gave comprehensive rules to the process of conditioning a multitude of potential reinforcers.”
– Karen Mielke, KPA CTP
“This course was easy to follow. I found the way the information was presented made it easy to absorb and use in daily training sessions and daily life with my dogs. Ken was always prompt with a reply, always kind in his evaluations, and demonstrated his great gift for making concepts and principles easily understood.”
– Karen Ryder
“The course is an excellent way to improve the relationship you have with your animals, provide more variety in your training sessions, and make sure you are training effectively. Get ready to look at your sessions with a more in-depth perspective!”
– Megan Vens-Policky
“This course gave clarity to a complex and sometimes mysterious subject. The course was laid out in a clear manner. It taught what it set out to teach. It clarified and gave comprehensive rules to the process of conditioning a multitude of potential reinforcers.”
– Karen Mielke, KPA CTP
$495
$495 $396
USE COUPON CODE: BTS2023
MASTER CLASS TEACHING AT A BEST IN CLASS PRICE
- 1:1 coaching and feedback from Ken Ramirez
- Unlimited course access for one year
- Work with a dog or any other animal
- Audit the course for $249 (no instructor support)
- Finish in 4-6 months with focused effort
Purchase this course now and start it later
We can place your course on hold for you for as long as you'd like. Immediately after purchase and before you access your course, please send an email to [email protected]. If you need CEUS, we have plenty
Full Course:- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25
- International Avian Trainers Certification Board (IATCB)
- CEUs: 20
- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25
$495
$495 $396
USE COUPON CODE: BTS2023
MASTER CLASS TEACHING AT
A BEST IN CLASS PRICE
- 1:1 coaching and feedback from Ken Ramirez.
- Unlimited course access for one year.
- Work with a dog or any animal
- Audit the course for $249 (no instructor support)
- Finish in 4-6 months with focused effort
Purchase this course now and start it later
If you would like to purchase a course now and start it later, do not access your course and please send an email immediately after purchase to [email protected] We can place your course on hold for you for as long as you'd like.
If you need CEUS, we have plenty
Full Course:
- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25
- International Avian Trainers Certification Board (IATCB)
- CEUs: 20
Audit:
- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25

$495 for the full course and $249 for audit access. See price.
1. A clicker-savvy animal with which you have an existing strong relationship. The animal should have a diverse repertoire of already trained, fluent behaviors.
2. Computer or device with high-speed internet access and a modern web browser
3. Support for Adobe PDF documents
4. Clicker, treat bag, and high-quality training treats
5. A variety of training toys your dog enjoys, such as tug and retrieve toys
6. Ability to record video on smartphone, camcorder, or digital camera
The skills taught in this course are essential for anyone working in competition (such as agility or obedience) or in a working context including service animals, search and rescue, scent detection, and more. The course is also important for anyone teaching others and for those with non-food motivated animals. Lessons from this course are widely applicable in daily life with any animal. The course assumes that the student has:
- A clicker trained animal
- A strong relationship with the animal
- A diverse repertoire of fluent behaviors already trained
- An animal that enjoys learning and eagerly participates in the training process
The course is designed to be completed in 8 months, but you receive access to the material for a full year after enrollment. The training activities and handouts are all provided in PDF form so you can print and make a workbook for your personal use.
- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25
- International Avian Trainers Certification Board (IATCB)
- CEUs: 20
- Karen Pryor Academy (KPA)
- CEUs: 21
- The Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT)
- CEUs: 21
- The International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC):
- CEUs: 25
This course was written and designed by Ken Ramirez and the team at Karen Pryor Academy (KPA). Ken is one of the foremost experts on, and practitioners of, animal training in the world today. He has taught more than 20,000 trainers and 500 individual animals of nearly 75 species throughout his career.
A 35+ year veteran of animal care and training, Ken is the Executive Vice President and Chief Training Officer of Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT) and Karen Pryor Academy. Previously, he served as the Executive Vice President of Animal Care and Animal Training at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. There he developed and supervised animal care and animal health programs, staff training and development, and public-presentation programs for the entire animal collection of more than 32,000 animals. Ken worked at Shedd for nearly 26 years.
Ken is a past president of the International Marine Animal Trainer’s Association (IMATA), has been a ClickerExpo faculty member since 2005, and teaches a graduate course at Western Illinois University.
Ken has written for numerous scientific publications and authored countless popular articles. He authored the book Animal Training: Successful Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement, published in 1999.
LET THE REINFORCEMENT BEGIN
Your animal will thank you.
(WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR NON-STOP SMILING!)
START
