BUSY PETS
EDITOR
TD Yandt
TD has much knowledge and
first-hand experience to share with the pet-savvy world, from
training the family pet to rescuing wild animals and helping strays.
She was always around animals
as a child. TD helped a family friend with her rabbit-breeding
program while taking care of her own two bunnies. She also shared
life with frogs, salamanders, newts, iguanas, snakes, turtles,
fresh water and marine fish, mice, rats, guinea pigs, birds, cats
and many dogs of different breeds.
 |
As a teenager, TD had an
aviary, bred finches and acted as a midwife to her family's
two female Bull Mastiffs. By then, her childhood love for
animals had grown into a lifelong passion. |
She did grooming for a couple of years before
switching gears to begin her training career.
As many trainers do, TD
started out using and recommending aversives and strong physical
corrections. Using tools like choke chains and pinch collars,
she'd use the old "stop, drop and roll" technique when
dealing with difficult dogs; however, TD never felt completely
comfortable employing obedience-by-fear methods. Soon afterward,
she began to research operant conditioning.
| TD learned that animals
like dolphins or killer whales could not be trained using
aversives and strong corrections, so different methods had
to be developed. Whenever the animal did something correct,
his trainer blew a quick chirp on a whistle and tossed him
a fish. |
|
The whistle acted as a
marker, letting the animal know the exact moment he gave the correct
behavior.
She found that clicker training
was the best form of operant conditioning for dogs. It employed
the same methodology, only instead of using a whistle, the trainer
used a clicker to ignore poor behavior and redirect the animal
to desired actions. Training sessions are commonly referred to
as "the clicker game" because pets have so much fun
training, they honestly think it's a game.
TD began to use clicker
training and found wonderful results. Gone were the days where
dogs submissively urinated out of fear, yelped at "collar
pops" or winced when they knew a correction was coming. She
had confident animals eager to offer desired behaviors and who
truly loved to train.
Now adding Busy Pets Editor
to her resume, TD looks forward to educating and encouraging busy
pet owners.
"Animals give us so
much of themselves. They teach us about compassion, devotion,
pain and joy. It is our duty to care for them in the best possible
manner -- above all, to give them our time and our love."
Learn more about TD and
her busy animal family at http://www.noselicks.com/.
