Did you know that chains are good for dogs? Behavior
chains, that is. (Not choke chains!)
Behavior chains are sequences of movements that follow,
one after the other, without a time gap. They are governed
by cues from the trainer or from the rest of the animal’s
environment. The primary reinforcer occurs after completion
of the entire chain.
Understanding how to create, maintain and repair behavior chains are essential skills for any advanced trainer. Virtually everything we want dogs to perform in competition or working venues (e.g., service-dog tasks, search & rescue, freestyle, agility, etc) are behavior chains, rather than single discrete behaviors (e.g., sit). And behavior problems can stem from behavior chains. Just a single weak link in a behavior chain will cause it to break, even if the rest of the links are strong. The confusion and possible punishment that the animal experiences during "weak link" failures can contaminate the entire chain and erode the dog's ability to perform the activity at all.
In this course, Kathy will:
- review various types of behavior chains
commonly found in dog-training
- list several examples of problem behaviors that are
actually well-maintained behavior chains, and give suggestions
for ways to break these unwanted chains
- compare back-chaining to forward-chaining
- describe how to break down behavior chains into
their component “links”
- provide a general
framework for creating resilient “welds” between
adjacent links
- discuss reliability as a natural by-product
of carefully constructed behavior chains
- examine the effect of
weak or poisoned cues on the fluency of behavior chains
- look
at the occurrence of “ringwise” dogs as
an example of broken chains
Here’s what participants have said
about Kathy’s courses:
"Once again I love how Kathy explains behavior
of both man and beast. I picked up so many tips as
well as some techniques I need to tweak."
"Kathy presented material in such a friendly
way and it was easy to stay completely engaged in the
lesson." Pam
J-Bennett
This course has been approved for 2.5 CEU hours from
CCPDT. The LIVE class isn't on our current schedule. Please
sign up for our ezine "Pet Behavior One Piece
at a Time" to be notified about when it will be
offered next.
Take this class ON DEMAND now! The ON DEMAND class
is a recorded tele-webcast with the full content of
the live class including class discussion and class
notes. You have one month's online access to all class
sessions and an opportunity to ask questions of the
instructors via email. Their answers to your questions
will be recorded and emailed to you within a week.
You can earn CEUs by submitting emailed answers to
questions asked by the instructors during the recorded
class. We'll provide the details once you register.
Still have questions about the course? Email for
more details info@animalbehaviorassociates.com
Your Registration Fee $79 If you were a BEN Pro Member
you'd pay only $64 (a 20% discount)
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