Program
Where are we now? Where are we going?
March 20, 2009
Six of the best minds in equine, avian, canine, and marine mammal specialties will speak on what the science of behavior and the craft of teaching have shown us about interacting, living and communicating with animals. These animal and behavior experts will share their wisdom, gleaned over the decades, about the present and the future of animal training. The day will close with an open panel discussion, chaired by Dr. Jesus Rosales-Ruiz.
Bob Bailey (Keynote Speaker): Training the Animal is the Easy Part: Animal Trainer’s Search for a Behavioral Touchstone
Steve White: Skinner and World Collide! Film at 11:00
Ken Ramirez: Evolution of the Zoo Trainer: A Personal Perspective
Steve Martin: The Art of Training
Kay Laurence: Reinforcement Patterns, Reinforcement Styles and How They Affect the Outcomes
Alexandra Kurland: Going Micro: The Evolution of Equine Clicker Training
Conference notes
Some notes from the 2009 conference are available at StaleCheerios.com
Conference abstracts
Bob Bailey (Keynote Speaker): Training the Animal is the Easy Part: Animal Trainer’s Search for a Behavioral Touchstone
Bob Bailey unfortunately was unable to attend the 2009 conference.
However, he sent this letter which was read at the conference.
To my Applied Behavior Colleagues and other ORCA Conference attendees:
Good Morning, and welcome to this ORCA Conference. My deepest thanks to Dr. Rosales-Ruiz for the invitation to speak here. I am most honored to included in this program. Jesus and ORCA should be congratulated for their efforts to bring together this incredible group of behavioral practitioners. It is inspiring consider how many decades of animal training experience is assembled before you.
In case you haven’t noticed by now, this is not Bob Bailey presenting; I wish it were, but it’s not. If I could be there I would be. After all, I am still a student of behavior and, like you; I want to learn from this talented group of speakers. But, last week, I underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery. Everything went well. The cardiac surgeon’s behavior was impeccable, though I must admit that I had little to do with arranging the consequences of his behavior. I am on the road to recovery. I am sitting at the computer right now with my newly redesigned heart. I am thinking of what I would have said if I were there with you. What can I say in a few minutes.
I know I would have said animal training is both a technology and a craft. It is a technology based on a science of behavior. It is a craft that employs physical skills. Animal training is a mechanical skill. Applied animal behavior, or animal training, can be passed from teacher to student. We can learn to change our own behavior. We can teach others to change their behavior. We can advance the field of animal behavior.
Ancient animal trainers were skilled at their craft. In many ways they were very effective animal trainers. However, there was little understanding of how behavior changed. There was very little objectivity. There was an almost universal search for a “touchstone” or magical methodology for changing behavior. The search for mysterious behavioral mechanisms restricted the horizons of early animal trainers. Then came science and the application of the scientific method. Biology, psychology, and other sciences added to our understanding of the “why” and “how” of behavior.
In spite of the rise of science and the scientific method there still seems to be some human “need” to provide over-simplified or poorly understood explanations for why we do what we do. As trainers we are sometimes prone to accept glib and unproven explanations. We sometimes fail to ask the question – “is this true?” We sometimes fail to test our hypotheses. A new training fad comes down the pike and we accept it because others say that it works. I suggest that animal trainers should keep an open mind, but be willing to accept a healthy skepticism of what appears to be obvious. I suggest that animal trainers should try new methods; but, not to prove that the new method works, but to establish “does the new method work.”
I believe the “touchstone” of science should be the careful application of the scientific method. I believe the touchstone of modern, scientific animal training should be the same – application of the scientific method. We may have our “pet” training method that we think works best. We teach others that our method is best. How do we know this method is best? Where is the data? Are we willing to admit when our method doesn’t work best? Are we simply marketing a methodology? Are we selling something? Is this an ego trip? Are we willing to teach “the real thing” rather than some glitzy fad? These are questions that each of you, as teachers and animal trainers, should ask yourself. I commend each of you for giving your time and your hard earned dollars to attend this ORCA conference to hear the words of those who have spent much of their lives applying and teaching the technology and craft of animal training.
If I represent animal training’s past, those of you listening to this are animal training’s future. Animal training has been kind to me. Animal training has provided food for my table and been a source of intellectual stimulation for half a century. I have tried to pass on to others what I have learned. I have tried to pass on this information with a minimum of distortion.
Before signing off, let me say that I was most touched by the enormous outpouring of emails, cards, letters, flowers, and even foodstuffs over the last week. The offering by some to come to Hot Springs to attend me left me speechless. All I can say is that I am the most fortunate of men. My deepest thanks for your kind attention.
Bob Bailey
Steve White: Skinner and World Collide! Film at 11:00
Many modern trainers base their methods on the work of behaviorist B. F. Skinner and his scientific successors. As a result, methods using positive reinforcement and bridging signals are gaining popularity. Opponents claim that Skinnerian methods that worked well in the sterility of the lab are doomed to fail in our messy “real world”, and they bring some anecdotal and statistical evidence to bolster their case. This presentation will surprise you as it examines this evidence and uncovers two common . . . and possibly disturbing . . .. threads running through both conventional training and modern operant methods. In the end, we will address the one question every trainer must ask himself/herself before training any animal.
Ken Ramirez: Evolution of the Zoo Trainer: A Personal Perspective
As a training professional, my journey began in the 1970’s. Through the course of my career I have worked with guide dogs, marine mammals, birds of prey, primates, big cats, and eventually came full circle back to dogs. The trajectory of my career has followed and mirrored the changes taking place throughout the world of professional training. I will use my personal experiences to describe the unique changes I have witnessed in the profession; starting with traditional dog training and continuing through the growth of positive reinforcement in the dog community. Meanwhile in the zoo community, my career began in a show environment and transitioned through research training, the growth of science based training, and ultimately returned full circle to show training with a new perspective and new goals. This presentation will focus on several of the highlights including husbandry training, remote training, chaining, unique animal applications and much more.
Steve Martin: The Art of Training
Training is as much an art form as it is a science. Though all animal training has a solid foundation in the science of behavior, it is often the little things that we don’t read in psychology books or “Don’t Shoot The Dog” that have the most important influence on our training practices. These are things we often do in our training sessions every day, like preparing the environment for success. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are doing them, like building trustful relationships on solid foundations of positive experiences. Sometimes we keep them to ourselves because they are not in the training protocol and we are not sure if we are supposed to be doing them, like giving an animal the power to influence its environment … including our body language. This presentation will explore some training practices that don’t get as much attention as the mainstream training protocols.
Kay Laurence: Reinforcement Patterns, Reinforcement Styles and How They Affect the Outcomes
Many times we think we have rewarded the dog, on too many occasions this has not reinforced the behaviour we were looking for, it just made us feel good. This is neither efficient or effective teaching or fair on our dogs who struggle so hard to learn from us. We all develop different patterns of reinforcement. We fall into lazy training habits that suit our skills and beliefs instead of learning to measure exactly what is happening to the behaviours we are teaching. The location of delivery, the style of the delivery, the type of reinforcer and value of the reinforcer all influence the behaviour and without careful thought and planning we can diminish the very behaviours we are trying to strengthen. Stepping away from the traditional forms of training, even traditional clicker training, can be uncomfortable. Examination of your techniques will either prompt a change, or reinforce that you were on the right track all along and doing a pretty good job. With either outcome, making that step aside should be done regularly and diligently to keep our teaching at the very best we can offer.
Alexandra Kurland: Going Micro: The Evolution of Equine Clicker Training
Clicker training begins simply enough. In the horse world we generally introduce horses to the clicker using six foundation lessons. These six, simple lessons often become complicated by several factors – the size, speed and power of the animal we are dealing with, any physical issues brought about by poor conformation or poorly understood riding technique, and a general horse culture that believes deeply in the need for correction. The end result: poisoned cues.
To deal with the poisoned cue scenario in horses I have been evolving a variety of strategies that circumvent the poisoned cue behavior we see. These strategies help people understand the difference between being a clicker trainer – someone who focuses on the behavior they want and is non-reactive to unwanted behavior – as opposed to a handler who uses the clicker to mark desired behavior but also mixes in corrections. The lecture will begin with a brief discussion of poisoned cues: what they are and how they manifest themselves in horses. We’ll then consider strategies for dealing with poisoned cue behavior, including the microshaping strategy and the “Yes Answer” game – backchaining your way forward. We’ll also look at “loopy training” what that means and how it helps you to recognize good training mechanics.