The author, Miriam Fields-Babineau, with Golden Retriever puppies.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Miriam Fields-Babineau has been training dogs and other animals professionally since 1978. She has owned and operated Training Unlimited Animal Training and Animal Actors, Inc., for 25 years. She teaches people how to communicate with and train their dogs, of any age or breed, specializing in behavioral problem-solving.
Ms. Fields-Babineau has authored many animal-related books, including Dog Training with a Head Halter (Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.), the e-book How to Become a Professional Dog Trainer (Intellectua.com), Dog Training Basics (Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.) and many more. She writes numerous articles for trade magazines, such as the award-winning Off-Lead Magazine and Practical Horseman. She has produced the videos The First Hello, which addresses how to prepare a dog for an infant, and Dog Training with a Comfort Trainer, which demonstrates how to train a dog using her head-halter design, the Comfort Trainer.
Ms. Fields-Babineau also provides animals for television, film and advertising, having worked with National Geographic, Animal Planet, the History Channel, Warner Films, Orion Films, the Discovery Channel, CBS, the Family Channel and many more. When not training other people’s animal companions, she travels the country, performing in equine and canine competitions as well as exhibiting the skills of her trained felines.
Photographs by
Bernd Brinkmann, Evan Cohen, Miriam Fields-Babineau, Isabelle Français and Carol Ann Johnson.
KENNEL CLUB BOOKS® ABCS OF POSITIVE TRAINING
ISBN: 1-59378-594-1
Copyright © 2005 • Kennel Club Books, LLC
308 Main Street, Allenhurst, NJ 07711 USA
Cover Design Patented: US 6,435,559 B2 • Printed in South Korea
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, scanner, microfilm, xerography or any other means, or incorporated into any information retrieval system, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
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Contents
The Origin of Operant Conditioning
Explore a brief history and development of operant-conditioning methods and meet the pioneers in the field. Take a closer look at the work of B.F. Skinner and see how his research has affected our approach to training dogs and other animals.
As you embark on a positive-training program, learn the essentials: different types of reinforcers, schedules of reinforcement, different ways to modify a behavior, the use of correct timing, rewards and how to determine their value to a dog, self-rewarding behavior and different types of punishment.
Look at the different ways of implementing positive-reinforcement training. Explore luring, bridging/rewarding and capturing behavior, or using these methods in combination, to achieve results in a positive manner. Learn about successive approximation and become acquainted with clicker training.
Teaching Behavior Both Near and Far
Learn the basics of targeting and the methods used by some of the experts in the field today. You will find out how to teach your dog to target and what equipment is needed.
Based on successive approximation, learn how to shape a behavior. Follow the ten key points of behavior shaping as outlined by one of its leading proponents and learn how to practice with a friend so that you’ll be more confident when trying it with your dog.
Learn how to teach one of the hardest lessons to a dog. Vary your method based on the dog’s age and attention span, and what rewards he finds valuable. Progress from off-leash in a secure area to heeling on-lead, introducing turns and performing with distractions. Compare the various types of training collars and learn how to prevent pulling.
Using the methods you’ve learned, it’s time to teach two basic obedience commands: sit and down. Learn how to lure into the sit and teach the dog to sit during the heel exercise and for attention. Move on to the down and the special challenges that this command presents; also see how to combine the down with other behaviors.
Teach your dog to stay in the sit and down positions using brief increments of time and gradually progressing. Add movement into the stay, meaning walking alongside and around the dog while he maintains the position. Combine the stay with previously learned behaviors.
Recall and Distraction-Proofing
Teach your dog the most important command for him to know and to perform reliably: the recall or come. Increase the distance between you and teach your dog to ignore distractions so that your call takes precedence over his surroundings. Use previously learned behaviors to shape the drop-on-recall.
Positive Reinforcement in Everyday Life