March 2014 KPA CTP of the Month
A lifetime animal lover, Gillian Cross of the United Kingdom has been instinctively inclined toward humane and positive animal treatment since childhood. As a teenager, she walked out of a training class when the instructor used a choke collar on Gillian’s newly rescued dog. With substantial experience in business development, coaching, management, and risk analysis, Gillian believes that many of the skills from that area of her life were eminently transferable to her dog training work—and upped her odds of success in the field. However, it was the International edition of the Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) Professional Dog Trainer program (DTP) that supplied Gillian with the “brilliant and unique opportunity” to stock her training toolkit.
Having had clicker training success already with various species, including humans, Gillian was eager to enroll in the KPA Dog Trainer Professional program. She says, “The KPA Professional DTP had been on my most-wanted list for sooo long! Anything with Karen Pryor’s name on it was going to clicking rock.” She planned to enroll in the program in 2011, looking forward to learning from “the world’s best animal trainers alongside like-minded people,” when a personal loss changed her plans. Gillian was able to enroll in 2012, and completed the program with distinction the same year. Gillian’s “pawtner” as she went through the KPA Dog Trainer program was her beloved Newfoundland, Harvey WB.
The KPA mix of theory and practical exercises earned Gillian’s approval. Impressed that the program material had been developed by real pioneers at the top of their game, she notes that even the most advanced concepts were explained, and in turn trained, “as easy as the ABCs.” Behaviors were always broken down easily and reinforced, one step at a time. Gillian’s instructor, her “guru” Terry Ryan, provided detailed and prompt feedback on the many practical training assignments. For Gillian, the whole program was innovative and inspiring, but the modules of particular interest to her were behavior chains and advanced training concepts/modifier cues.
Success in the program requires demonstrated mastery of lessons; students are filmed both at home during the online course progression and during the hands-on segment of the course—where international students work with loaner dogs! For Gillian, that requirement was exciting and certified the rigor of the program.
KPA trainers need to demonstrate that they can successfully walk the walk as well as talk the talk!
“Clicking” with fellow international students led to even more learning for Gillian. She heard about the challenges, cultures, community, and laws encountered by trainers all over the world, and shared the excitement of clicker training with fellow training geeks, all passionate about training. Gillian claims that her “group members were friends before we arrived and friends for life when we left the USA.” The incredible network of KPA trainer friends (from Ireland, England, Taiwan, Japan, China, the United States, Canada, Australia, Puerto Rico, Singapore, New Zealand, and more) are all individuals dedicated to positive training and to improving the lives of all learners. While Gillian is grateful that her course mates supported each other throughout the program, she also is happy to have shared more casual moments together. “We had many enjoyable adventures ‘out of school hours,’ including exploring Sequim and Seattle, mountain adventures, and outdoor dining.”
Gillian’s business INSPIRE ANIMAL LEARNING (inspiring learning through the effective, humane application of behaviour change science) offers one-to-one training and selected behavior consultations. She also provides a variety of fun workshops designed to empower learners, set up individual caregivers and dogs for success, and enhance the human-animal bond. Gillian travels often and finds that offering a block schedule of classes, when possible, works well for her.
After reading an article by Karen Pryor about the benefits of BOTH clicker and TAGteach exposure, Gillian was also looking forward to developing her TAGteach skills as part of the Dog Trainer program—and then offering those skills to her clients. Post-program, she has found a measurable positive impact on her work. “Having TAGteach in my toolkit has helped me fast track both my learners and myself to success.” Gillian describes TAGteach as empowering and fun, a “powerful and revolutionary technique.” In her work, she enjoys setting up individual learners for success, putting creativity to work, creating a game atmosphere, and building innovative reinforcement plans.
In Long Beach this past January, Gillian attended her second ClickerExpo conference (her second ClickerExpo conference in California, to be exact). She says that once again the conference exceeded her expectations and “was worth every mile traveled.” Gillian’s suggested TAGpoint for anyone thinking of attending the upcoming ClickerExpo in Norfolk, Virginia, would be “book!” According to Gillian, at ClickerExpo there is something for every experience level (caregiver and dog).
Gillian will attend her third ClickerExpo—Europe’s first ClickerExpo, in Lancashire, UK—in October 2014! She is tremendously excited about the event, as she worked to get the conference off the ground.
I’m so happy this fabulous learning opportunity is going to be accessible to so many others, one step/click at a time.
Gillian is looking forward to playing a key role at the conference, and is happily surprised by the generous volunteer offers of help that have already been received.
Also ahead for Gillian is a continued dedication to developing her positive training education. She envisions herself as “a cool 95-year-old still learning and clicker training my dogs.” Since completing the DTP, Gillian has worked with “the brilliant and super cool” Dr. Susan Friedman, with “the wonderful Terry Ryan” for chicken training, with Theresa McKeon for an advanced TAGteach seminar, and with Ken Ramirez (“my training superhero”), among others.
Incorporating clicker training into her lifestyle, Gillian follows Kathy Sdao’s quote: “Living the Clicker Life.” Clicker training will play a part in Gillian ability to raise funds for animal welfare charities
and her plan to finalize the shaping several exciting business and personal development plans.
Now that she is living that clicker life, Gillian is grateful to be part of “an incredibly compassionate, fun, generous, and skilled community. It’s beyond wonderful to have the tools to facilitate and teach successful behavior in a force-free way, enriching and empowering the lives of learners one click at a time.”