Equiosity

This concludes our three part conversation with Lindsay Wood on counter conditioning. In Part 1 we began with the basics of counter conditioning which means we began with classical conditioning. In her work at shelters, that’s where Lindsay had begun, but she has been expanding her understanding of those protocols by looking at them more through an operant lens.

In Part 3 we continue this exploration of counter conditioning by exploring a series of related subjects. Following these threads takes us to a deeper, more robust understanding of counter conditioning.

Last week we began a conversation with Lindsay Wood Brown. Lindsay is a member of the Clicker Expo faculty. She is a board-certified applied animal behaviorist (ACAAB) with a master's degree in animal behavior. She is a Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) course developer and has served as a KPA faculty member since 2012.

Lindsay consults for animal shelters across the country. She previously served as the Director of Operations for Lynchburg Humane Society in Virginia and as the Director of Animal Training and Behavior for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley in Boulder, Colorado.

The shelter work means for certain protocols Lindsay has seen hundreds of case histories. That’s the experience we wanted to draw on in this discussion of counter conditioning.

At the end of part one we were stressing how important it is to adapt any of the protocols you read about to the individual you are working with. We pick up there as we look at counter conditioning from an operant perspective.

Lindsay Wood Brown joins us for a conversation on counter conditioning. Dominique starts us off by describing the situation she has with her easily distracted dog. The behavior she’s dealing with is something many of us have to contend with - whether it is a dog or a horse who is exhibiting the behavior.

In this conversation we begin with the basics - what is counter conditioning? Lindsay describes how she would have talked about it earlier in her career. She then brings us forward to her current understanding of these procedures. The shift takes her from classical conditioning to operant. The change helps her to refine the procedures and gives her a systematic strategy to progress with an animal.

In this podcast Dominique describes how she uses video analysis in her training. She adds details and some wonderful surprises in how video can be used to improve your training.

This can sound like a dry topic, but it is anything but.

The January Clicker Expo was the starting point to our conversation. We talk about what is new in Loopy Training and other concepts. One thing leads to another and we ended up talking about training pop outs, note taking, habit formation and the advantage of video records.

Clicker trained horses want to play with us. That's a good thing, but there are places where a little less "Pick me! Pick me!" enthusiasm would make life easier.

When you have more than one horse and you are trying to get just one out of the pasture gate, how do you deal with all this eagerness to be with you? That's the question we focus on in this continuation of our conversation with Cindy Martin. What are some strategies for managing multiple horses so the situation remains safe and pleasant for both horses and handlers.

Cushings disease is something more and more horses owners are dealing with in part because we are keeping our horses into their old age. Cindy Martin provides a comprehensive starting point for understanding this disease - what are the early symptoms, how do you test for it, manage it, what is the difference between cushings disease and insulin resistance, what on-line resources can help you?

Cindy Martin joins us for Part 1 of a three hour conversation. Cindy is a treasure. Anyone who has been on line in the clicker training community will have met Cindy. She is always there, generously stepping in to help people with their training and health care questions.

In this episode Cindy shares the many resources she's found to help people manage their horses' feet.

The publication of the new, revised edition of "The Click That Teaches: A Step By Step Guide in Pictures" created an opportunity to look back over the past twenty years of clicker training. What changes have we seen in the training community? The conversation took us to errorless learning and the spring Clicker Science Camp. Check out the show notes at equioisty.com for a great PORTL example of errorless learning.

We use the occasion of the publication of the new revised edition of "The Click That Teaches: A Step By Step Guide in Pictures" as the launching point for a discussion of some of the changes we've seen in over the years in positive reinforcement training.