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In this class we are going to be asking lots of questions such as: what do we really mean when we talk about impulse control? Are impulses things trainers really can control? Are animals, and in particular, dogs, even capable of the executive functioning required to understand delayed gratification the way humans can? Is this even a fair expectation to ask of them? When an animal succeeds in resisting a temptation, what is really going on behaviorally in terms of the science–not just commonly held views on how dogs should behave? What learning principles underlie the training protocols we often use to get impulse control? And, are there better ways to achieve the important goal of an animal that is safe and calm around potentially exciting stimuli like food reinforcers, squirrels, toys, etc? In this class we will also focus on practical teaching strategies that avoid some of the frustration and emotional conflict that potentially come along with learning via negative punishment and extinction. Some exercises /topics may include: How to build trust in the reinforcement process How to identify and meet your learner’s needs before placing contingencies on behavior How to teach helpful defaults for stability around exciting things Release Cues Back-chained Zen Bowl Leave it without the “Leave it.” Motivating Operations Distractions as non-relevant stimuli, or the “fade in protocol” (Credit: Kay Laurence) Stimulus control (waiting for cues, listening for cues) without extinction

You struggle to groom your dog without having him mouth the brush ? You can’t cut his nails ? Your dog is running away as soon as you pronounce “shower” ? Your dog stresses out so much at the clinic or at the groomer that he trembles, shuts down or tries to escape ? You have to care for your dog and it’s complicated to do it alone at home ? Your dog doesn’t like to put the collar, harness, muzzle or cone ? You want your dog to be stressfree and cooperate with him in all sorts of care procedures ? You want to improve the communication with your dog, develop a trusting relationship and give him more choice opportunities and control on his life ? If you see yourself in one of this situations, this class is made for you ! Cooperative husbandry training aims to teach animal to assist in their own care. It’s an ethical and pratical choice. It is used in most of zoological parcs to care for wild animals avoiding restrain, anesthesia and reducing stress. Husbandry training is part of daily enrichment programs. Through this training we give the animal the skills and the opportunities to give his consent. Giving them choice and control over their environnement improves their general welfare. If we can draw blood from a girafe or an orca without using force…why not do the same with our pets ? Empowering our dogs in their own care not only make it easier, but also enrich our life together. Some of the topics covered in this course : Understanding and using science basics in husbandry training. Teaching consent positions. Empowerment : Understanding importance of choice and control. Behavior, consequences and functions : how to use them to converse with animals. Teaching your dog the consent concept. How to train your dog through various daily procedures such as : handling, grooming, bathing, nails care, ears and eyes care, teeth brushing, muzzle training… What to do when our dog is not ready and you have to do it. Consequences. A second level course will be focusing on training the dog to third party care such as the vet, the groomer, the osteopath.

This course is dedicated to getting the highest level of fluency in our behaviors by getting geeky and diving deep into each training session. How do we do that? The short answer is: We focus on behavior. Both ours, and our learnes behavior. We are going to analyze everything in the session, both from the handlers position and timing, to everything the dogs does. So I will emphasize,- this course is geeky, and it is a good thing, if you are prepared to use quite a lot of time, of practicing using the schedules, and being comfortable with just focusing on behavior. You will, as a premium participant, be asked to fill out quite a few schedules ad homework, to get comfortable with them. Analyzing our sessions to this degree can be slightly scary and seem overwhelming in the beginning. Luckily, as with anything else, the more we practice doing it the right way, the more fluent in behavior we become. And what we leave this course with, is very fine-tuned observation skills, that will help us in the future. Both when we want to improve our own sessions, and also if we are helping someone else. Having practiced your observational skills, takes you a big step towards being a favorite training partner. In this course, we will work on a few specific behaviors that you would like to have perfected. You can chose some, or I can suggest some. This course is not about teaching as many behaviors as possible – that is the “Off cue- off control” course. Here, we dive much deeper into fewer behaviors. We work with the learner offering the behavior off cue and perfecting it, till we have the behaviors freakishly fluent. This is a course where there is going to be a significant amount of work, taking data, and reviewing the videos from every session, again and again. We use a lot of benchmarking schedules to track the progress, and you will learn how to take your training to the next level with this tool. This course covers: Introduction to what fluency is and how we get it The science and definitions behind it Benchmarking schedules on the following topics Timing Criteria Reinforcement Off cue behaviors Stimulus control Chaining Training focus Mechanical skills When this course finishes, the goal is for you to have ninja skills in clicker training, and have freakishly fluent behaviors!

Self-study course, auditors only (no premium spots in this course), with extensive material including step-by-step exercises for you to practice with your learner!   Through start button behaviors, we can give our learning partners control over various procedures by having them tell us when to go ahead and when to stop. This course will serve as an introduction to understanding and working with start button contingencies. You will learn how to structure your training sessions to include clear yes and no opportunities, and we will dive into the concepts of choice and control and begin incorporating start button behaviors in various settings. Learn these techniques and you’ll be able to take another giant step towards a place where you and your animal are true partners in the training process! Course syllabus – these are the lessons we’ll go through in this six week course: Welcome to the start button course Start button behavior – what and why? Getting started – pairing procedure with a twist Let a start button behavior emerge What if my learner doesn’t say ”yes”? Shaping meets start buttons Adding behavior between the presentation and the reward Working with ongoing stimuli Duration behavior as continuous start button Predictability Further options for starting and stopping Summarizing start button work Some final inspiration Goodbye! Start button behaviors are behaviors that learners perform, and that functions as cues for the teacher to make the next move. If the learner doesn’t do the start button behavior, the teacher doesn’t progress. Through start button behaviors we as teachers get information about how we are doing in our training.  If the package that we present after the start button behavior is functioning as a reinforcer, then there will be short latency and high persistance in the start button behavior. If, on the other hand, we see latency, or the start button behavior doesn’t occur or is interrupted – then we know that the package we have presented contingent upon that start button behavior isn’t reinforcing enough – which is super valuable information to us, because then we  get the opportunity to instantly make adjustments and improvements in our training. So it’s never about the specific start button behavior as such – that behavior is just a tool for clearer communication!  It is as if the learner is pressing a start button which makes the trainer continue to the next step.  From the trainer’s perspective: In a certain situation, if I see this response (the start button behavior), I present my stimulus (object, movement, noise, cue or whatever it is that you start) which is followed (instantly, or after a sorter or longer sequence) by a reinforcer (treat, toy, belly rub, or what the maintaining reinforcer might be). From the learner’s perspective in turn: In a certain situation, if I do this response (the start button behavior), then that stimulus will occur which in turn is followed by a reinforcer either directly or after I have done some more behavior(s). Having the learner be in control provides us with a good way to be able to listen, making sure that we’re not pushing the pace of the training or moving in the wrong the direction all together. Thus, start button work is a tool for us as trainers to help us become even better partners for our learners! To learn more about where we’re coming from with this subject and find a variety of other resources, please check out www.animalsincontrol.com Welcome to the course! //E&E

This is a course for you, if you want to work with your dog on getting a large behaviors repertoire, and rely on as little helping tools as possible. In this course we will work with breaking down all the things you would like your learner to able to do, into single behaviors. We focus on developing multiple of the skills you and your learner need, to teach them exactly what you dream off. We do this by shaping and capturing behaviors, and we work with them off cue, to make sure we get the exact behavior. The focus of this course is to get the learner started on offering behaviors. We will try to build a big repetoire of behaviors, so that our learners get creative and become an very active part of our training. If you want to start all the behaviors this course covers, there is going to be quite a lot of work – so be prepared for that. The behaviors we will cover in this course are: Focus Targeting Sit Backing Heel position Recall Heeling Down Stand Stay Doggie-zen Hold it Release Bark Jump Search Under each behavior box, there are several behaviors. We will go through a few of them, and you are always free to chose which behaviors you would like to focus on. We will also discuss the topics of: Off cue Fluency Doggie-zen Cues Pocket it! This course focus will be working without treats in hand and helping as little as possible, without leaving your animal frusrated. We give the learner the highest rage of choice we can, and teach the learner to actively take part in the training. This will be part 1, where you get introduced to all of the behaviors, and then select 1 to work with from every box.  In vol. 2, we will work more on fluency and adding variations to the behaviors. This course is suitable for you, if you would like your dog to offer you more behaviors and like to shape them in the direction you want. If you already have all the above behaviors off cue, part 2 would be a suitable option for you.

When used strategically, positive reinforcement provides a way to communicate with a learner. In a good relationship communication never stops.     By reinforcing we talk to the dog and simultaneously we learn to listen. Understanding the reinforcement process can improve the relationship between humans and dogs. If we have knowledge of the way dogs learn we can build mutual understanding.     Since reinforcement fluctuates the value, it is very important to know what is reinforcing for our learner in this particular moment. Because reinforcement is a dynamic process it changes quickly and in one moment chicken treats are the highest value and the best reinforcement, a few minutes later they become much less important than a ball.     If we understand the science behind behavior we are more likely to understand our learners. We will be less prone to label our learners and more willing to communicate with them using appropriate tools.   In this course we focus on: mechanics of positive reinforcement, delivery protocols, use of marker cues, the clarity in the learning cycle, loop transport and breaks  To take this course as a Premium Member you need to finish Trainer’s Toolbox first (as Premium or Auditor)     This is Carol and Sweep’s video of before and after this course – look at the change with this stand!!!    

Self-study course! Auditors only! (No premium spots in this course)   Positive reinforcement training is about setting up for success and making sure desired behaviors are followed by reinforcers, which strengthen the behavior in the future. In this course you get to join the Swedish duo Eva and Emelie as they zoom in on the small but important details that make up a training session, from one reward to the next. What happens right after each reward? What happens within your reward procedure? And why does it matter? In “Seamlessness – from one reward to the next” you will learn learn how to work deliberately with small but significant details, paying attention to all the parts of the training loop and using them to create seamless training sessions. The material in this course will help you develop your own training sessions further.  Your planning will get better, your training will become smoother, and both you and your learner will enjoy the process even more than before! Course syllabus: Week 1 Lesson 1 – Introduction to the course Lesson 2 – The underpinnings Lesson 3 – From one reward to the next – overview Week 2 Lesson 4 – Training session fundamentals Lesson 5 – The reward ends Week 3 Lesson 6 – Criteria Lesson 7 – Mark Week 4 Lesson 8 – The reward appears Lesson 9 – Take the reward Lesson 10 – During the reward Week 5 Lesson 11 – The reward ends (again) Lesson 12 – Criteria not met Week 6 Lesson 13 – Putting behavior together Lesson 14 – Flowcharting your training session Lesson 15 – Summarizing seamlessness This is a 6 week self-study course. New lessons will be presented each week  (a total of 15 lessons) and you will have continued access to the material after the course finishes. We have so much material we wish to share with you on this topic – in this course, we put it together in a comprehensive yet extensive form. Our goal is to provide you with a lot of information and ideas from which you can extrapolate the aspects you currently wish to work with in your own training. The course is auditors only,  allowing you to digest the material at your own pace and consider how it relates to your own training.  There will be follow-up courses with practical training and feedback from us, we just wish to have everyone on the same page first…   There are so many aspects to consider – it literally takes us six weeks to get from one reward to the next!              

If you want to improve your training skills and your dog’s physical condition at the same time, this course is for you!   Whether you’re a beginner in canine fitness or you’ve been training for a while, increase your dog’s repertoire by teaching fundamental behaviors with positive reinforcement techniques. In this course, you’ll get each week theory and exercises on: important fitness foundations training basic gym movements shaping clean targeting behaviors essential clicker and training notions how to deliver food to promote clear communication Having fitness and proprioception equipment for this course is not compulsory but greatly appreciated. You will need at least stable and solid objects safe enough for you dog to put weight on (such as planks, bricks or mats).   Syllabus Week 1 – Welcome! Week 1 – Fitness foundations – Skeleton, joints, and alignment Week 1 – Training – The ABCs Week 1 – Targeting – Stare Week 1 – Food delivery – Luring Week 1 – Gym – Twist/spin & figure 8 Week 2 – Fitness foundations – Movement vocabulary Week 2 – Training – Markers Week 2 – Food delivery – Laziness is the key Week 2 – Targeting – Front & four feet Week 2 – Gym – Hip pivot   Week 3 – Fitness foundations – Function of main muscle groups Week 3 – Training – Loopy training Week 3 – Food delivery – Let’s go get it Week 3 – Targeting – Hind feet Week 3 – Gym – Shoulder pivot & backing up   Week 4 – Fitness foundations – Equipment Week 4 – Training – Adding a cue Week 4 – Targeting – Nose & chin Week 4 – Gym – Rock back sit Week 4 – Food delivery – Drills without the dog   Week 5 – Fitness foundations – Duration & number of reps Week 5 – Training – Stimulus control Week 5 – Targeting – Front paw lift Week 5 – Food delivery – Plan the Cs Week 5 – Gym – Push up & Tucked Sit   Week 6 – Fitness foundations – How to build a program? Week 6 – Training – To fade or not to fade? Week 6 – Targeting – Hind paw lift Week 6 – Food delivery – Bucket Game Week 6 – Gym – Weight shifts & Kick Back Stand Week 6 – Thank you!