Training and courses for dogs and animals : platform Tromplo.com

Detection: indication training

How to built up a solid indication

What is detection?

Detection is an activity that involves the use of a dog trained to detect the presence of certain odors and warn its handler when the dog found them.Very often this activity is improperly referred to as “search for hidden substances”.In reality the detection dog is not only trained to detect concealed substances (such as drugs, explosive material, prison cells, etc.) but can also be trained to detect the smell of mold, insects, faecal pellets of species of interest, etc..

Detection is not limited to narcotic or explosive or human remains or mobile phones in prison.
There are areas where the dog’s sense of smell can be extremely useful and which are not reserved for security professionals, in particular pest control, wildlife monitoring and the agri-food sector.

The detection dog can in fact be trained to detect the presence of bedbugs, mold, invasive species, plant diseases, faecal pellets of species of interest and other products of animal origin.

You can participate in the course with any type of dog: no matter the breed or age. What you are asked for is just dedication and time.

What is the goal of this course?

This is the first module of a course aimed at providing the necessary skills to train a detection dog . The course is mainly intended for people who wish to work as a detection dog handler (e.g. in the conservation, pest control, private security, human remains, etc) but it is open also to those who want to learn more about this training.

Detection can also be a fun and entertaining activity: a growing number of enthusiasts are approaching this type of work because it is satisfying for both humans and dogs.

You are not required to buy expensive training material, all you need to be able to participate is food reward, toy reward and a red Kong.

It is strongly suggested to enrol at the same time in the course “A World of Scent” to acquire the theoretical knowledge necessary to successfully attend the first detection training step. We do not repeat here the basic theoretical concepts.

During the course we will cover the following topics:

What is detection?
Detection for civilians: new fields of development
How to built up a solid alert
First searches

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$113.85

Catja B. Pedersen

Freakishly fluent

This course is dedicated to getting the highest level of fluency in our behaviors.

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!

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Roberta Bottaro

Detection: lineup training

Lineups training

What is the goal of this course?

This is the second module of a course aimed at providing the necessary skills to train a detection dog . The course is mainly intended for people who wish to work as a detection dog handler (e.g. in the conservation, pest control, private security, human remains, etc) but it is open also to those who want to learn more about this training.

Detection is an activity that involves the use of a dog trained to detect the presence of certain odors and warn its handler when the dog found them

The detection dog can be trained to detect the presence of bedbugs, mold, invasive species, plant diseases, faecal pellets of species of interest and other products of animal origin.

What is a lineup?

A lineup is generally a procedure whereby a dog’s alerting behavior is used to establish that the dog detects one target scent among other “trash” scent. A lineup is made by several boxes usually identical each other placed in a line.

Why should we train lineup?

There are several reasons to use a scent lineup, let’s list some of them:

Teach a systematic way of search
Teach to discriminate the target scent
Teach to ignore distraction scents (later on we will add food and toy or other scents on the lineup)
Test your dog’s reliability to identify target scent
Teach new scents
Teach precise concentrations of target scent (i.e. medical detection)

Who can join this course?

To join this course as Premium your dog should have a solid indication (alert behavior).

During the course we will cover the following topics:

What is lineup?
The need of training on lineups
How to built up a lineup
Walking on and off leash
Identification and discrimination

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$113.85

Sarah Owings

Trust Code Pt. 1

“Go to people for opinions. Go to animals for answers.” -Alexandra Kurland

Trust is a construct. However, the way we interpret and experience this construct is fundamental to our lives, our relationships, and our ability to learn. We all know the sting and disorientation when someone betrays our trust, when our expectations or needs are not met, when we feel unsafe or unsure of what is about to happen, when we feel judged, penalized, or a loss of control over outcomes.

Although the laws of learning never change, gone are the days when training an animal is merely about the narrow suppression or construction of behavior. At the core of this exciting teaching and learning revolution, modern trainers are asking questions about trust. “What does trust look like for the animal I am working with?” “What is the measure of that trust?” “Can trust be measured?” “Under what conditions do I see trust occur?” Above all, what every enlightened practitioner wants to know is: “How can I build a strong trust account with the animals in my care?” And, “How can I repair trust when I’m forced to take a withdrawal?”

In this course, we will take a deep dive into what it means to “operationalize” trust in our day to day lives with our dogs (or any species with whom we spend our time). We will be asking lots of questions, putting aside our human assumptions, and doing our best to listen to what the animals tell us trust means to them.

COURSE OUTLINE:

Premiums will be invited to pick topics that resonate most powerfully for them. In the interests of unhurried learning, I will also offer a Trust Code Pt. 2 for further study if there is enough interest.

Areas for Exploration:

Defining trust: what does it look like?
Taking a trust baseline
The ABCs of trust
Building trust with antecedents
Filling your dog’s emotional cup
Reinforcement patterns that invite YES
Portable safe spaces
Power of daily rituals
Happy husbandry stations
Working with extinction: “not now” and S-delta cues
From commands to cues to questions
Ask and answer communication for maximum trust
Expanding degrees of freedom in training
Play and possession
Stimulus control on toy cues for clarity and safety
Even in Australia: getting through the hard stuff and how to repair trust afterwards

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$113.85

Eva and Emelie

Seamlessness – from one reward to the next

Zooming in on the details of a great training session

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!

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Eva and Emelie

Seamlessness – from one reward to the next

Zooming in on the details of a great training session

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!

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Catja B. Pedersen

In chains! Backchaining from A-Z

Become an expert in backchaining

This course is dedicated to making you an expert in backchaining.

You will leave this course with a desire to back chain everything you can, and have gotten very comfortable with splitting everything into behaviors to perfect.

Some sessions are dedicated to the topic of cues, where we will look deep at, why some cues are like shooting an arrow, and others are more like pushing a car, up hill. We will also discuss the topic of off cue behaviors, having fluency, and very good stimulus control.

Backchaining is one of those things, that be, and seem very simple. But only when you dive a bit deeper into the subject and start realizing what it actually is that happens, and how every single thing we do in the process effects the chain, we will get the full advantages of using it.

We will:

go through the pros and cons of backchaining
Briefly touch base on forward chaining – but we are not going to spend a lot of time on that
Have lessons on off cue behaviors, and if thats a good thing to have
Go through the process of adding cues to already fluent behaviors
Make the cue a green light for performing the behavior.
Dissect the cues, if there are learning history that gives slower responses
Find out what is brutally exposed, when we’re backchaining.
Figure what the glue is, that make chains so strong
Dive into the double effect of each behavior (R+ for previous cue AND green light to the next)
Exercise backchaining in everything we do
Discuss the optional response to a mistake in a chain
Go through the testing phase
Discuss the difficult job that is, being the handler
Practice without dogs too

This course is most suited for teams that already have good solid fluency behavior and also at least 3 reliable cues, that has been learned with positive reinforcement.

You can participate if you want to work with fun chains that you can use around your house, with tricks or with competition exercises. The most important thing is, that youre willing to spend 6 weeks of your life, learning about backchaining.

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Iris Castaing

Empowered dogs: Cooperative husbandry training

Empowering our dogs in their own care.

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.

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$113.85

Agnieszka Janarek

Nosework Stage 1

From first session to ORTs preparation

Dogs’ olfactory abilities amaze us and what they manage to do with their noses is truly astounding.
Nosework is a sport that uses most natural, amazing dog’s abilities and develops them into perfection.

Nosework is one of the greatest dog sports, making its way to the top most popular canine activities. Inspired by working detection dogs searching for narcotics, explosives, nosework makes it available for everyone. Dogs are searching for essential oils hidden in vehicles, interiors, water, exteriors, and containers and they love it!

“No limitations”
This sport is for everyone! It is a perfect activity for old, retired, or disabled dogs who want to stay in shape but can’t be physically challenged. Aggressive dogs are welcome too!
Pure breed, crossbreed, old, young, slow, fast – it doesn’t matter what type your dog is!

During the course we focus on:

what is nosework; rules reading
classically conditioning odors
building solid alert behavior using clicker training
introducing discrimination between hot and cold objects
introducing various odor holders
introducing cardboard boxes
generalization

Course syllabus:

Week 1:
Lesson 1 – Welcome and Introductions
Lesson 2 – What is nosework?
Lesson 3 – Nosework International and methods we use
Lesson 4 – Samples preparation and handling odor
Lesson 5 – Cocktail or not to cocktail?
Lesson 6 – Classical conditioning of odor
Lesson 7 – Hand touch

Week 2:
Lesson 8 – Tic-tac!
Lesson 9 – Precision
Lesson 10 – Duration

Week 3:
Lesson 11 – Cue for alert behavior
Lesson 12 – Handler’s movement

Week 4:
Lesson 13 – Competing stimulus
Lesson 14 – Various holders

Week 5:
Lesson 15 – Location of the holder – variations
Lesson 16 – Discrimination

Week 6:
Lesson 17 – New locations
Lesson 18 – New locations
Lesson 19 – Cue for the search

There are 3 more nosework course stages.

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$113.85

Agnieszka Janarek

Shape me up!

Shaping behaviors inside out!

This course will dive deeper into the topic of shaping behaviors for beginners and advanced students. We started this journey during “Shaping inside out” Webinar, and now we are going to geek out into six weeks of practical work.

The course will cover:

what is shaping,
extinction,
resurgence,
how to shape errorlessly,
step by step guidelines for a training session
planning
antecedent arrangement
backchaining application in shaping
cues in shaping
dealing with errors
multiple practical exercises
shaping with objects
shaping without objects

If you took the “Shaping inside out” Webinar – you would receive a 15% discount for this course!

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$113.85

Eva and Emelie

Introduction to Start Button Behaviors

Let your learner be in control!

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

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Eva and Emelie

Introduction to Start Button Behaviors

Let your learner be in control!

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

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Mikolaj Synowiec

Iron Jaws

How to teach your dog to love tugging

This course is very sentimental for me. My dog didn’t tug at all. He didn’t like to take things into his mouth but I really wanted to play Frisbee so we started learning how to tug. At that time I knew very little and our journey was full of frustration. That wasn’t a fun experience for any of us.

We were working hard (I’m pretty stubborn so I kept trying) and after a year we managed to bring tugging to the level where I can call that a reinforcement. Was it hard? Definitely… Would it be easier to do if I had known as much as I know now? It would!

So what is “Iron Jaws”? It’s a compendium of knowledge which I hope I have known when I started. I know that I am not the only one who struggled with this behavior. It’s harder than most people think and that’s why I wrote this course.

The goal is to teach you to tug and give you a clear view on what to do BUT “what” is not enough for me. With a little help of science I will show you why does it work. Tugging is not magic. It’s a behavior like a sit or lie down and shares the same principles of learning. It’s also one of the best ways for creating strong and happy relationship with your dog AND it’s so fun to do!

Lessons you can expect can be divided into three major categories:

Basics of learning- We will introduce simple concepts like ABC’s, primary and secondary reinforcer, motivation and operationalising behaviors we want to teach. It will be our scientific core for understanding why we teach the way we do.
Myths- common knowledge and misunderstandings about tugging. We will dig deep into why things happen and we will question what we know.
Tugging- Pure practice and mechanics of the game. How to do it right. Meaning what to do to be safe and have a blast together.

If your dog doesn’t “like” to tug this course is for you!

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Mikolaj Synowiec

Toy play foundation behaviors

Foundation behaviors for toy play and future dogfrisbee performance

Are you a right fit for this course?

Is your dog willing to play? Your session might be messy and unorganized but if the willingness for interaction is there it’s definitely enough!

If you answered “no” and you want to learn how to teach to enjoy toy play please check out my other course “Iron Jaws”.

What will you learn?

In short we “teach rewards”. It’s a collection of tug based games that teach a dog all those minor things that we don’t appreciate when they are there but we can get very frustrated when they aren’t. This is a core for the effectiveness of any future toy based training session.

Exercises with a dog:

Quality tug- how to do is right? How to make a great reinforcer and strength exercise out of it.
Catch the rat- introduction to chasing. Teaches a dog how to execute effective catch on moving target. How to control its body and judging the distance between him/her and a toy.
Drop – if you teach your dog to drop by grabbing its color you are doing it wrong. You will learn four different dropping games. Your dog will think “how can I make this human monkey to ask me to drop”.
Exchange work- swiftly switching from playing with one toy to another. Imagine cool looking freestyle routine. Would it be equally cool if a dog had no idea when to refocus from one frisbee to another. It’s also often used reinforcement procedure.
Follow me- base for fetch is a dog that wants to come back and share a toy with you. That’s what we are teaching here.
Tossing toys- it’s combined catch a rat with following.

You will receive one exercise per week. On top of that additional lectures covering more specific aspects and topics.

“Preparation for Frisbee” series

Preparation for Frisbee is a series of four courses that are meant to turn newbie dogfrisbee adept into a team with good foundations that allow them to have fun with flying plastic safely. This course contains references to this sport and how all we do apply to our future play.

Remember that Frisbee is just another toy so the foundation for effective interaction and understanding between you and your dog are the key for further success. It’s a first step to getting great at my beloved sport Dogfrisbee!

Don’t worry if you are not interested in dogfrisbee. All skills and lessons apply to any toy based training.

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Roberta Bottaro

Detection: systematic search

From lineup to search in environment

What is the goal of this course?
This is the third module of a course aimed at providing the necessary skills to train a detection dog. The course is mainly intended for people who wish to work as a detection dog handler (e.g. in the conservation, pest control, private security, human remains, etc) but it is open also to those who want to learn more about this training.
Detection is an activity that involves the use of a dog trained to detect the presence of certain odors.

Who can join this course?
To join this course as Premium your dog should have a solid indication behavior.

During the course we will explore the following topics:

– How to switch from indication training to search training
– How to maintain a stable alert even during a search
– Setting up the systematic search
– Search on walls
– The whole world is a lineup?
– Reduce the amount of smell

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Agnieszka Janarek

R+

Mechanics of positive reinforcement, delivery protocols and use of marker cues

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 reinforcement process can improve relationship between human and dog. If we have knowledge of the way dogs learn we can build mutual understanding. Since reinforcement fluctuate 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, few minutes later they become much less important than a ball. If we understand 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,
clarity in the learning cycle, loop
transport and breaks

This is Carol and Sweep video of before and after this course – look at the change with this stand!!!

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$113.85

Roberta Bottaro

A world of scent

A journey into the dog's sense of smell for professionals and pet owners

‘Sense of smell?’ he says. ‘I never gave it a thought. You don’t normally give it a thought. But when I lost it — it was like being struck blind. Life lost a good deal of its savor — one doesn’t realize how much ‘savor’ is smell. You smell people, you smell books, you smell the city, you smell the spring — maybe not consciously, but as a rich unconscious background to everything else. My whole world was suddenly radically poorer … (“The man who mistook his wife for an hat” Oliver Sacks)

Although they share a thousand-year-old coexistence, men and dogs orient their interests in the world in a substantially different way.

We as humans are sight-oriented animals this means that sight is our dominant sense. Dogs are, above all, smelling oriented animal. Sense of smell is the dominant one, followed by hearing and then sight.

This is a self-learn course aimed to cover the main topics related to the dog’s sense of smell.

The first problem that is faced by anyone who decides to train a dog to search for people or detection is the difficulty in defining what they are working on.
In recent years science has focused on many areas that may be useful to those who work with the dog’s nose. Today we have more knowledge about the physiology of smell, scent perception, theory of learning, and how odours behaves.
During the course we will try to combine theoretical knowledge with dog training.

What to expect

Self learn course
Forum and Facebook group where you can discuss and interact
Six weeks of lesson

Topic 1: scent and scenting dogs

Scent and scenting dogs
Dog cognition: drives and motivation
Theory of learning
Memory
Odours: an overview
How the nose works
Perception

Topic 2: dogs that works with human scent

Human scent
Theory of scent
Dogs that works with human scent (mantrailing, tracking, scent ID, air scent, rubble, detection)

Topic 3: dogs that works with other smells

Detection dogs
Tracking and trailing dogs

Topic 4: A bridge between theory and practice

Learning theory and scent training
Training phases

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$113.85

Lisa Longo

The problem solving guide to your pet’s behavior

An easily accessible science related course for pet owners

For dogs, cats, parrots, and all pets owners.

This course is open to beginners.

Used as a scientific approach to analyze, understand, and modify behavior, applied behavior analysis (ABA) is used to improve (or change) specific behaviors. Applied Behavior Analysis allows us to change the environment in order to change the behavior.

Whether you share your life with a pet dog, a parrot, a cat, a pig, an elephant, or a ladybug, the fundamentals of behavior analysis apply to them.

This six weeks course is specifically for owners who have a behavior problem with their pet’s behavior or any person, individual, amateur, or professional working with animals, willing to learn more about behavior analysis.

For several weeks, you will learn how to analyze and understand your pet’s behavior, but also how to modify it effectively, while always respecting his well-being.

What this course covers :

Labels vs. observable behaviors
Data collection
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Positive reinforcement
Behavior functions
ABC scheme (three-term contingency)
Hierarchy of behavior-change
Behavior modification

Thanks to accessible and easy definitions but also homework and guidance, you will be able to understand the meaning of applied behavior analysis terms, and you will learn how to use it.

Premium participants: The homework offered each week during this course will allow you to analyze and modify your pet’s behavior “in real-time”. To get the most out of these six weeks, you are advised to practice the exercises as soon as they are published.

Although all behaviors can be analyzed with the tools and techniques covered during this course, due to their specificities, outdoor reactivity/aggression/phobia, and separation anxiety will not be covered during these six weeks (aggression indoors may be seen during this course).

Applied behavior analysis aim should not be to address unwanted behavior, but rather to learn new skills* to live in harmony in one’s environment.

* for both the animal and the human who shares his life!

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$113.85

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Karen Backhouse

Positive Puppy Preschool

Early learning for your puppy, from 8 – 16 weeks

Welcome to Positive Puppy Preschool. The course is aimed at the new puppy owner and is about the early learning for your puppy, from 8 – 16 weeks that forms a crucial part of the socialisation period.

For those of you who have had dogs before, you may notice some changes in the early learning encouraged for young puppies. These changes have been developed through research by several prominent universities and uses applied behaviour analysis (ABA) to underpin the learning.

What to expect

Six weekly lessons with written information and video(s)
Homework tasks both written, online and videoed practical training
Daily feedback (6 days per week) for Premium Members

What is covered

Socialisation & habituation
Introduction to the science of learning
The mechanics of clicker training
Capturing, shaping & luring
Adding cues
Introduction to canine body language
Exploring the environment
Handling with consent
Creative feeding
Puppy play
Planning effective training sessions
Foundation training
- Settle
- Managing puppy mouthing
- Walking on a lead
- Coming back when called
- Drop/give up items
- Four paws on the floor (an alternative to jumping up)

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$113.85

Agnieszka Janarek

Trainer’s Toolbox

Foundation course focusing on a scientific approach to animal training.

Training is a skill we need to learn. Teaching animals is not magic, nor common sense. It’s a combination of science and practical skills we need to master. Don’t worry if you don’t know where to start! I have prepared this course for you. It will guide you through the foundations of training. Step by step journey for anyone wishing to learn more!

Too often, we end up in a position of being teacher and learner at the same time, because we hadn’t had a chance to work on our mechanics, clicker skills, delivery patterns before we started working with our learners.

This course is a compendium of knowledge and practice for animal trainers. Focusing on the scientific approach to animal training we will cover ABA (applied behavior analysis) principles and how they resonate with what we do with animals, we will cover the mechanics and techniques of teaching behaviors! It’s a perfect place to start your training journey, but it is also an appropriate course for more advanced students who want to geek in the depths of thoughtful training. Get ready for discussions, practical exercises, and thorough insight into the animal training world.

Throughout six weeks of online learning, we will cover:

clicker training mechanics
skills for the trainer
errorless learning
chaining
adding stimulus control to behaviors
luring
shaping
structure of training session
concept of fluency
frustration and errors
raising criteria
moulding
concept of loopy training
planning your training session

Course syllabus:

Week 1
Lesson 1 – Welcome and Introductions
Lesson 2 – Education of choice and science.
Lesson 3 – Basic terms
Lesson 4 – Behavior and its contingencies
Lesson 5 – Consequences
Lesson 6 – Marker cues
Lesson 7 – Behavior profile
Lesson 8 – Luring

Week 2
Lesson 9 – Handler’s technique
Lesson 10 – Strategies
Lesson 11 – Moulding by contact

Week 3
Lesson 12 – Shaping
Lesson 13 – Cue for shaping – explored
Lesson 14 – Outcome versus result. Does it matter?
Lesson 15 – Examples of shaping
Lesson 16 – Frustration

Week 4
Lesson 17 – Handler’s technique – helper
Lesson 18 – Moulding by the environment
Lesson 19 – Schedules of reinforcement
Lesson 20 – Fading out
Lesson 21 – Fluency

Week 5
Lesson 22 – What about emotions?
Lesson 23 – Antecedent Arrangement
Lesson 24 – Cues
Lesson 25 – Error
Lesson 26 – Raising criteria

Week 6
Lesson 27 – Structure of the training session
Lesson 28 – Behavior chains
Lesson 29 – WTF?
Lesson 30 – Poisoned cues

This course is a must-have for anyone interested in diving into depths of scientific dog training. If you want to be the handler your dog deserves – join me for six weeks of great learning.

In this course, you can work with multiple animals within the weekly time frame (twelve minutes of video submission per week).
This course is multispecies friendly! You can join with any animal you wish!

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$113.85

Agnieszka Janarek

Nosework Stage 2

Getting ready for your first trial!

Building upon skills we covered in stage one, we will continue our preparation for exams. ORTs and first trials. Our primary focus will always be precise and clear training loop and clarity in search criteria.

We will start where we left with stage 1 and focus on:

start line routine
introducing search patterns
duration of search behavior
handling
building clarity in cues during search pattern
generalization of locations
task analysis of searches
basics of scent theory
increasing complexity of puzzles
planning your own training

Course syllabus:

Week 1
Lesson 1 – Welcome and Introductions
Lesson 2 – Baseline
Lesson 3 – Chains in nosework
Lesson 4 – ABCs of the search
Lesson 5 – Start line routine
Lesson 6 – Our variables
Lesson 7 – Aging
Lesson 8 – Introducing search

Week 2
Lesson 9 – Introduction to scent theory
Lesson 10 – Inaccessible v. accessible
Lesson 11 – Introducing exteriors – boxes on the road
Lesson 12 – Introducing exteriors – single hides
Lesson 13 – Duration of the search

Week 3
Lesson 14 – Handler’s job
Lesson 15 – Vehicles – introduction
Lesson 16 – Adding complexity to the search
Lesson 17 – Change of behavior
Lesson 18 – No visual cues

Week 4
Lesson 19 – Vehicles – cold vehicle
Lesson 20 – Exterior Progression
Lesson 21 – Vehicles – handling
Lesson 22 – Cues in nosework

Week 5
Lesson 23 – Duration of the search part 2
Lesson 24 – Crazy handler
Lesson 25 – Adding complexity to the search part 2

Week 6
Lesson 26 – Reducing the strength of the odor
Lesson 27 – Panning
Lesson 28 – What if?

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$113.85

Agnieszka Janarek

Attention Please

Before we start teaching our learners complicated behaviors we need to teach them how to learn.

Before we start teaching our learners complicated behaviors and advanced concepts, we need to teach them how to learn. This course focuses on building one of the most important skills our dogs need in training; focus.

But hold on a second! What is FOCUS? What does it look like? Is it tangible? How do I know I have it?

Throughout six weeks of online learning, we will answer all these questions and much more. We will operationalize attention, define focus contingency. You will learn how to build an errorless training session, how to define your learner’s focus, how to measure it and how to add layers to your work.

Based on my experience, the majority of time caregivers, handlers experience issues in training, is when they have not taught the attention contingency. Our “focus bubble.” We can’t teach anything if our animals don’t have the necessary skills of how to learn.

If your dog looks around, sniffs, doesn’t respond on cue, looks at you when should be working at a distance, engages with everything in the environment, but yourself – this course is just perfect for you.

Join me for six weeks journey! Learn about:

how to start the training session
how to end the training session
focus behaviors operationalized
clean focus loops from the start
wait for cue behavior
building easy to more complex training scenarios
training loops
backward chaining
antecedent arrangement
trainer’s mechanics
multiple exercises for building focus behaviors

Course syllabus:

Week 1:
Lesson 1 – Welcome and Introductions
Lesson 2 – Definition and concept of focus
Lesson 3 – Acclimation
Lesson 4 – The rules apply both ways
Lesson 5 – Outline of the course
Lesson 6 – Delivery checkpoint
Lesson 7 – Marker cues
Lesson 8 – Start of the training session

Week 2:
Lesson 9 – The end of the training session
Lesson 10 – Response to cue
Lesson 11 – Don’t call your dog

Week 3:
Lesson 12 – ABCs
Lesson 13 – Catch me if you can

Week 4:
Lesson 14 – Extinction
Lesson 15 – Wait for the cue
Lesson 16 – Sandwich style

Week 5:
Lesson 17 – Backward chaining
Lesson 18 – Break
Lesson 19 – Altogether

Week 6:
Lesson 17 – Did someone mention competition?
Lesson 18 – Competing stimulus – distractions
Lesson 19 – The end, or the new beginning?

This course is a prerequisite for Let Me Want It.

In this course, you can work with multiple animals within the weekly time frame (twelve minutes of video submission per week).

This course is multispecies friendly! You can join with any animal you wish!

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$113.85

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What to expect

What is covered