This is Part 1 of a three part conversation with Dr. Susan Friedman and Rick Hester. Dr. Friedman has been a frequent guest on this podcast. Most of you I’m sure already know Susan. But just as a reminder, Susan is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. She is a pioneer in the use of Applied Behavior Analysis in the handling of captive and companion animals.

Her interest in developing scientifically sound, ethical standards for animal care and training prompted our this current conversation.

We are also joined by Rick Hester.

Rick is the curator of behavioral Husbandry for the Cheyenne Mountain zoo. Rick overseas the zoo’s training program for husbandry, medical and public show behaviors. I value the perspective he brings to training. When you work with horses it all too easy to think you have to rely on force-based methods for some medical and husbandry behaviors - and then you see what’s being done in zoos.

We begin by talking about why it matters to have ethical standards guiding the training choices we make. We are talking about training goals and strategies that provide our learners with choice and a lifestyle of control.