My name is Pam Sheehan and allow me again welcome you to 4paws training. I have been training dogs in the Tulsa, OK area for about 25 years. My personal dogs have been trained for obedience, tracking, search and rescue, canine musical freestyle, agility, flyball and rally obedience. Throughout these last 25 years, first as a volunteer and then as a professional instructor, I have gained experience with a wide variety of breeds.

A Border collie was my childhood dog but I began serious training with my Great Danes, Dinah and Mindy, which were trained in obedience. Then it was on to an English Setter, Katie, who received a #8 national ranking in obedience in 1985. Next came Kelly, a German Shepherd. Kelly and I worked diligently for several years learning about Search and Rescue. We trained with A FEMA instructor about working in disaster rescues. (Kelly and I assisted local authorities during the Catoosa tornado.) We went to Colorado to continue that training and add building searches (and even a little narcotics work) to our resume. I have come full circle as my current training partner is a Border Collie named Nike.  (We are pictured above performing to Yankee Doodle Dandy for the Tulsa SPCA - I'm the one in the hat!) Nike is my do everything dog.  We are on an adventure to learn and compete in all the dog sports. In addition to Nike, I have (new in March 2007) a 7 month old Whippet puppy named Gladwynn - call name "Wynn". And I have also added a Trix the cat to the household along with 2 Society Finches - who are now 7 and an adorable parakeet! 

I have been training people to train their dogs for almost 25 years. With my friend Jane Wittstock, DVM we began the first all-breed puppy kindergarten class in Tulsa and we believe in the state of OK - Puppy Pals.  Even when everyone said that you couldn't train puppies we were determined to find a way.  It is through our determination to have the best puppy class we could, that we learned the art of the behavior science of Operant Conditioning.  It was a wonderful discovery to learn that we didn't have to use pain, we didn't have to pop and jerk a dog around to teach him to come, to walk at heel, to sit and not jump on people.  We have never looked back. 

Through this web site I hope to introduce more  people to benefits of using operant conditioning  - “clicker training,” as their training method of choice.  This is a very gentle training method using positive reinforcement instead of choke chains and pinch collars. Clicker training is the same training method used at our own Tulsa Zoo in addition to training animal actors for stage and screen, zoo animals, and even Shamu, the Killer Whale. I believe that if Sea World Trainers can teach a Killer Whale to piddle in a cup, dogs can learn to come when they are called and not jump on company without resorting to pain to train!

don't have a dog? clicker training  is not limited to dogs alone. Cats, goats, horses, birds, fish, llamas or any animal that likes to eat, will respond to operant conditioning training techniques. Private lessons are available for training animals other than dogs.

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Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Pam Sheehan — No portion of this web site may be reproduced without written permission.