Tag Archives: ClickerSolutions

Farewell, ClickerSolutions!

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Melissa

The ClickerSolutions mailing list (on YahooGroups) closed to new posts today.

St. Doug gathered some stats and let us know that it ran for 18 years, 6 months, and 13 days. There are currently 6516 members, and there were 232,981 posts. (That’s an average of almost 36 per day.)

I left the day-to-day management of the list to Greta Kaplan in 2007, and did a wonderful job managing it for the last 11 years. She took care of it far longer than I did. You have no idea how much I appreciate that. I didn’t tell her that often enough. I am so grateful that she kept it going for so long.

So much magic happened there. When Debbie Otero and I started ClickerSolutions nearly 20 years ago, we did so because we wanted a place to focus on positive solutions. There were two other general lists at the time — good ones with excellent info — but they too often focused on punishment and how to stop behavior. We wanted not to demonize punishment, but to provide a place where trainers could safely explore alternative solutions.

I met so many wonderful people there. Many are friends I will treasure forever. That list made me a better writer, a better trainer — and God knows, it made me a better person. I feel honored to have been a part of it and to have helped the people I helped.

There is a ClickerSolutions group here on Facebook (and you are all invited to join!), but it really isn’t needed. Unlike when we started the mailing list, there are now a plethora of GOOD, POSITIVE dog training groups on Facebook for just about every skill you could want to train. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a whole lot of those trainers — or the trainers of those trainers — spent some time on ClickerSolutions along the way.

Thank you to all the beloved members of ClickerSolutions — especially you, Greta — for an amazing 18-and-a-half years. I love you all!