What a treat we have for you. Once again we are in conversation with Dr. Susan Friedman. Dr. Friedman is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. She has pioneered the application of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to captive and companion animals. ABA, with its roots in human learning, offers a scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard that can improve the lives of all learners. Susan runs an on-line course - Living and Learning with Animals for Professionals. She has written chapters on learning and behavior for five veterinary texts, and she’s a frequent contributor to popular magazines. Her articles appear around the world in 15 languages. Susan has presented seminars for a wide variety of professional organizations around the world, and she is a member of the faculty of the clicker expo which is how I first met her.

When Susan is with us we forget about time. We just keep going until our animals shout out a collective Enough! Thankfully on this afternoon they were all content to let us talk, and talk we did! We have a great three parter for you. We’ll start with Crucial Conversations. We’ve all been there. It might be someone is criticizing how you’re training your horse, or maybe they’ve attacked something you’ve posted on the internet. How do you handle the situation? That’s the start for a complex, multi-layered conversation.