Interview with professional clicker trainer, Cherie Mascis

April 26, 10:26 AMClicker Training ExaminerEve Alexander

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Cherie, I am honored to know you, and very thrilled that you let me interview you today.

How did you get into clicker training?
I first learned about Operant Conditioning and clicker training while attending Moorpark College's Exotic Animal Training and Management Program in 1977. We clicker trained rats for a final exam! As a first year student (usually not allowed to train until the second year), I got to clicker train two very mean parrots because none of the second year students wanted to! 

I was then hired at Busch Bird Sanctuary (Busch Gardens) to present the parrot show.  I later did educational animal programs in the park and at school assemblies at Magic Mountain and then hired on at Marine World Africa USA as a Vet Tech and later the Curator of Birds, in charge of the parrot show and in-park display birds. My husband and I later started Animal Trax where we presented educational animal programs to schools, and did several themed programs for the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.

What species have you clicker trained?
A goldfish, rats, chickens, goats, sheep, horses, parrots of all types, raccoons, wolves, coyotes, dogs, a cheetah, llamas, raptors (birds of prey), a giant Indian fruit bat, and a killer whale.

What was your proudest clicker training achievement.
One of my most enjoyable moments was when I was 17 and working with those two little parrots at Moorpark College. They were imported conures that had been caught in the wild as adults and never really taken to captivity or humans (can't blame them!).  I got to work with them because when anyone tried to handle them the parrots grabbed them with their beak, chewed and hung on! 

The first time one of the birds had that "light bulb" moment, and ran over to a tiny wagon, hopped on and then looked at me expectantly waiting for the click was very exciting for both of us!  I was thinking, "Wow, I can get him to want to do these things, even though he's not too fond of people" and he was probably thinking, "Wow, I can train her to give me treats"!

My proudest moment was working with a six year old BLM mustang that I had adopted after she'd been to two adoptions and not been bid on. Nobody wanted an older, wild mare. She was probably my biggest training challenge and far more dangerous than any of the exotic animals I'd worked with. If she felt hemmed in, she would charge at you, snapping teeth and striking with her front hooves!

I did a lot of approach and retreat and then started working with a few other horses where she could watch. She gradually kept creeping closer and got where I could get her to come pretty close, click her and drop grain in a bucket.  I gradually added touching, then brushing, and later, picking her feet up. Haltering and leading was hard for her because she'd had some experience with wranglers chasing her, roping her, etc. and that took several weeks.

Then one day I called to her and she quickly trotted over to me and put her head in a halter ... that was very rewarding and exciting!

You now have your own pet clicker training business. What species do you work with most?
Most of my client's pets are dogs, but I also work with horses (hoof trimming manners, ground manners and trailer loading are the biggies),  parrots, and occasionally, exotics. I've been doing some work with the Western North Carolina Nature Center  staff. Tightening up some animal handling and husbandry skills with donkeys, raptors, and the wolves.

What are the most common problems you see with your clients and their pets?
Behavior problems? Dragging people around on a leash, not coming when called, and jumping up on people (all easy to fix).

Training problems? Consistency and patience. We live in a rapid-pace world where everything happens instantly and while clicker training is a very easy method to learn (click when the animal is doing something you like), it works best and our animals retain the information better when the desired behavior is broken down into small steps.

Setting aside a few minutes a day to train is very important and easy!  You can do it in small increments throughout the day or in one or two longer sessions. Whatever suits your schedule.

Do you find that your clients are receptive to clicker training?
Yes, many people have been unsuccessful and uncomfortable with the more aggression-based training methods and are very happy to find a gentler and more effective method.

What is the greatest challenge you find in teaching your clients to clicker train their pets?
It takes a little while to get the timing of when to click so you are clicking as the behavior you want is happening and there's a bit of coordination in getting the reward to the animal quickly but the biggest challenge is helping people overcome some of the misconceptions about clicker training-"Your animal will only work for food."; "Your horse will bite if you use treats.", "Your animal will only behave for other clicker trainers"; "You have to carry food and a clicker everywhere, forever."

Any advice for people just starting out in clicker training? 
Congratulations!  You and your pet will love it!  It's so great to have a willing partner in training. It's easier to get a few lessons, and watch someone with experience demonstrate the basics, but if you don't have any experienced clicker trainers in your area, Karen Pryor's www.clickertraining.com is a great site with articles by many well-known trainers and they have a large variety of training tools, excellent videos, DVDs, and books.

Thank you Cherie. Your company is called Positive Pet Training Solutions and you can be reached at pettraining@bellsouth.net or by telephone at 828-400-9830.

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Karen Pryor's Clicker Training