CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Seattle, WA & Washington, DC
Washington, DC · March 17 - 19, 2023
Stay Tuned!
CLICKEREXPO USA
Stay Tuned!
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Seattle, WA & Washington, DC
Washington, DC · March 17 - 19, 2023
Available nowhere else, our Washington, DC program is 100%-new, designed to be remarkably candid, and filled with even more opportunities to make the connection with what you’re learning and who you’re learning with. The only way to experience it is to be there!
It's Your Final Chance to Save $25!
Fewer than 10 Preferred spots remain. Register now and save $25!
There’s Nothing Like Learning in Person Together!
Registration closes on March 2, at 11:59 pm (ET).
Join us for ClickerExpo Washington, DC—the conference that brings the in-person experience to an entirely new level of interaction, inspiration, and excitement.
Catch the Early-Bird Savings!
Registration will open Thursday, August 12, at 1:00 pm (ET)/10:00 am (PT). Spots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Register now and save $50! Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Register now and save! Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Catch the Early-Bird Savings!
Registration will open Thursday, August 12, at 1:00 pm (ET)/10:00 am (PT). Spots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Register now and save $50! Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Register now and save! Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Catch the Savings While They Last!
Register now and save $25! Plus, get access to our virtual conference, ClickerExpo LIVE, for just $50!
ClickerExpo Washington is officially sold out!
If you missed out on registering, join the waitlist in case a spot opens up. For those who did register, we look forward to seeing you in January!
Sign Up To Learn More About Future Events
Registration for ClickerExpo LIVE is closed. If you weren’t able to join us this year, stay in the know about future events by subscribing to our Events newsletter.
DAY 1 - Friday, March 17, 2023
Join us on an exploration of training and teaching excellence! We will examine and experience the principles, practices, and insights that ClickerExpo faculty members use to achieve consistent high levels of success in their diverse fields—and learn how they can help you do the same.
On Friday morning, we set the stage for exploring excellence by bringing the entire conference together for a common set of experiences that will anchor our first day.
In the afternoon, choose your path for building on the morning’s themes by selecting the Sessions and/or speakers that you most want to see. Each Session is designed so that you can peer inside the minds of ClickerExpo faculty members to see what they see, hear what they hear, and, most importantly, understand how they process it all. The opportunities, the obstacles, and the solutions come alive like never before with our “thinking out loud” programming.
6:30am - 8:00am • Friday, March 17
$25 per person | Jump-start your day by joining us for breakfast! Breakfast on Friday includes:
- Make-Your-Own Breakfast Sandwiches with Daily Baked Breads, Assorted Breakfast Meats, Scrambled Cage-Free Eggs, and Cheese
- Local and Seasonal Fruits and Berries
- Greek Yogurt Parfait Bar with House Made Granola, Low Fat Greek Yogurt, and Honey
- Selection of Chilled Juices
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Breakfasts are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
8:00am - 8:30am • Friday, March 17
Opening Session
Description: Kick off your incredible journey at ClickerExpo Washington, DC! Join Ken and Aaron for a lively discussion on the genesis of ClickerExpo DC’s theme, preview the weekend's programming, and learn how to make the most of this all-new experience.
8:30am - 9:30am • Friday, March 17
Unlocking Excellence: The Key to Stimulus Control and Generalization
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description:
Ken Ramirez has spent much of his vast professional career working and consulting in professional environments—where the training results count. While there are many factors that contribute to success or failure in these environments when Ken is called in to help highly skilled trainers achieve that elusive excellence, he shares a key that unlocks success more often than anything else.
In the working-dog world especially, Ken’s clients are skilled practitioners who have been successful training the target behavior required in their fields (explosive detection, search-and-rescue techniques, guide-dog skills, etc.). Beyond that point is where the trouble may set in, when training outcomes fall below the accepted standards and no one is happy. That’s when they call Ken.
Ken has found that his clients’ primary challenges are moving behavior into the real world and dealing with the distractions of real life. This transition—crossing from “laboratory” to real-world application—is a wide chasm that is challenging to cross. It is where some trainers have relied on punishers to prevent the animals from reacting to distractions and help to them on task. However, the fallout from the use of aversive tools has become increasingly clear, so trainers are looking more and more for positive alternatives. But even skilled trainers in the field, committed to using positive reinforcement-based training solutions, can struggle with this transition.
Enter Ken. Ken unlocks success by introducing a programmatic focus on the value of better stimulus control achieved through gradual exposure to unique and changing environments. Through the design of this structured desensitization program involving both stimulus control and generalization techniques, two sides of the same coin that are often compartmentalized, Ken has increased the effectiveness and reliability of working dogs all over the world. A similar process has also been used to improve husbandry training in the zoological community.
Teaching animals to expect the unexpected and improving stimulus control through systematic desensitization can revolutionize day-to-day training in many professional contexts. Join Ken for this anchoring and unifying presentation as he shares his key to excellence. See what it unlocks for you!
9:30am - 10:00am • Friday, March 17
10:00am - 11:00am • Friday, March 17
Show Me the Details! The Power of Things Great and Small
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: With more than 50 years of training and teaching experience and a remarkable track record at the top of multiple training fields, Michele has met, learned from, and observed dozens of animal trainers in a number of fields whom she would label “excellent trainers”—and a few highly successful trainers to whom she would not give that designation. In this opening day presentation, Michele helps us see excellence through her lens, what she does to create excellence and what she sees others do.
For Michele, excellent trainers see the salient details and act on that information. The small details of the learner’s environment and the learner’s view often provide critical information that may drastically or slightly alter the trainer’s choices about how to communicate to the animal; these decisions create a more successful learning experience. Seeing the salient details is not easy. There are hundreds of details in any moment of time, and their importance is not tied to their prominence!
Recognizing the salient details allows the exceptional trainer to respond to the individuality of a learner, to become appropriately flexible and creative for the benefit of the learner of the moment. The details are the pieces that permit learning obstacles be removed or rearranged in a way that makes learning easier.
There isn’t a recipe for choosing the salient detail vs “noise” or for making great choices in the wake of those observations, but filtering for the salient details and making great adjustments are skills that come through awareness, commitment, and practice. Once trainers learn to filter for the details that matter for their dogs or their clients and in their training situations, the barriers between good and great begin to fall away.
Join Michele Pouliot to see training through her keen lens and filter the details, great and small, that shape excellent training and excellent trainers.
11:00am - 12:00pm • Friday, March 17
Is Anybody Really Listening?
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: “Empathy before education.” This quote by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of nonviolent communication, was written on a sticky note near Kathy Sdao’s desk and serves as reminder of both the importance and the difficulty of creating a compassionate connection with all her behavior-consultation clients.
Kathy is eager to help clients solve their problems and to teach them the power and joy of positive-reinforcement training. Yet her time with clients is limited. So this desire, combined with the often heartbreaking details of the ways the people and dogs have been suffering, can make it difficult to really listen to clients' experiences and feelings. Kathy is tempted to offer advice before clients are ready to receive it... before they feel truly heard. This serves no one. Kathy’s training colleagues also struggle with this challenge: a mix of complex problems, urgent needs and time-limited interactions which can produce well-intentioned, but “under-received,” client communications.
For Kathy, the way through has been learning to be more fluent with the behaviors that comprise empathetic listening. This skill has been – and continues to be – a cornerstone of her success in teaching, training, and benefiting the many lives she has been engaged to help.
Join Kathy Sdao as she sets the stage for our weekend by sharing her experience–her struggles with, and her approach to, excellence through the practice of empathetic listening.
12:00pm - 1:30pm • Friday, March 17
SOLD OUT: $38 per person | Don’t miss out on the networking roundtable lunch, where you will have the opportunity to dive into more detail on topics of mutual interest with fellow attendees. Lunch on Friday includes:
- Make-Your-Own Mixed Greens Salad with Chef’s Selection of Seasonal Veggies
- Three-Bean Salad
- French Onion or Vegetarian Soup
- Oven-Roasted Herb Chicken
- Fingerling Potatoes
- Steamed and Buttered Haricot Verts
- Bread Presentation
- Chocolate Mousse Cake and Marbled Cheesecake
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Lunches are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
1:30pm - 3:00pm • Friday, March 17
Gimme Shelter! Creative, Effective Interventions with Behavioral Science
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: Bring your dog to this Dem-OH! and volunteer on the fly to demonstrate a concept in front of the audience! Volunteer Dem-OH! teams should have basic, intermediate, or advanced training skills and be able to work with their dogs effectively in a distracting environment with other dogs, props, and people nearby.
Dogs should be familiar and comfortable:
•Walking up to and off of an elevated stage
•The acoustics of a microphone and speaker system
•Standing in close proximity to the speaker and other people.
We will select approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers from the audience.
Other Dem-OH! courses will look for volunteers prior to the conference. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details in early 2023 about what criteria we are looking for.
Description: Shelters endeavor to be lifesaving safety nets, comfortable landing places for animals in need. Excellence in sheltering relies on the ability to provide high quality of life during a shelter stay and along with the commitment and ability to reduce the length of that stay.
The shelter population has changed in the last few years; there are fewer “ready-to-go” animals and far more animals in need of behavioral support. Philosophies have also changed; we are more committed to supporting a greater number of animals within the shelter population, including those we may not have elected to rehome in the past, those that would not have received behavioral support, stray animals that will likely be reclaimed, and animals in our care that are in court-hold or protective custody.
To support the growing and complex population in shelters and to meet the increasing commitment to the entire population in the building, shelters need creative and effective strategies, a dual, seemingly daunting, challenge. But it doesn’t have to be so daunting.
For Lindsay Wood Brown, the development of shelter solutions that are both creative and effective is catalyzed by behavioral science. Behavioral science is the springboard from which her curiosity, in the form of questions, launches. How can we apply behavioral science in new ways to support behavioral welfare? Where does our power lie in facilitating behavior change for a large number of animals? Behavioral science simultaneously defines the boundaries for what is worth trying, what is likely to be effective, and what bets are worth making. In a world of limited resources, the value of behavioral science in choosing what “bets” to place is priceless.
In Lindsay’s extensive experience working in and on behalf of shelters, her success in improving sheltering outcomes has been enabled by behavior science in general and two tools in particular—the power of antecedent arrangements and the conditioning of new reinforcers. These two tools are so powerful that small but smart changes can give rise to transformative outcomes.
Join Lindsay as she describes how she uses behavioral science as a springboard for creativity and how she has applied these tools to create excellent shelter interventions that paid off in enhanced quality of life during, and reducing the length of, multiple animals’ shelter stays.
Sharpen Up from the Start: Sharpen Behavior Precision by Designing Behavior Starting Points
Eva Bertilsson & Emelie Johnson Vegh
Course Type: Session
Description: What’s the difference that makes the difference? In canine sports, precision is the key to consistent success. According to Eva and Emelie, there’s no magic to achieving precision. Instead, it’s the sharp observation of details, maybe where you haven’t thought to look, that creates precision.
Eva and Emelie look at starting points. By focusing on and designing the starting point(s) for the behaviors you train, you set the stage not only for precision but also for more consistent and reliable behaviors. You’re proofing your behaviors from the very start! Starting points help set up for success.
By thoughtfully designing the starting point, you can teach a dog how to perform under various conditions and how to self-correct, without building pesky chains. Performance under varying conditions and self-correction are essential in high-level performance. Working in small splits that have deliberate starting points, you can incorporate more criteria early on, instead of waiting to problem-solve or add on to the behavior when it’s part of the full skill. This approach makes it possible to maintain a very high rate of reinforcement while advancing the behavior.
Never get stuck on a shaping step again! E&E will provide examples from a variety of canine sports. Join Eva and Emelie and sharpen up, from the start.
Sleeping With the Enemy - Dog Aggression Directed at Someone You Love
Course Type: Session
Description: Did your client just bring a new dog home and now the furry, cuddly addition is showing aggression toward their partner? Or maybe a client's dog has lived with them for a while but is suddenly being aggressive towards someone in the family? Perhaps the dog displays aggression when they and their partner show affection to, or even approach, one another.
These scenarios are not uncommon in Michael's work. They are also complex cases involving dog aggression in the home and aggression toward people. And yet, when Michael takes on one of these cases, he is confident about the probability of successful outcomes in these situations - even in situations where the dog and people are living together 24/7.
Join Michael as he helps us understand how he works through these cases, the lenses he uses to weed out the unimportant variables from the vital ones, and the patterns that he looks for will that help him choose the behavior-change techniques that lead consistently to harmonious outcomes.
Office Hours with Michele Pouliot - Ken Ramirez
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Bring your dog for troubleshooting tips, ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversations or demos about problem-solving, working animals, stimulus control, generalization, skill-building, competition—and anything else that comes up!
For a more personalized experience, we will be offering Office Hours in separate rooms; faculty will come to you, so stay in your seat and see both!
While dogs are welcome in both rooms, we encourage those who are bringing a dog for troubleshooting tips to join us in the Rockbridge room where the layout will be more conducive to demonstrations.
Rockbridge Room
1:30 - 2:10 pm: Ken Ramirez
2:20 - 3:00 pm: Michele Pouliot
Layton Room
1:30 - 2:10 pm: Michele Pouliot
2:20 - 3:00 pm: Ken Ramirez
3:00pm - 3:30pm • Friday, March 17
3:30pm - 5:00pm • Friday, March 17
Backstage Pass 1: Live Training Sessions Deconstructed
Ken Ramirez, Michele Pouliot & Melissa Millett
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: Bring your dog to this Dem-OH! and volunteer on the fly to demonstrate a concept in front of the audience! Volunteer Dem-OH! dogs should be clicker-savvy and comfortable working in unique environments. Dogs should not be beginners or novice learners, and preferably all dogs selected will be comfortable working with new people. We will select approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers from the audience.
Other Dem-OH! courses will look for volunteers prior to the conference. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details in early 2023 about what criteria we are looking for.
Description: Ken, Michele, and Melissa have all taught dogs to perform in various contexts (film, theater, freestyle competitions, working dogs, etc.), but they have not had the opportunity to train together or discuss their thought processes for training in general and for performance in particular. Until now.
Keeping with this year’s theme of excellence, Backstage Pass provides a window into what makes exceptional training by showing real-time training from these faculty members, along with narration of their actions and decisions. You will see unscripted training sessions offered by each speaker, one at a time. Each training will be discussed.
What are the thought processes as Ken, Michele, and Melissa each work with an unfamiliar animal? How do their fellow trainers ask questions and give feedback in productive and constructive ways? What did the other trainers see? Which details were critical, and which were irrelevant? What decisions were made, and why? Would the other trainers have handled the session differently?
Backstage Pass is also an opportunity for every audience member to develop observation skills. The process of observing, asking questions, and discussing training can be tremendously helpful for all parties. It can also be confusing and frustrating. There are many skills in play, in terms of what to look for, how to make sense of what you’re observing, and how to discuss it with others. Obtaining information from a video or live training is a valuable skill! But what does skillful watching look like? How do you focus your eyes and your thoughts, what are relevant questions, and how do you give feedback about the goal the trainer was actually trying to accomplish?
Ken, Michele, and Melissa invite you to join them in a fun, thoughtful workshop designed to reveal ways to observe, think, and talk about excellent training. Join in! We have your backstage pass to this unique experience.
Consistency with Flexibility: Quality Management of Behavior Cases
Course Type: Session
Description: Animal training and behavior cases are complicated and emotionally charged. We can get sidetracked or forget to advise the client on a specific aspect of management or training. Achieving consistency and quality in managing behavior cases requires a framework to minimize oversight and provide clients with thorough care. However, the structure also needs to be flexible and amenable to change based on the individual patient, client, and situation. This Session will explore general treatment guidelines and an approach to treatment discussion that is being implemented in a veterinary behavior specialty practice. The same techniques can be utilized addressing behavior concerns as an animal trainer or behavior consultant.
How Fear Made Me a Better Horse Trainer
Course Type: Session
Description: At one point in Alexandra Kurland’s lifetime of riding she “would get on any horse someone offered me. It didn’t really occur to me to be afraid; I naively believed that I knew how to ride. And I certainly knew how to stay on.”
And then everything changed. It wasn’t the usual story, the story she heard all too often at clinics. She says, “I didn’t fall off. I wasn’t injured. I didn’t take on an aggressive horse who was beyond my skill level. What changed was a devastating diagnosis from my vet.”
Alex’s beloved thoroughbred had spinal cord damage. The condition was likely to be progressive. It left the horse without normal feeling in her hind legs so she wobbled from side-to-side and frequently fell. “I was warned,” recalls Alex. “I must never ride my horse because she could fall with me on her and crush me.”
For Alex, fear takes many forms. “There is fear for someone you love. There is fear of someone who can hurt you. Fear can paralyze. It can cripple. Fear can stop you in your tracks. It can send you into despair. Or, it can turn you into a better trainer.”
How? “Fear can reveal steps that are missing. Fear can motivate us to fill in those steps. Filling in the steps meant riding my horse. She taught me about balance and the deep union that is possible between horse and rider. She put me solidly on the path that led to clicker training.”
In this Session, Alex shares her discoveries about personal fear: how to listen to it, transform it, and, ultimately, use it to be a better trainer. For Alex, "my key to excellence in training is learning to listen; my transformative moment was listening to my fear and learning how to use it constructively.”
Join Alex for this Session about fear–not how to get rid of it, but how to harness it to unlock excellence.
Office Hours with Kathy Sdao - Michael Shikashio
Kathy Sdao and Michael Shikashio
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Bring your dog for troubleshooting tips, ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversations or demos about behavioral science and analysis, aggression and behavior management, problem-solving, competition —and anything else that comes up!
For a more personalized experience, we will be offering Office Hours in separate rooms; faculty will come to you, so stay in your seat and see both!
While dogs are welcome in both rooms, we encourage those who are bringing a dog for troubleshooting tips to join us in the Rockbridge room where the layout will be more conducive to demonstrations.
Rockbridge Room
3:30 - 4:10 pm: Michael Shikashio
4:20 - 5:00 pm: Kathy Sdao
Layton Room
3:30 - 4:10 pm: Kathy Sdao
4:20 - 5:00 pm: Michael Shikashio
5:15pm - 6:00pm • Friday, March 17
7:15pm - 9:30pm • Friday, March 17
SOLD OUT - $68 per person
Please join us for our conference dinner and evening presentation from our invited special guest T.V. Joe Layng. This will be Joe’s first appearance at ClickerExpo. We have invited him because we appreciate the way he helps trainers think critically about what we do. Joe always manages to take a complex and difficult-to-understand concept and distill it into clear and understandable concepts that make us better trainers.
About Contingency Superimposition and it's Alternatives:
When you are attempting to change behavior, it is typical to focus on the behavior you want to change. Often overlooked is the reason the behavior is occurring in the first place, the consequences that are maintaining the behavior. When efforts at change target a behavior without referencing the function of the current behavior, the new criteria are often superimposed over the original criteria.
One approach is to use a consequence that is momentarily more potent than the one maintaining the behavior targeted for change. Choice (degree of freedom) is restricted such that the only way the learner can obtain the reinforcer is to meet the requirement imposed by the trainer. Positive reinforcement may be used to compel (or coerce) a learner into forgoing one pattern for another (essentially, the behavior wanted by the trainer is forced on the learner). With this approach, since the underlying contingency has been left unchanged, the animal is likely to return to the original behavior pattern as soon as the training is halted. For example, an aggressive animal may sit and let a passerby proceed when reinforced with food, only to bark and lunge when no food is available. An animal with a sore paw may show reluctance to jump over a barrier, avoiding a painful landing. Food reinforcement made contingent on jumping the barrier results in the animal jumping and suffering the painful landing.
This presentation will describe the differences between choosing more potent consequences and using the same critical consequences for different patterns of behavior. The implications for the trainer for choosing more potent consequences will also be discussed.
The Friday Night Dinner includes:
- Arcadian Greens Salad with Baby Grape Tomatoes, Spiced Nuts, and Cider Vinaigrette
- Choice of One (1):
- Roasted Chicken, Herb Roasted Potatoes, Grilled Vegetables, and Pesto Jus
- Seared Pacific Salmon, Wild Rice, Maple Glazed Baby Carrots, Confit Garlic Butter Sauce
- Chef’s Choice Vegetarian option
- Bread Presentation
- Assorted Mini Desserts
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
- Two Bottles of House Wine Per Table (One Red, One White)
Dinner is prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
DAY 2 - Saturday, March 18, 2023
On Saturday morning, buckle in for the second set of stage-setting presentations on achieving excellence. We will spend the morning exploring excellence all together, setting the foundation for another afternoon full of choices that bring learning alive. See what the ClickerExpo faculty members see, hear what they hear, and, most importantly, understand how they process it all.
6:30am - 8:00am • Saturday, March 18
$25 per person | Jump-start your day by joining us for breakfast! Breakfast on Saturday includes:
- Chef’s Choice Selection of Meat and Vegetarian Frittatas
- Local and Seasonal Fruits and Berries
- Steel Cut Oatmeal Bar with Raisins, Brown Sugar, Dried Fruits, and Honey
- Selection of Chilled Juices
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Breakfasts are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
8:00am - 9:00am • Saturday, March 18
Nurture & Nurture: Cultivating Effective Reinforcers
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: An exploration of training excellence would not be complete without an understanding of Hannah Branigan’s accomplishments in canine competition obedience and other sports. Hannah and her dogs have competed successfully at the national level, rapidly earning High-in-Trial awards and advanced titles through several organizations. It’s an amazing track record in a very busy and full life that includes work as a mom, podcaster, teacher, and author. So, what has made Hannah’s success possible?
Hannah’s training practices flow from a commitment to positive reinforcement-based solutions and to determining how the science behind behavior can connect to and improve training choices. At the heart of this connection between science and training is understanding the cultivation of effective reinforcement. After all, reinforcement drives behavior!
Many trainers get stuck thinking about reinforcement as a fixed quantity, but there is so much trainers can do to strengthen existing reinforcers and even build brand-new ones from scratch. By applying good training principles and treating reinforcement processes as skills that can be learned, you have so much more influence over the strength of your reinforcers and, therefore, the power and efficiency of your training.
Join Hannah to cultivate for yourself the perspective and practices that have elevated her training and are most often the difference-makers for students she coaches in competition.
9:00am - 10:00am • Saturday, March 18
The Everything of Before: Antecedent Arrangements and Success
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: Although training is often thought of as "trial and error," we know that the most efficient and effective training actually focuses on "trial and success." How do we arrange for success? For Chirag, the answer is antecedent arrangements.
Learn how antecedent arrangements provide the opportunities to empower learners, increase the number of reinforcers available, provide quick and practical changes for clients, and can be the key to problem-solving a challenging behavior.
In this Session, Chirag will present practical examples of how he helps to set up both the human and non-human learners for success in both group and one-to-one training environments.
10:00am - 10:30am • Saturday, March 18
10:30am - 11:30am • Saturday, March 18
True North: Navigating with a Behavior Analysis Compass
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: From penguins to pangolins to people, the benefit of consulting from a behavior analysis (BA) perspective is the confidence it engenders that some combination of principles and procedures will help animals and their caregivers. This applied science has universal relevance across species, settings, and behaviors. For Susan, the applied science of behavior analysis is her key to excellence, her unfailing guide, and her internal compass–her True North–in all of her work.
However, BA is neither a monolith nor a recipe book. To apply it well requires dynamic decision-making, moment-by-moment adjustments, as the animals’ (and their trainers’) behavior reveals what is important to them. In this presentation, we will explore the key features of the consulting process that Susan has found to be successful, including relationship-building with clients, assessing behavioral function, developing practical programs using the least intrusive principle, and ongoing evaluation and program revision.
Join Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. for this important stage-setting presentation about excellence through the lens of dynamic, changing, and ever-present applied behavior analysis Let Susan help you find your True North.
11:30am - 12:30pm • Saturday, March 18
Let’s Talk Anchoring Excellence
Course Type: Panel Discussion
Description: We will set the stage for the afternoon panel discussion with the Friday and Saturday morning Anchoring Excellence presentations. On Saturday afternoon, join faculty Hannah Branigan, Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D., Alexandra Kurland, Chirag Patel, Michele Pouliot, Ken Ramirez, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, and Kathy Sdao with moderator Aaron Clayton as they tie together what they heard and learned from one another. Anchor’s away!
12:30pm - 2:00pm • Saturday, March 18
$38 per person | Don’t miss out on the networking roundtable lunch, where you will have the opportunity to dive into more detail on topics of mutual interest with fellow attendees. Lunch on Saturday includes:
- Baby Iceberg Greens with Tomato, Carrots, Jicama, and Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing
- Fajita Bar:
- Angus Beef Skirt Steak with Ancho Chili Tequila Lime
- Sliced Grilled Chicken Breast with Onions and Peppers
- New Mexico Chili Black Beans
- Mexican Rice
- Salsa, Jalapenos, Shredded Cheese, and Sour Cream
- Soft Flour Tortillas
- Churros with Chocolate Sauce
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Lunches are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
2:00pm - 3:30pm • Saturday, March 18
Let’s Talk Husbandry Excellence
Ken Ramirez, Eva Bertilsson, Debbie Martin, Dr. Christopher Pachel, Chirag Patel & Laura Monaco Torelli
Course Type: Panel Discussion
Description: Join moderator Ken Ramirez and panelists Eva Bertilsson, Debbie Martin, Dr. Christopher Pachel, Chirag Patel, and Laura Monaco Torelli, as they discuss how husbandry excellence is achieved. Hear their unique perspectives, ask your own questions, and enjoy the stimulating discussion from the leaders in innovative husbandry training!
Studio Tour: Excellence, Animal Welfare, and R+ in Film and Television
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: Bring your dog to this Dem-OH! and volunteer on the fly to demonstrate a concept in front of the audience! Volunteer Dem-OH! teams should have basic, intermediate, or advanced training skills and be able to work with their dogs effectively in a distracting environment with other dogs, props, and people nearby.
Dogs should be familiar and comfortable:
•Walking up to and off of an elevated stage
•The acoustics of a microphone and speaker system
•Standing in close proximity to the speaker and other people.
We will select approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers from the audience.
Other Dem-OH! courses will look for volunteers prior to the conference. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details in early 2023 about what criteria we are looking for.
Description: Simple behaviors, complex environments. That is how Melissa Millett sums up working in film! The truth is, studio work does include quite complex behaviors, but many of the foundation behaviors, such as stay, go with, eyeline, and hitting a mark are not complex behaviors on their own.
The high level of difficulty lies in two other components. First, stage/studio environments are usually very challenging for animals. They are full of distractions, more than a bit chaotic, and in flux. Second, the training has to be planned so that the actor animal can perform behaviors without looking at the trainer and without verbal cues.
Melissa Millett has worked with companies like Paramount, Warner Brothers, DC Universe, and Netflix. In film, trainers are hired to get the desired result from the actor animal. The pressure for results is high. In this environment, Melissa Millett is not just a positive reinforcement trainer, she is one of the top trainers in the industry, the definition of excellence. What’s her secret? While other trainers often see animal welfare and positive training principles as barriers to results, Melissa views them as the bedrock of her success and her animals’ success. Melissa’s lens on excellence flows from positive training principles, so she builds those principles into everything she does, all of her training and preparation, all contracts she agrees to, and every job she takes on, because she sees positive training as the only way to create precise, joyful results.
Join Melissa for an inside look at the world of television and movie animal performances. Learn how she marries the power of positive training practices and animal welfare to achieve excellence for clients who accept nothing less. Learn, too, how we can create that same marriage in our training regardless of the “stage” we are working on. Action!
In Search of Excellence: Are You Teaching Strong Behaviors?
Course Type: Session
Description: Animal trainers endeavor to teach strong behaviors. They want the animal to perform a trained behavior quickly and fluently when a cue is given. But what does it really mean for a behavior to be “strong?” What is it that we are “strengthening?” How does the behavior acquire strength and where does this strength come from?
From Pavlov to Skinner to the present day, the notion of strength has been very useful for analyzing and understanding behavior. However, in recent years, the idea of strength has been questioned, and researchers have re-examined how reinforcement works to strengthen behavior. This Session will review what is meant by “strong.” We’ll examine how this concept was used originally, as well as recent research that sheds new light on how animals learn and what creates strong behaviors.
Office Hours with Hannah Branigan
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Bring your dog for troubleshooting tips, ask questions, or just sit in on spontaneous and candid conversations or demos about competition, effective reinforcement, problem-solving —and anything else that comes up!
During this time block, there will be a 10-minute break for attendees to change rooms if they would like to attend Office Hours with Alexandra Kurland.
Office Hours with Alexandra Kurland
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversation about equine training, communication with our learners—and anything else that comes up!
During this time block, there will be a 10-minute break for attendees to change rooms if they would like to attend Office Hours with Hannah Branigan.
3:30pm - 4:00pm • Saturday, March 18
4:00pm - 5:30pm • Saturday, March 18
Let’s Talk Performance Excellence
Course Type: Panel Discussion
Description: Join moderator Hannah Branigan and panelists Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Melissa Millett, Sarah Owings, Michele Pouliot, Ken Ramirez, and Emelie Johnson Vegh, as they explore performance excellence from the perspective of competitive dog sports to the world of television, film, and theater. Hear their unique perspectives, ask your own questions, and enjoy the stimulating discussion of innovators in the diverse world of performance.
The Learner in Front of Me
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: This Dem-OH! is for people; no need to have your dog ready—let them rest! The focus will be on trainer skills. We will have approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers.
Description: A good teacher creates an awesome curriculum and designs thoughtful lesson plans. A great teacher can set all that work aside skillfully in response to the learner in front of her.
Great plans are necessary, but they are not a sufficient condition for great teaching. One minute the learner may be open and eager, the next, concerned or confused. Great teachers expect change, they recognize the shift, they have the tools to adapt, and they use those tools.
In this Dem-OH we'll explore the myriad verbal and non-verbal ways a learner says, “This isn’t working for me” and demo how to break out the tools that help transition from what was planned to what the learner needs right now.
Successful Aggression Work: It's Not About the Bite
Course Type: Session
Description: Many of us got into dog training because of… the dogs! Then we learned that it's really more about the humans. In aggression cases, it's almost ALL about the humans. Join Michael Shikashio, CDBC, as he takes a deep dive into the consulting skills and secrets that promote successful outcomes in behavior cases. Mike will be showcasing the critical aspects of his conversations with clients including setting realistic expectations, encouraging client participation, and establishing trusting client/consultant relationships that foster positive outcomes!
Office Hours with Lindsay Wood Brown - Chirag Patel
Lindsay Wood Brown, Chirag Patel
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Bring your dog for troubleshooting tips, ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversations or demos about problem-solving, cooperative care, antecedent arrangements, shelter and rescue, behavioral science —and anything else that comes up!
For a more personalized experience, we will be offering Office Hours in separate rooms; faculty will come to you, so stay in your seat and see both!
While dogs are welcome in both rooms, we encourage those who are bringing a dog for troubleshooting tips to join us in the Rockbridge room where the layout will be more conducive to demonstrations.
Rockbridge Room
4:00 - 4:40 pm: Chirag Patel
4:50 - 5:30 pm: Lindsay Wood Brown
Layton Room
4:00 - 4:40 pm: Lindsay Wood Brown
4:50 - 5:30 pm: Chirag Patel
6:00pm - 6:30pm • Saturday, March 18
Head to the ClickerExpo Store for a book and media signing with your favorite faculty!
Whether you pick up a new book or tee, or you bring your favorite with you, you'll get the chance to meet renowned authors and experts one-on-one while enjoying a cash bar.
7:15pm - 9:00pm • Saturday, March 18
$43 per person | Let’s celebrate! We are back together after two years! But wait, there's more! It’s also ClickerExpo’s 20th Anniversary! “Saturday night’s the night alright” so bring your dancing shoes and best early 2000 party clothes (if you’d like) as we celebrate together with a cool DJ’d music scene, food, and a cash bar! Please join us for an old-fashioned party.
The Saturday night social event includes:
- Classic Caprese Salad with Basil, Tomato, and Mozzarella
- Mini Crab Cake with Cajun Remoulade
- Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms with Boursin Cheese and Spinach
- Penne Rigate Grilled Chicken Alfredo, Parmigiana Reggiano
- Pasta Bolognese with Fettuccini and Wild Mushrooms
- Fire Roasted Pasta Primavera with Zucchini, Squash, Bell Pepper, Basil, over Whole Wheat Pasta
- Garlic Bread Sticks
- Gluten-Free Option Available If Indicated During Registration
The social event is available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
DAY 3 - Sunday, March 19, 2023
On Sunday morning, choose from an array of course options and explore the Sessions that align with your interests. After lunch, we will reconvene as a group to experience three different and successive Sessions that will bring together the weekend’s learning and serve as a guide for when you get home.
7:00am - 7:45am • Sunday, March 28
6:30am - 8:00am • Sunday, March 19
$25 per person | Jump-start your day by joining us for breakfast! Breakfast on Sunday includes:
- Cage-Free Scrambled Eggs
- Applewood Smoked Bacon
- Signature Breakfast Potatoes
- Local and Seasonal Fruits and Berries
- Greek Yogurt Parfait Bar with House Made Granola, Low Fat Greek Yogurt, and Honey
- Selection of Chilled Juices
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Breakfasts are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
8:00am - 9:30am • Sunday, March 19
Let’s Talk Problem Solving Excellence
Ken Ramirez, Dr. Christopher Pachel, Chirag Patel, Kathy Sdao & Michael Shikashio
Course Type: Panel Discussion
Description: Join moderator Ken Ramirez and panelists Dr. Christopher Pachel, Chirag Patel, Kathy Sdao, and Michael Shikashio as they discuss how problem-solving excellence is defined and executed. Hear their unique perspectives, ask your own questions, and enjoy the stimulating discussion amongst leaders in the world of aggression and general problem-solving.
Let's Not Meet Halfway: Meeting Learners Where They Are
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: Bring your dog to this Dem-OH! and volunteer on the fly to demonstrate a concept in front of the audience! Volunteer Dem-OH! teams should have basic, intermediate, or advanced training skills and be able to work with their dogs effectively in a distracting environment with other dogs, props, and people nearby. Dogs should be familiar and comfortable:
•Walking up to and off of an elevated stage
•The acoustics of a microphone and speaker system
•Standing in close proximity to the speaker and other people.
•Basic targeting, go to mat behavior, general body tactile, and wearing a 15-foot line provided either by the handler or the speaker.
We will select approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers from the audience.
Other Dem-OH! courses will look for volunteers prior to the conference. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details in early 2023 about what criteria we are looking for.
Description: Excitement, exhilaration, and exhaustion. There’s an immense joy that comes with sharing our lives with an animal companion. But some days are harder than others for a variety of reasons. Whether it’s our own dog, cat, or horse, or a client’s animal reaching out for help, the challenges are real. At times, the solution isn’t easy to see. It’s easy to focus attention only on the animal learner, to blame the animal for goals that are not advancing. Learning to navigate empathy, with education focused on the handler, can help the dialogue advance more smoothly and with less frustration.
Join Laura Monaco Torelli for this new “Dem-OH!” that includes live demonstrations that take you through problem-solving and real-time dialogue narrated from Laura’s perspective. All of this will be occurring while a camera broadcasts the action on stage to the audience!
Cultivating New Learning
Course Type: Session
Description: It has been said that “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” So is a lot of learning. It sounds counterintuitive, but accumulated expertise can be the enemy of insight.
What is expertise if it is not the ability to accurately and efficiently separate wheat from chaff, nonsense from genius, something novel and worthwhile from something novel and worthless? Yet the benefits of expertise come with costs. We have natural, unconscious processes that solidify preferences; we use accumulated experience to sort volumes of information into patterns we recognize and dismiss data inconsistent with our prior learning. We may say we value new experiences and learning, but the more expertise we have, the less utility we find in each “additional” experience—“been there, done that.”
For Laura VanArendonk Baugh, ongoing excellence develops from cultivating new learning, using expertise to be receptive to new ideas but still filtering out the noise. A creative thinker, talented trainer, and successful author of both training books and speculative fiction, Laura will showcase the process of cultivating new learning with an emphasis on counterbalancing the natural processes that crowd out new learning just when it is needed most.
Join Laura to learn how your expertise can enhance your effectiveness over a lifetime of learning.
Office Hours with Debbie Martin
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversation about cooperative care, veterinary behavior, problem-solving—and anything else that comes up!
During this time block, there will be a 10-minute break for attendees to change rooms if they would like to attend Office Hours with Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz.
Office Hours with Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversation about behavioral science, teaching strong behaviors —and anything else that comes up!
During this time block, there will be a 10-minute break for attendees to change rooms if they would like to attend Office Hours with Debbie Martin.
9:30am - 10:00am • Sunday, March 19
10:00am - 11:30am • Sunday, March 19
Set the Rules So You Can Break Them: Balancing Structure With Innovation in Training
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: We will be looking for volunteers for this Dem-OH! prior to the conference. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details about what criteria we are looking for in early 2023.
Other Dem-OH! courses will select volunteers from the audience; read each course description for prerequisites.
Description: One of the hallmarks of excellent training is the ability to create a plan and stick to clear criteria. But successful trainers are also flexible and alter their plans based on feedback from their learners in the moment. Newer trainers often benefit from step-by-step guidelines and a rule book to follow. More experienced trainers seem to know exactly when to break the rules. Finding the right balance is important. If a training session is too tightly structured, protocol can upstage the learner. If a training session is too open-ended, it can result in lumping, confusion, or slow progress.
In this Dem-OH!, you will learn a simple way to structure, assess, and continually improve training sessions, a method that has room for innovation built right in. Instead of being paralyzed by over-planning, discover the joy of letting your learner lead the way. Demo participants will each be given a training challenge. We will use Three Act Training and the Brave Learning Rubric to tackle these challenges effectively one refinement at a time.
If you’ve ever found yourself unable to find the right starting point for a training project, or if you frequently get stuck halfway through, this is the Session for you!
Altered States: How the Decisions We Make Form the Story We Create
Course Type: Session
Description: A behavior assessment may include hundreds of individual moments where the professional can influence the outcome of the session. These moments—what we say or don’t say, what we ask or don’t ask, how we react, and how we talk—impact the responses and actions of both the animal and the client, directly or indirectly. This list of “infinite possibilities” can be overwhelming to consider, especially in real-time as an assessment unfolds in front of you! These moments matter, yet they seem almost impossible to manage.
Dr. Christopher Pachel found a way to manage through this dichotomy, opening up new levels of excellence in his behavioral consultations. His perspective is grounded in a recognition that there is rarely a “right” or “wrong” answer. That shift in thinking has been both liberating and empowering and has worked its way into the very core of how Dr. Pachel thinks about excellence in his field, how he practices and works with clients and their dogs, and why he is considered a top practitioner.
In this Session, Dr. Pachel will help you understand, explore, and experience how individual conversations can unfold in actual consultations and how dialogue informs both the assessment and the intervention recommendations.
Join Dr. Pachel as he shares his path and helps you see the possibilities of a similar approach in your own work with clients.
The Connection Between Reinforcement and Cues
Course Type: Session
Description: Whether we intend it to or not, an event marker will function as a cue for the behavior(s) that follows the click. If you observe your dog’s behavior closely during training, you can pick out what that behavior is—head-turning, moving toward your treat hand, or leaping forward in anticipation of a thrown ball. Likewise, a cue for any behavior (trained with positive reinforcement) also functions as a “click,” an event marker that reinforces the behavior that just preceded it.
In other words, the event marker is simply a cue with specific behavior attached to it; there are a variety of cues for the variety of behaviors. Karen Pryor, among others, has talked about cues as reinforcers and about event markers as cues at ClickerExpo; she has also written about cues in various papers and books. Event markers as cues is a very powerful concept! In her own work and coaching other teams, Hannah finds that connecting this concept to training practices and programs is a difference-maker for the handler, the dog, and results!
Join Hannah in this Session to learn how cues really work in the reinforcement process—and how to use them in your training.
Office Hours with Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. - Laura Monaco Torelli
Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D, Laura Monaco Torelli
Course Type: Office Hours
Description: Peek inside the minds of your favorite trainers through informal, open Q&A. Bring your dog for troubleshooting tips, ask questions, or just sit in on the spontaneous and candid conversations or demos about problem-solving, empathetic listening, cooperative care, teaching skills —and anything else that comes up!
For a more personalized experience, we will be offering Office Hours in separate rooms; faculty will come to you, so stay in your seat and see both!
While dogs are welcome in both rooms, we encourage those who are bringing a dog for troubleshooting tips to join us in the Rockbridge room where the layout will be more conducive to demonstrations.
Rockbridge Room
10:00 - 10:40 am: Laura Monaco Torelli
10:50 - 11:30 am: Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D.
Layton Room
10:00 - 10:40 am: Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D.
10:50 - 11:30 am: Laura Monaco Torelli
11:30am - 1:00pm • Sunday, March 19
$38 per person | Don’t miss out on the networking roundtable lunch, where you will have the opportunity to dive into more detail on topics of mutual interest with fellow attendees. Lunch on Sunday includes:
- Arugula with Cherry Tomato, Sweet Onions, Balsamic and Champagne Vinaigrette
- Chef’s Choice Hard Boiled Eggs or Egg Salad
- Panzanella Salad
- Braised Boneless Chicken Thighs
- Roast Top Round of Beef with Herb Demi-Glace
- Roasted Rosemary Red Bliss Potatoes
- Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli
- Bread Presentation
- Chef’s Selection of Home-Baked Cookies
- Julius Meinl Coffee and Tea
Lunches are prepared by the hotel and available for advance purchase only (no on-site purchases will be available). The last day to add or change meals is Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 11:59 pm EST.
Note: Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available. Your meal preference is based on your selection during registration. We will make every attempt to accommodate allergies and other special needs. Alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package! - SOLD OUT
Experience everything ClickerExpo has to offer and save $25 when you purchase all meals and special events! Our all-inclusive package includes:
- Breakfast Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lunch Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Friday Night Conference Dinner
- Saturday Night Social Event
All-Inclusive Meals and Events Package: $275 ($25 savings vs. purchasing individually!)
Please note: alcoholic beverages are not included in any meal or event unless otherwise noted.
1:00pm - 2:30pm • Sunday, March 19
Backstage Pass 2: Live Training Sessions Deconstructed
Hannah Branigan. Eva Bertilsson, Emelie Johnson Vegh & Chirag Patel
Course Type: Dem-OH!
Dem-OH! Volunteer Prerequisites: We will be looking for volunteers for this Dem-OH! prior to the conference. Dogs must be happy to work for food with new handlers and comfortable working around other dogs. Let us know you are interested in being a “Dem-OH! Volunteer” during registration and we’ll share more details about what criteria we are looking for in early 2023.
We will select approximately four (4) Dem-OH! Volunteers from the audience.
Other Dem-OH! courses will select volunteers from the audience; read each course description for prerequisites.
Description: The process of observing, asking questions, and discussing training can be tremendously helpful for all parties. It can also be confusing and frustrating. There are many skills in play in this process, in terms of what to look for, how to make sense of what you’re observing, and how to discuss it with others. Over the last year it has certainly become very clear that being able to get information from watching a video is a valuable skill! But what does skillful watching look like? How do you focus your eyes and your thoughts, what are relevant questions, and how do you give feedback on what the trainer (or you yourself) was actually trying to accomplish?
Come see Eva, Emelie, Chirag, and Hannah work dogs the way they would if they were working together on a regular basis. You’ll also see how they would go about talking about that training—sharing observations, asking questions, and venturing suggestions. It's an inside look into the thinking and decision-making of a skilled training team.
The trainer quartet will model the process of observing, deducting information, and asking questions. Observe along with them, all the while enjoying hands-on training from four great trainers. This course will demonstrate excellence in action and practice.
2:30pm - 3:30pm • Sunday, March 19
Is Positive Reinforcement a Gateway Drug? Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Course Type: Anchoring Excellence
Description: The intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation debate is really a story about cultural values. However, what does it mean to say that behavior should be maintained by intrinsic reinforcement? Despite our personal experiences of how behavior works, some of us yearn for a world where behavior occurs without tangible rewards. This perspective is often apparent in dog training when we defend ourselves from epithets such as “the cookie pushers!” In the face of such debate, this is exactly the right time to shine the light of science on the question: Is it desirable, or even possible, to behave without extrinsic consequences? In this Session, Susan will discuss the research on this ongoing debate to better support our understanding of these two opposing points of view and to share why focusing on tangible outcomes benefits our learners.
3:30pm - 3:45pm • Sunday, March 19
3:45pm - 5:15pm • Sunday, March 19
Let’s Talk About It All
Course Type: Panel Discussion
Description: You have just completed three full days of stimulating and mind-expanding presentations. What does it all mean? How will it change your training moving forward? How has 20 years of ClickerExpo changed our training and what does the future hold? Join moderator Aaron Clayton and panelists Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D., Alexandra Kurland, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, Emelie Johnson Vegh, Ken Ramirez, Hannah Branigan, Michele Pouliot, and Kathy Sdao as they discuss takeaways from the weekend. Some of your questions will be answered and each panelist will have closing thoughts about this unique ClickerExpo experience.