The talk for tomorrow has the long and intriguing title of “Professional Secrets to Dog Training” but really… none of it is a secret. We have 50 minutes to present the talk to an over-filled room (65 attendees, more have called to ask if they can sneak in!) at the “largest 4-H gathering in the U.S.”
Our session has video, photos, and hands on activities. Here’s a sneak peak of the session
Before a Session
Practice anything you can without your animal. Delivering reinforcers. Holding equipment. Feeding treats. Plan your session by knowing your goal, where you are now, and the steps in between. Prepare your work environment. Know your learner and what he likes and doesn’t like and what he does and how he moves.
Reinforce
What is a reinforcer by definition? How many can we list? How can we feed a treat without our fingers getting hurt? How can we feed or play in different ways? How does the placement of reinforcer impact the behavior? What about value of reinforcer?
Behaviors
Let’s pretend to be ethologists and describe some behavior! How can we look at it without bias? How can we get behavior with capturing? Luring? Shaping?
Cues
What is a cue? When do we add a cue? How do we add a cue to behaviors? How do we change a cue?
Additional Notes
And if we have time, we’ll take questions and talk about all the ways we could get behavior and a few more videos.