2015 Conference Program

The 7th Annual

Art and Science of Animal Training Conference

Saturday, March 14th, 2015

University of North Texas
Denton, Texas


Program

Dr. Stanley Weiss (Keynote Speaker): Differential Reinforcement and the Stimulus Control of Behavior 

Phung Luu: Birds in Flight

Alexandra Kurland: Equine Simulators and Science as Metaphor

Al Kordowski and Steve Aibel: The Least Reinforcing Scenario: Its history, definition and usage in the animal training community

Steve White: Training Resiliency—The Key to Performance in the Face of Adversity

Bob Bailey: Merging Behavior Analysis and Animal Training

Ken Ramirez: Teaching Conceptual Thinking: It’s Not Asking too Much of Your Dog!

Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz will be facilitating a panel discussion at the end of the day on Saturday. Come sit in on a fascinating conversation among the leading minds in applied animal behavior.


Abstracts

Dr. Stanley Weiss (Keynote Speaker): Differential Reinforcement and the Stimulus Control of Behavior

A primary objective of psychology is the prediction of behavior.  Operationally, that means what an individual will do in a particular situation can be anticipated.  When this is possible, we have identified, and understand,  the conditions  influencing the individual’s behavior.  The fact that the behaviors of those we interact with seldom surprise us is an indication that they are behaving as expected and therefore under stimulus control.  Imagine what our world would be like if they weren’t.  This presentation will discuss how stimulus control is acquired.  It will progress from simple biologically predisposed reflexive actions to behaviors that are the product of the differential consequences of one’s behavior in different situations.  A simple example:  One learns that they should use different language and manners when speaking to a teacher than to a fellow student. An understanding of stimulus control phenomena and its related processes can help you better understand your own behavior as well as the behavior of other animals.

Phung Luu: Birds in Flight

An introduction to free-flight bird training and creative natural behaviors with various bird species.  We will present concepts behind a successful free-flight bird training program.  Relevant concepts include: species tendencies, desensitization, skill building and attention span.  Utilizing examples of different bird species, we will show how these concepts are implemented in a free-flight program.

Alexandra Kurland: Equine Simulators and Science as Metaphor

Here’s the question: How do you get good at something when making a mistake during the learning process can get you killed?
 
If you’re an airline pilot, you learn on flight simulators.  But what if you’re an animal trainer?  What kinds of simulators can you create that let you safely develop your handling skills?  What is the added value beyond safety that using these simulators provides?  Why not simply go straight to the animals?
 
In this talk I’ll be introducing you to my “Equine Simulators”.  I’ll show you what they are, how to use them, and why they help to create training excellence.  And I’ll look at how recent discoveries in neuroscience provide us with metaphors that help people see the added value of simulators.

Al Kordowski and Steve Aibel: The Least Reinforcing Scenario: Its history, definition and usage in the animal training community

The Least Reinforcing Scenario (LRS) is a proactive training technique used  at SeaWorld since 1985.  Since then, this useful training tool has been successfully applied with many other species of animals such as dogs, horses and birds.  Our presentation will focus on the theory behind this methodology, how to successfully apply this tool, and the benefits to utilizing this approach.  We will also discuss what the LRS is NOT and some of the common misconceptions associated with this tool.

Steve White: Training Resiliency—The Key to Performance in the Face of Adversity

I have recently returned to working with police K9 dogs and their handlers. This work has amplified my belief that failure to train resiliency is one of the main causes of operational failure in working teams. This presentation will discuss what resiliency is, how to train it, and why it is so important when accurate performance really matters. Examples will include tracking, drug detection, bomb detection, and more.

Bob Bailey: Merging Behavior Analysis and Animal Training

Merging Behavior Analysis and Animal Training: Improving your animal training, from aardvarks to zebras, using academic publications, self-help literature, and formal and informal classes

Animal training is a craft/trade thousands of years old. Behavior analysis (BA), then operant conditioning, is relatively new, beginning in the 1930s with B. F. Skinner. Gradually, over the past decades, BA has influenced some arenas of animal training, e.g., marine mammals, birds, and some small animals. It is suggested that the slow spread of the relatively new BA training technology, in spite of its effectiveness, is due both to a failure by academia to communicate BA principles, procedures, and practices and to the resistance of many animal trainers to accept the new ideas as presented by academia. A trainer’s long-term economic survival in a capitalistic culture, such as in the USA, may depend on adapting the “new” BA technology. What can the average trainer do, with minimum expenditure of resources (time and money), to improve their practice of the “new” training technology? Pathways to trainer self-improvement are discussed. There are classes and workshops purported to give the trainer a “more or less” scientific approach to their training.  How a trainer might judge such programs is discussed. It is further suggested that teachers of BA might improve animal trainer acceptance if those in the field of BA explore and develop alternative and less arcane terminology more readily understood by those nonacademics wishing to enjoy and spread the benefits of BA science and technology.

Ken Ramirez: Teaching Conceptual Thinking: It’s Not Asking too Much of Your Dog!

Dog training has come a long way in the past few decades.  The use of positive reinforcement has made learning more fun for the animals which in turn has created a more relaxed learner.  These things combined with a well thought out training plan makes it possible to teach dogs (or any animal,  for that matter) far more than we ever thought possible.  Ken will review his journey in teaching dogs concepts (modifier cues, adduction, mimicry,  and more) and conclude with highlights of his recent research in teaching dogs to count.