This week we’re continuing our conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter and one of her phd candidate students Abbie Cooper. Last week Abbie looked at a study in which she compared positive and negative reinforcement - what happens to behavior when training goes sideways and the individual is no longer getting reinforced for actions that had been producing consistent, desired results. This week we’re going to consider the emotional fallout that was observed and we’ll connect it to training experiences and to other studies ..read more

This is part one of a three part conversation with Dr. Claire St Peter, the chair of the Department of Behavior Analysis at West Virginia University, and one of her graduate students, Abbie Cooper. Abbey is reporting on a study she has just completed for her Masters Thesis. In part 1 she is describing the study. Undergrads were presented with a computer screen that had six similar circles on it. In the initial set up, under one set of conditions if the students clicked on the correct circle, they gained points. These points could be exchanged for money at the end of the experiment. In a differ ..read more

I’m always delighted when I get to talk about balance and why it matters. At this year’s Expo I had both a presentation and a Balance matters lab. We talk about both of these in this week’s episode. We end with a discussion of equipment - what halters and leads do I favor and why ..read more

This week we’re talking about the April Clicker Expo which was held in Portland Oregon. We start by talking about a panel discussion on working with aggressive animals. Then we move on to a presentation given by Ken Ramirez on the training terms which have emerged over time. Which of these terms have staying power and why. This was the perfect lead in to my own presentation on constructional training which I talk about in detail in this episode. At the very end, just for fun Dominique shares her experience of the solar eclipse on April 8 ..read more

This is Part 3 of a three part conversation Dominique and I had in March, 2024. In part 1 we talked about puzzle solving and this led to a great real life experience using back chaining that Dominique shared with us. e between forward chaining and back chaining. In Part 2 the spotlight was on rope handling. This week we are changing topics yet again. Dominique wanted to talk about agility. I begin this episode with an overview of clicker training. Clicker training has three phases. These phases don’t have clear distinct lines separating one from the other. You aren’t in phase one, and then you ..read more

Toward the end of March Dominique and I met for an afternoon’s conversation which I’ve divided up into three episodes. Last week we talked about puzzle solving. This week rope handling is in the spotlight. Dominique is going through my on-line rope handling course. She’s just reached a section which describes what it means to turn a lead rope on and off. This is involves what can seem like a very fussy rope handling skill but the horses have shown us this use of the lead makes a difference to them. That’s especially true when you’re working with nervous horses. This detail emerged through the ..read more

Toward the end of March Dominique and I met for an afternoon’s conversation. I’ve divided up into three episodes. In part 1 we talk about puzzles. So much of training success revolves around a handler’s ability to set puzzles which engage the learner. You want to make the puzzles easy to start out with to build the learner’s confidence that this is a puzzle he can solve. Then you gradually add elements so the training progresses. In this episode we talk about treasure hunts and why some people grow up loving puzzles and others want nothing to do with them. We explore strategies for developing ..read more

This is Part 4 of a 4 part conversation with Svenja Sawinski. Svenja has a horse who has been giving her a master class in teaching stillness and relaxation. In Part 1, Svenja introduced us to Daryan her Arab barb cross. When Svenja began with a very young Daryan, she was still using traditional, pressure-based training methods. That worked fine with her older horse because he would always back down from escalating pressure. But not Daryan. In Part 1 Svenja described her discovery that you could teach a horse to stand still using clicker training. For both Daryan and Svenja that was a transfor ..read more

This is Part 3 of a 4 part conversation with Svenja Sawinski. Svenja’s horse, Daryan, has been giving her a master class in teaching stillness and relaxation. In Part 1, Svenja introduced us to Daryan her Arab barb cross. She described the early steps she used to teach Daryan to stand still. That was just the beginning. Daryan was a challenging horse to work with. He needed more than foundation level standing still. In Part 2 Svenja shared how she taught Daryan how to settle and relax into stillness. We ended with stillness becoming a default behavior. In part 3 Svenja expands this to show you ..read more

This is Part 2 of a 4 part conversation with Svenja Sawinski. If you are a regular listener to the podcast, you know Dominique and I talk frequently about topics that come from the coaching sessions that are part of my on-line clinics. That’s very much what led to this series with Svenja. Svenja is one of the regular attendees at these coaching sessions. Last fall we were looking at some video Svenja had sent in in which she was doing some body work with her horse Daryan. Dominique was fascinated by how long Daryan could go between clicks while remaining seemingly very settled and relaxed. He ..read more