Ken Ramirez Animal Training Seminar –
DAY 1 – BASIC TRAINING PRINCIPLES
II.
Before Training Begins
A.
History of Animal Training
B.
Why Training is Important
1.
Training = Teaching
2.
Cornerstones of Animal Care
3.
Primary Reasons for Training
4.
Secondary Reasons for Training
C.
General Animal Care
1.
Species (Breed) natural history
2.
Individual animal history
3.
Diet and Nutrition
4.
Environment
5.
Record keeping
D.
Interaction and Trust
III.
Basic Operant Conditioning
A.
Terminology
B.
The Basic Science
1.
Operant vs. Classical Conditioning
2.
Laws of Learning
3.
ABCs
(Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence)
C.
Reinforcement
1.
Reinforce vs. Reward
2.
Positive Reinforcement
3.
Marker Signals
D.
Shaping
1.
Successive Approximations
2.
Shaping techniques
3.
Pryor’s 10 Laws of Shaping
E.
Stimulus Control (Cueing)
1.
Discriminative Stimulus (SD)
2.
Fading
3.
Pryor’s rules of stimulus control
4.
Fluency vs. latency
5.
Superstitious behavior
F.
Dealing with Incorrect Responses
1. Ignore
the unwanted behavior (LRS)
2. Time-outs
3. Deprivation
is not the answer
4. Aversive techniques (negative reinforcement &
punishment)
5. Redirection
G.
Training and Shaping Plans
IV.
Non-Formal Interactions
A.
Active vs. Passive Training
B.
Technique vs. Instinct
C.
Developing Relationships
D.
Ethograms
V.
Cooperative Training (Husbandry)
A.
Cooperative Behavior
B.
Desensitization
1.
Habituation (Passive)
2.
Counter-conditioning (Active)
3.
Generalization vs. discrimination
C.
General Animal Care Principles
1.
Husbandry – the four cornerstones of animal care
2.
The veterinarian’s role – communication
3.
The Dozen most common medical training mistakes
D.
Basic training techniques
1.
Solid basics
2.
General body exams – finding the right position
3.
Blood sampling/injections and invasive procedures
4.
Working around the mouth and head
5.
Removal from the environment
6.
Other husbandry
DAY 2 – ADVANCED TRAINING CONCEPTS
A.
Defining an advanced concept
B.
Black & white – areas of gray
C.
Secondary reinforcers
1.
Definitions
2.
Teaching secondaries
3.
Premack principle
D.
Advanced notes on reinforcement
E.
Schedules of Reinforcement
F.
Punishment, negative reinforcers & aversive stimulus
1.
Definitions
2.
Real world use of these concepts
3.
Rules for using punishers
4.
Public’s perception
G. Conditioned punishers
1.
Delta
2.
“No” signals (NRM)
H.
Recall signals
I.
Chained behaviors
J.
Other advanced concepts
1.
Continue signals
2.
Combination behaviors
3.
End of session signals
II.
Aggression
A.
A natural phenomenon
B.
Looking at it from operant perspective
C.
General rules about Aggression
D.
Rules on reducing aggression
E.
Dangerous situations
F.
Intervention
G. Putting aggression on cue
A.
Planning
B.
Identifying the Problem
C.
Determining the cause
1.
Environment
2.
Social
3.
Psychological
4.
Physical
5.
Trainer
6.
Session use
7.
Regression
8.
Desensitization
D.
Behavioral analysis
1.
Determine balance of reinforcement
2.
Understanding motivation
E.
Implementing a plan
1.
Look at causes and potential motivation
2.
Techniques for untraining undesirable behavior
F.
Monitoring
IV.
Variety
A.
Multitude of options
1.
Training sessions
2.
Toys and devices
3.
Play sessions
4.
Habitat options
5.
Social structure
B.
Session Structure
C.
Session Type
D.
Enrichment
1.
Providing variety
2.
Looking beyond toys
3.
Timing – operant conditioning principles always at work
E.
Consistency
DAY 3 – TAKE TRAINING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
I.
New Studies – Recent Developments
A.
Poisoned Cues
1.
The concept explained
2.
Positive reinforcement trainers
may not notice problem
3.
Correction-based trainers take note!
4.
Use of fading techniques to
eliminate problem
5.
Hints that your cues are poisoned
B.
DRL – Differential Reinforcement
of Lower Intensity Behavior
1.
Not a new technique for trainers
2.
Applications for aggression and
other unwanted behavior
3.
Risks for the inexperienced
trainer
C.
Negative reinforcement
1.
New studies in dealing with
reactive dogs
2.
Risks & benefits
3.
Future studies pending
D.
Memory, mimicry, cognition, and
exploration of the animal mind
II.
Concept Training
A.
Overview – taking a step beyond the standard operant paradigm
1.
Modifiers: Right or Left; Up or down – Search and Rescue
training
2.
Matching to sample – Service dogs
3.
Space conceptualization - Guide dogs
4.
Adduction - Combining establish cues to create new
instructions
5.
Mimicry
B.
How to begin concept training
1.
Important preliminary training
2.
Establish solid basics
3.
Desensitization and generalization
4.
Creativity within a framework
C.
Space Conceptualization
1.
Service dog training
2.
Challenges of this training
3.
Keys to getting a dog to look beyond its own world
D.
Modifier Cues
1.
Useful in many scenarios
2.
Getting started – right and left (or over and under)
3.
Adding new modifiers
4.
Teaching animal more complex modifiers (Large, medium,
small)
5.
Testing your animals – the transfer test
6.
Step by step – How to teach modifiers
E.
Matching to Sample
1.
Research technique, used in scent tracking and with service
dogs
2.
Useful in multiple scenarios
3.
Training matching to sample
F.
Adduction
1.
Teaching “AND” – indicating simultaneous behaviors
2.
Teach “THEN” – indicating sequence
G. Mimicry Training
1.
Early testing with marine mammals
2.
Dog trials
3.
Step by step – How to teach mimicry
H.
Testing Your Animal
1.
Desensitization and generalization
2.
Transfer test - proofing
I.
Keys To Training Concepts
III.
The Art of Training
A.
Is Art the Opposite of Science?
1.
Extremes in philosophy
2.
How do they blend?
B.
Performing at the Highest Level
1.
Complex chaining
2.
Reinforcement variety
3.
Polishing performance
4.
Giving the animal more detailed
feedback
a. 3
different types of “yes” signals
b. 4
distinct “no” signals
c. Additional
information
C.
Micro-shaping
1.
The “art” of looking at small
muscle movements
2.
Using it to reinvigorate or polish
behavior
D.
Classical conditioning
1.
Why an absence of these concepts?
2.
Animals are always learning
classically
3.
Experienced trainers must master
classical and operant conditioning
E.
“Reading” the Animal
1.
Exploratory training
2.
Letting the animal decide its
limits
3.
Don’t let the animal train you
F.
Putting it All Together