01/05/2025
RIP Karen Pryor. You changed so many beliefs in life. You changed my life so many years ago when I had the priveledge of meeting you and attending some of your lectures.
Karen Pryor
Biography
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 saw 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.
Education
Institution Dates
Cornell University 1950–1954 B.A.
University of Hawaii 1959–1962 Graduate study
New York University 1977–1979 Graduate study
Rutgers University 1979–1982 Graduate study
Teaching
Organization Dates Position
Hunter College, Department of Psychology 2012–2018 Associate Faculty
TAGteach International, LLC 2002–2018 Co-founder, CEO and lecturer
Karen Pryor Clicker Training
Karen Pryor Academy
ClickerExpo 1998–2014 CEO and Director for educational programs, course design, instruction, faculty hiring, training and supervision
Sunshine Books, Inc. 1992–1998 Founder, CEO, editor
Sea Life Park and Oceanic Institute
Waimanalo, Hawaii 1963–1972 Co-founder, developer, curator, head trainer
Research
Institution Dates Title
Hunter College, Master’s program in Animal Behavior and Conservation 2012–2018 Co-Director of research in canine behavior (unofficial)
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Montefiore Medical Center
Bronx, NY 2014–2018 Co-Principal Investigator
Karen Pryor Clicker Training
Waltham, Mass. 2014–2017 Director of Research
National Marine Fisheries Service
Washington, DC 1978–1980 Principal Investigator
U.S. Tuna Foundation
San Diego, California 1974–1982 Scientific Advisor
Oceanic Institute
Waimanalo, Hawaii 1964–2002 Researcher
U.S. Office of Naval Research
San Diego, California 1964–1967 Principal Investigator
Other professional activities
2007–2010 : Board Member, B. F. Skinner Foundation
1999–2023 : Board Member, The Pryor Foundation
1998–1999 : Consultant on operant training for children on the autism spectrum, New England Center for Autism
1992–1999 : Founder and chair, Animal Behavior Special Interest Group, Association for Behavior Analysis International
1985–1992 : Expert witness on marine mammal behavior, U.S. Federal Courts (San Diego, Florida and Washington DC), U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives
1965–2017 : Worldwide consultant and lecturer on animal training and behavior science
Invited graduate seminars
2015 : Tufts University, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine
2015 : University of Wisconsin Veterinary School
2012 : Harvard University Brain Science Center
2012–2017 : Hunter College, CUNY, NY
1974–2017 : Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, Rockefeller University, Adelphi University, University of California at Los Angeles, Washington State University, University of Florida, University of Kansas, University of North Texas, University of Trondheim (Norway), University of Tromsø Medical School (Norway), University of Washington, Washington State University
Keynote addresses
2015 : TAGteach International Summit, Verona, Italy
2014 : Precision Teaching, Chicago
2004, 2010 : Southwestern Psychological Association
1995 : California Association for Behavior Analysis
1994 : Delta Society
1994, 1999 : International Marine Animal Trainers Association
1993 : Northwest Association for Behavior Analysis
1992 : President’s Invited Scholar’s address, Association for Behavior Analysis International
1987, 2013 : Florida Association for Behavior Analysis
1985, 1989, 1998 : National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors
Outside Recognition
1998–2001 : Member, Board of Trustees, Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies
1984–1987 : U.S. Marine Mammal Commission: Appointed Federal Commissioner by President Ronald Reagan
National television appearances: Good Morning America (2009), NBC Monitor, ABC News, National Geographic Explorer, Wild Kingdom, What’s My Line, and others
Academic and Professional Honors
2019 : Ig Nobel Prize for Medical Education
2017 : Edward L. Anderson Jr. Award, The Art and Science of Animal Training
2017 : Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award
2014 : Trainer of the Year, Purina ProPlan 60th Annual Show Dogs of the Year Awards
2014 : Lifetime Achievement Award, Association of Professional Dog Trainers
2010 : Certificate of Excellence Award, Magazine Article–Behavior and Training, Cat Writers’ Association
2009 : Maxwell Award for Best Training and Behavior Book, Dog Writers Association of America, for Reaching the Animal Mind: What Clicker Training Teaches Us about All Animals
2002 : Maxwell Award, Dog Writers Association of America
2001 : Tidy Cats Feline Behavior Award, Cat Writers’ Association
2001 : Certificate of Excellence Award, Books: Behavior & Training, Cat Writers’ Association, for Getting Started: Clicker Training for Cats
1997 : Annual Award, Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media, Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis
1985 : La Leche League International Founders’ Award
1984 : Maxwell Award for Best Training and Behavior Book, Dog Writers Association of America, for Don’t Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training
1984 : National Award for Excellence in the Media, American Psychological Association, for Don’t Shoot the Dog! The New Art of Teaching and Training
Membership in Professional Societies
2014 : Honorary Life Member, Association of Professional Dog Trainers
Animal Behavior Society
Association for Behavior Analysis International
The Authors Guild
Society of Woman Geographers
Personal
Karen Pryor was born on May 14, 1932. Her father was the noted author Philip Gordon Wylie. Her mother Sally Ondeck Wylie was an antiques dealer. Married Taylor A. “Tap” Pryor in 1954 (divorced 1975). Three children: Ted, Michael and Gale. Married Jon Morrow Lindbergh in 1983 (divorced 1997). Karen Wylie Pryor passed away January 4, 2025 at age 92.
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About Karen Pryor
Karen Pryor had many interests. She was an observer of the smallest detail (as a child she studied butterfly anatomy) but what made her life's work exceptional was that she also saw the big picture. It would have been enough that Karen was one of the first marine mammal trainers who used behavior science and positive reinforcement, but she took that experience and turned it into a culture-changing perspective on animal behavior, communication between species, and humanity. We are all fortunate that Karen was an effective and engaging writer, making her observations accessible to readers worldwide.
She initially learned about behavior theory as a pioneering dolphin trainer in the 1960s. But early on she had mentors from fields that rarely intersected, such as behaviorist B. F. Skinner and ethologist Konrad Lorenz. Karen has said: “I consider my gifts as a scientist to be the ability to synthesize apparently opposing fields of thought and to apply theory in the real world.”
In the real world, using her perspective, she brought positive reinforcement (clicker) training to the dog and zoo worlds, gave confidence to hundreds of thousands of breast-feeding women, developed techniques for teaching people with autism, and changed how surgeons learn their skills which in turn creates less stressful and more error-free operation rooms. The common thread through all of her work is how she effectively reduces gratuitous violence and creates a culture that is productive, yet filled with kindness.
