Greta Kaplan, CPDT, CDBC Most animal training is a mechanical skill. We can take some basic scientific knowledge about learning, about operant and classical conditioning, as well as about the relevant instinctive behaviors and motor patterns of the species we are working with, and we can accomplish most of our training goals with good timing,… [Read More]
Genetics, Learning, and the Whole Dog
Christine Hibbard, CTC, CPDT I went to a place called Fido’s Farm with my Aussie named Conner: https://fidosfarm.com. We went for an “instinct test”. I had no idea what to expect since I know absolutely nothing about herding. The instructor did a wonderful job of explaining what she was going to do with Conner and… [Read More]
A Fundamental Skill: Learning To Read Your Dog
Greta Kaplan, CPDT, CDBC Some time ago, I received an email from someone who wanted to enroll her dog in my Feisty Fido class. The dog was a young adult, male gundog mix. I talked to Mrs. Owner, and determined that the dog had inflicted one significant puncture bite to another dog, so I decided… [Read More]
Chicken Camp, Part 3
Greta Kaplan, CPDT Amy and I had signed up for sessions 2 and 3 back-to-back. This was 12 days of class with a 3-day break. All this learning is tiring, and session 3 is the longest of the sessions at 7 days. Still, it was fun and stands out in my memory. Our task was… [Read More]
Chicken Camp, Part 2
Greta Kaplan, CPDT In the first session of Chicken Camp, “Discrimination,” we taught our hens to choose and peck a colored target. Since the hens had done this before, they already had learned to peck a specific color. So, we tested them by placing the three identical targets (other than color: red, yellow and blue)… [Read More]