Karen Pryor

Karen Pryor’s life work defies labels. As a marine mammal trainer in the 1960s, she was a pioneer in the use of behavioral science to develop the dolphin shows at Sea Life Park. While there, she was the curator and head trainer, and did ground-breaking work on animal behavior and cognition. Her work at Sea Life Park led to the first scientific paper on training creativity in animals.

Karen Pryor saw the big picture, and understood how these training techniques could create empathetic and effective communication not just with marine mammals, but with all other animals, and amongst humans. She put those ideas into her book Don’t Shoot the Dog! (published 1984). This became an international bestseller (and continues to be to this day). What was outlined in the book became embraced by animal trainers, and eventually turned into what is now called clicker training, which is a positive and humane way to work with animals.

Throughout her life, Karen Pryor has seen problems and looked for doable solutions. As a young mother, she wasn’t satisfied with the advice that she was given about breastfeeding. So she did research, and went on to write Nursing Your Baby, which since 1963 has been continually in print (and revised) and has helped millions of mothers.

Her work in the early 1960s as a marine mammal trainer at Sea Life Park was at the beginning of the era of such places. Handed an obtuse scientific manual for how to train, she delved into the science. Unlike many in the behavior sciences world, Karen Pryor looked to other fields, including ethology and neurobiology. She learned directly from such luminaries as B. F. Skinner and Konrad Lorenz, and in doing so revolutionized how animals are trained.

Karen’s skill and creativity as a writer and lecturer has helped to spread her message throughout the world. Her company, Karen Pryor Clicker Training, is a leader in the education of animal trainers, and runs ClickerExpo which has taught thousands how to use positive reinforcement. Animals in captivity are now handled more humanely and dogs are trained without force and pain. Her ground-breaking and insightful work has improved the lives of humans, too. Autistic children are taught without punishment, athletes improve without being yelled at, crews on fishing boats learn tasks quickly and safely, orthopedic surgeons gain skills under calm tutelage, and mothers can feel good about nursing their babies.

The list of those affected by Karen Pryor’s work is too numerous to fully include here, and the roster continues to grow. Her influence is seen in the many scientific papers that cite her articles, how far-flung and fully embraced her training methods have become, and how others are carrying out her work and bringing her perspective to diverse communities.