What’s the best way to train an animal? What about the best way to teach a human to train an animal? How can we use the science of behavior and learning to develop better training practices? In this section you’ll find lots of articles and information about the science of animal training, research that has been done on animal learning and behavior, and information about teaching people.
You’ve just started a training session with your animal learner. Your animal does several great reps of the behavior you’re teaching. Click and treat! Then, your animal does something you hadn’t anticipated. The behavior isn’t quite the same as your goal behavior… However, it’s pretty darn close to the behavior you want… You freeze! Should […]
Clicker training seems easy. You just click when the desired behavior occurs. However, it’s important that you click at precisely the right time. Experienced animal trainers understand the importance of good timing. If your clicks are often too early (or too late), you may accidentally reinforce the wrong behavior. If your timing is inconsistent, you […]
I’d like to share a quote with you from behavior analyst Dr. Beth Sulzer-Azaroff. I had something else planned for my blog this week, but I learned recently of the passing of Dr. Sulzer-Azaroff. I first came across Dr. Sulzer-Azaroff’s work a handful of years ago when I was redesigning an undergraduate class that I […]
A clicker can be used as a “conditioned reinforcer.” You may also hear dog trainers, horse trainers, or other animal trainers refer to the clicker as a marker signal, bridging stimulus, or secondary reinforcer. When the animal does the correct behavior, the trainer clicks the clicker and then follows the click with something the animal […]
I’ve been getting ready for our next animal training and behavior analysis science camp, which is happening this weekend. I’m looking forward to spending three days with Alexandra Kurland, Dr. Michaela Hempen, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, Anita Schnee, and what I know will be a wonderful group of attendees. I’ll be giving a presentation about the […]
Emotions can be a tricky subject. What is an emotion? Do animals have emotions the same way people do? Do emotions cause behavior? Is it important to pay attention to our animals’ emotions during training? We’ve had some discussion about emotions recently in the Listen and Learn online course (link). Emotions also made an appearance […]
