Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Have you ever trained a puppy? You got this squirmy, silly, sweet ball of fluff and suddenly you either had to teach the puppy rules and manners, or else you had to live with the random chewing and smelly little mistakes that happen without training.

For most of the last century, dog training was best described as “jerk and yell.” You put a training collar on your dog and as soon as he did something wrong, you issued a verbal correction (often “NO!!”) and jerked on the collar. Thankfully, dog training has come a looooooong way since then. Dolphin trainer Karen Pryor wrote a breakthrough book in 1984 entitled “Don’t Shoot the Dog! – The New Art of Teaching and Training.” Through her work with dolphins, she saw that positive reinforcement was the fastest, most reliable way of teaching any species. The book is considered foundational to those who train their dogs in this century and is also a very useful look at how to train people.

Yes, people. In her book, Karen describes specific pos...

Quick – name a teacher who helped shape who you are today. If you’re like most people, and like me, you can name a few.

Mrs. Sharrett, my 4^th grade teacher, who made paying attention pay off. She used operant conditioning on her willing subjects, making intentional mistakes and paying the first student to point it out with a piece of candy from a special drawer in her desk.

Mr. Buhn, my high school physics teacher, a man completely grounded in science and yet still fun in the way he taught his passion. He was delighted when his class gave him membership to the Flat Earth Society. He used their monthly newsletter as a springboard for lessons on how things really work.

Miss Gardner, my performing arts teacher and coach, who took raw talent, lit a fire under its container, and created the knowledge and belief that I would be a performer. And I was, for three decades, a very successful major market radio personality. Thank you for believing in me, Miss Gardner!

Teachers might just be t...