Dr. Karen Pryor
Dr. Karen Pryor is a behavioral biologist, a poineering
dolphin trainer, an authority on applied operant conditioning,
and an established author. She lives in Watertown, Ma. She has
three children, six grandchildren, and a dog, a Border Terrier.
Karen is publisher and editor in chief of Sunshine Books,
Inc. She is the author of the acclaimed book Don't Shoot the
Dog. Her publishing company is also in the business of making
videos about "clicker training". Karen has written
seven other books and over fifty scientific and popular articles
on learning and behavior.
Pryor's book, Don't Shoot the Dog, is known as the
"bible" for dog trainers. It is in it's sixteenth
printing. Don't Shoot the Dog is a book about
"clicker training". "Clicker training" is a
new way to train dogs to behave without using punishment. Just
about every dog trainer has either read or owns her book.
Pryor went to Cornell University and did some graduate work
in zoology and behavioral biology at Rutgers and NYU. Later, she
went on to become co-founder of Hawaii's Sea Life Park and
Oceanic Institute. There she served as a curator and pioneering
head dolphin trainer.
Then, in 1987, she started giving dog training seminars.
First it was hundreds. Then it was thousands. Now she's on the
internet reaching millions and billions.
After that she went on to serve with the U. S. Government as
marine mammal expert and Federal Commissioner and consults to
private industry on behavior and training.
Pryor's teaching style is non-coercive. That may be the
reason that it is so widely used in zoos for handling wild
animals and also for the medical treatment of them. That may also
be the reason that dog trainers use it so much, too.