A New Clicker Training Book, For Kids

“When are you going to do a kids’ book?” I kept hearing. “About clicker training, but written for kids?”

In my day job in animal behavior, I’d written two training books which have done very well, but nothing for kids, and there is not a lot of material out there for young trainers.

Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, & Clickers

I thought a clicker training book for kids was a great idea. Clicker training is not only good training, it’s available to people who are not big, strong, or dexterous enough to use traditional coercive techniques, and I am in full support of teaching young minds to use positive reinforcement and thoughtful planning instead of force or punishment to get what they want. However, I couldn’t figure out how I should do it.

Continue reading

Celebrating 2017 — With Loot

list of handwritten creative ideas
I need a bigger fire for all my  irons.

We need to step back sometimes to be able to see the bigger picture.

I had been a little down on myself for not publishing as much as I’d wanted and being behind on my idea list. I have a beefy project list that feels like I’ll never catch up. (I wrote it out as an Idea Debt Inventory for a productivity lesson. Lemme tell ya, that’s simultaneously inspiring — look how much I can create! — and super-depressing.)

But then I started doing the math for this year, and wow, I’ve had a more productive year than I thought. No wonder I felt busy.

Continue reading

Social, Civil, and Savvy: a new non-fiction book

So I’ve been working very hard, and I’ve dropped a few hints, and I’m finally ready to reveal it: I have a new training and behavior book coming out soon!

(Animal training and behavior is my day job, when I’m not letting my imaginary friends irritate each other for fun and profit.)

Continue reading