On Behavior

For those who use clickers and rewards in their training and behavior programs, there are two very interesting articles on Karen Pryor's web site. One is 'Intermittent Reinforcement' by Wendy Williams PhD, which speaks about the intermittent reinforcement schedule and extinction. The other is 'The Neurophysiology of Clicker Training'; by Karen Pryor and discusses the possible relationship between clicking and the amygdala (a structure in the limbic system of the brain). Follow the link to go into each of the articles. Clicker Training
Making the Crossover by Bob DeFranco, CBC Animal Behavior Center of New York New York City In the early 90's, I decided to sell my human resources business in New York City and study to become a dog trainer. I was tired of the suit and tie world and wanted to do something that I would thoroughly enjoy: working with animals. I located three popular dog trainer schools and attended them all.
The National K-9 School in Columbus, Ohio was the first school I attended and was graduated from. At K-9, we were taught force-training methods with choke and pinch collars. We were told that this was the way it was done. I never hurt a dog, however, I worked with this methodology for many years until I began graduate school in behavior psychology at Queens College, City University of New York. There, working with pigeons and rats in the behavioral labs, I discovered operant conditioning, establishing operations, and a better way to condition the behavior of an animal without the need for punishment. Last year, at the Animal Behavior Center of New York that services over 1200 dogs in its training and behavior clinics and graduates over 100 future CBCs annually, we changed our programs over to clicker-training and reinforcement methodology. The results have been wonderful. I am proud to say that I am a "born-again" trainer. Now, mind you, I went into this change kicking and screaming. It was one of my canine behavior students from Australia, Gary Colvin, who convinced me that there was a better way. As I write this, clicker training author, lecturer, and professor of psychology at Kent State University, Deborah Jones, PhD, is completing the first 6-day course in clicker training ever written by a psychologist that includes a psychometrically-sound practical test at the end for use by the American Institute of Animal Science and the Animal Behavior Center of New York. I will lend this exam to the Association when it is completed for use in testing behavior counselors and trainers by our Board of Professional Certification (BOPC). Finally, there will be a sound method for evaluating these professionals that unmistakably measures their abilities to train and teach family dog obedience training in a scientific way.