Choosing Your Courses
LIVE (virtual) • January 24 & 25, 2025
There are courses available for every experience level and nearly every area of interest. This guide will help you navigate your choices and make the most of your ClickerExpo experience. You do not need to reserve a spot for most courses, so you can register without knowing your full schedule. Follow these easy steps to make the right course choices!
1. Track Your Interests
- Tracks! This year at ClickerExpo LIVE, courses are curated into Tracks. Tracks are an easy way for you to locate all the courses we offer on the topics of interest to you! A track always has at least four courses in it, and our largest Track – Expanding Skills (the beating heart of ClickerExpo LIVE) - has seven courses.
- So easy! Courses in a track have been scheduled to avoid overlap, so you can see all the courses in a single Track without conflicts.
- Mix and match. Unlike other conferences, you are not locked into any Track! Your registration is open-ended, so you can participate in courses from as many Tracks as you like.
- Choice, simplified. Tracks are a convenient way to navigate the many course choices at ClickerExpo LIVE and easily find the courses that match your areas of interest. Filter by Track and see the titles, descriptions, faculty, and timing of all the courses in that Track.
The Tracks are where it’s at! There are 11 tracks at ClickerExpo LIVE. See the list of all 11 tracks below and go to the Program page to begin filtering by Track.
Aggression & Problem Solving
These courses are for trainers working with behavior issues, including, but not limited to, management of reactivity and aggression.
Cooperative Care / Veterinary
These courses focus on skill development and knowledge useful in husbandry and medical procedures, both at home and in veterinary environments.
Enrichment
These courses focus on understanding enrichment as a training strategy and skill to achieve behavior change, solve problems, and enhance well-being.
Expanding Skills
These courses showcase innovative approaches, refinement of techniques, new protocols, or new perspectives.
Foundational Skills
These courses are designed specifically for those with limited or no experience in market-based positive reinforcement training or for those seeking a solid refresher in the topic. Foundational courses are all included in the “core curriculum,” which maps out a recommended set of courses for those newer to the field.
High-Performance Training
These courses help build the skills and knowledge needed for performance in environments where outcomes are measured and results matter, whether on stage, in the ring, or out in the field.
Horses, Cats, Birds, and More
These courses cover training and behavior for non-canine species. See the individual courses to find the subject species of a particular course.
Science & Applied Behavior Analysis
These courses look at building training knowledge and skill through the lens of applied behavior analysis and behavioral science.
Service Dogs
These courses specifically cover skills and knowledge useful for the training of service dogs and service dog behaviors.
Shelters & Dogs from Shelters
These courses address issues common to shelter environments and rescue work, as well as adopting or working with dogs from those environments.
Teaching Others
These courses help build the skills and knowledge for being a more effective and more satisfied teacher of others, including clients and colleagues in individual, group, and online settings.
Tracks in the Conference Program are filterable so that you can easily find the tracks that interest you.
2. Assess your skill and
knowledge level
All Levels
- Some All Levels courses give attendees the opportunity to explore aspects of training and behavior to which they rarely have access.
- Other All Levels courses are appropriate for everyone because they teach a set of skills or provide information that everyone needs but few have developed.
- Still, other All Levels courses address a specialty topic that will be interesting and informative no matter what your experience level.
Foundation
Foundation courses are intended for attendees not yet familiar with and comfortable applying the basic methods and science of positive reinforcement training.
Students may already have had some formal education and may have some experience in animal training. Even if you are an expert in a related field, such as veterinary medicine, the Foundation rating refers solely to your training expertise and, in particular, to your knowledge of, and experience applying the science, tools, and methods of positive reinforcement training.
Intermediate
Intermediate courses assume that attendees have a working knowledge of the vocabulary of clicker training and operant conditioning. Students should have already learned to train basic behaviors with a marker signal, know how to put behaviors on cue, and have several behaviors with their dogs solidly on cue.
Note that Intermediate Learning Labs often require that participating Animal/Handler Spotlight Teams have specific training and skills.
Advanced
Advanced courses assume attendees have a solid understanding of learning theory and the vocabulary of training and operant conditioning, as well as considerable experience in applying these techniques and teaching others. Advanced courses often offer students refinements of techniques, evolving perspectives on science, a focus application of training and behavior change under specific conditions, and help elevate the teaching of other people.
Advanced courses assume that attendees routinely train by shaping and targeting, have many behaviors reliably on cue, have built behavior chains, know how to rename cues, understand antecedent arrangements, can problem solve effectively, draw up and adjust training plans and so forth.
Note that the dog you work with in an Advanced Learning Lab should be accustomed to the shaping process and know how to initiate behavior and try new things without prompting or luring. Learning Labs often require participating Animal/Handler Spotlight Teams to have specific training and skills. Please do not try to work with less experienced dogs in these Labs.
3. Review the program
Dem-OH!
Learn about a training topic and watch it come to life! Live demonstrations from world-class trainers working with their animals or with colleagues’ animals from around the globe. Includes demonstrations, presentation, and audience Q&A.
Learning Lab
Participate from home alongside trainers and teachers and your animals! Practice the exercises with your own animals during designated working times or sign up for one of the limited Spotlight spots to also get coaching from the presenter(s) in view of the virtual audience. Includes audience Q&A and, usually, a presentation and a live demonstration, too!
Let's Talk! (Panel Discussions)
Delve into a specific topic in a moderated discussion with a panel of speakers gathered together on our virtual stage, with time for audience Q&A. Ready for lively discussion, unique perspectives, and the expertise of those who are the best at what they do? Let’s Talk!
Webinar
Prefer a traditional online presentation? We’ve got those, too! These courses are for attendees who like learning from a webinar-style presentation, with time for Q&A.
Important!
ClickerExpo LIVE registration includes access to all courses PLUS access to all the conference course recordings for one year. Conference recordings are expected to be available within one week of the event.
Participate from home alongside trainers and teachers and your animals! Practice the exercises with your own animals during designated working times or sign up for one of the limited Spotlight Spots to also get coaching from the presenter(s) in view of the virtual audience. Includes audience Q&A and, usually, a presentation and a live demonstration, too!
Spotlight Spots (limited and require pre-registration):
- Spotlight Spots are designed for you to work directly with the Faculty and Speakers with your animal. These Labs have a limited number of Animal/Handler Spotlight Team spots available at $19.95.
Make sure to read the course descriptions fully.
Prefer to work with your animal off-camera without Faculty feedback, or simply observe? That’s fine too, and no pre-registration is required in that case.
