Equiosity

Equiosity Podcast - Episode 55: A Celebration! Panel on Duration: Part 4

This is Part Four of our panel discussion on duration. We invited our guests from our first year of podcasts to join us. So we have Hannah Brannigan, Nancy Kelly, Michaela Hempen, Cindy Martin, Mary Concannon, and Jane Jackson. With such a great group of panelists we had a lot to talk about!

Our celebration of a year of podcasting continues on with our panel discussion on duration. We invited Hannah Brannigan, Nancy Kelly, Michaela Hempen, Cindy Martin, Mary Concannon and Jane Jackson to join us. This week Nancy talks about the CIA cats, and by CIA she is not referring to the Culinary Institute of America.

As we talk about strategies for building duration, we focus on the importance of establishing clear criteria, building the base unit well, alternating between different types of behavior, and taking breaks to prevent fatigue.

Enjoy!

This is episode 53 which means we’re starting our second year of podcasting! We’re continuing to celebrate this milestone with a panel discussion. As you’ll recall from last week, we invited all the guests from our 2018 podcasts to gather with us around a virtual kitchen table, or if you prefer the image of us all sitting together near a blazing fire, that works too. We invited Hannah Brannigan, Nancy Kelly, Michaela Hempen, Cindy Martin, Mary Concannon and Jane Jackson to join us in a discussion centered around one of Dominique's favorite topics - and that’s how do you build duration?

In Part One Michaela and I had just finished describing a process for extending duration by cueing units of behavior. This technique comes to us from another great trainer, Kay Laurence. We were shifting from “how-to” questions to another equally important topic. It’s not so much do you know how to extend the duration of a behavior, but are you comfortable asking for more?

Cindy Martin was about to jump into the conversation to answer that question when I cued the music. I made you wait until this week to find out what our panelists had to say on this topic.

So this episode picks up again where we left off.

Enjoy!

We’re celebrating! Episode 52 marks the end of one very full year of podcasting. We’re celebrating this milestone with a special event. We’ve invited all of the guests who joined us in this first year of podcasting to come back and join us for a special panel discussion on duration.

So we’re joined in this podcast by Hannah Brannigan, Nancy Kelly, Michaela Hempen, Cindy Martin, Mary Concannon, and Jane Jackson. Through the marvels of technology we gathered around a virtual kitchen table and had a great discussion about training. It is always a treat to have that many skilled trainers joining the conversation. And the best part is you get to listen in!

Enjoy!

Last week, as you’ll recall, we had a special guest - a surprise visit from Dr. Jesus Rosales Ruiz. Dominique and I were discussing some reading she’s been doing in Paul Chance’s book, Learning and Behavior. We were stumbling over the differences between schedules of reinforcement, rates of reinforcement, and variable reinforcement. Each one is describing different aspect of reinforcement, but it’s easy to get them tangled up so you forget which definition goes where.

They remind me of all the power cords that wrap around the top of my desk. As much as I try to keep them tidy and separate, they seem to twist themselves together into a confusing knot. At the beginning of last week’s episode Dominique and I were getting ourselves twisted into our own version of a knot as we began a discussion of these terms. So I enlisted the help of Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz to help sort us out.

On the last night of the Art and Science of Animal training Conference in Dallas Texas, we found a semi quiet room in which to record. My intent was to send Dominique just a ten or fifteen minute quick audio postcard, but once we got started, it was hard to stop! So here is the second half of my conversation with Jesús.

Enjoy!

Schedules of reinforcement, rates of reinforcement, variable reinforcement - these terms can become very confusing. They remind me of all the power cords that wrap around the top of my desk. As much as I try to keep them tidy and separate, they seem to twist themselves together into a confusing knot. We were certainly getting twisted into a confusing knot as we began a discussion of these terms. So I enlisted the help of Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz to help sort out them out. He is sending us all a postcard from the annual Art and Science of Animal Training conference. Enjoy!

What have you been reading recently? Dominique has just started Paul Chance’s “Learning and Behavior”. She jumped straight to a chapter on reinforcement schedules. It sparked an interesting conversation centered around the question of how to build duration into the behaviors you’re teaching without creating frustration. In this week’s episode I describe a teaching strategy years that I developed years ago that I refer to as “the 300 peck pigeon” lesson.

Episode 48 Jane Jackson: Part 4: Something New!

This week concludes our conversation with Jane Jackson - and what an ending it is! Jane shares with us another great procedure she used with her horses in which she introduced something new into their environment every day.

In this week’s episode Jane Jackson describes a procedure she used to help her very sensitive, very vigilant horse become comfortable walking with her out away from the barn.

Jane followed a five day pattern. Day One was exploration day. Day two was foundation lessons day. On day three she built short chains using the foundation behaviors. On day four she introduced a relatively new behavior. And on day five she combined that new behavior with the foundation lessons to produce even longer chains. On day six she moved to a new location and began the process all over again. She describes in detail what she did on each of these days - and even more important - why.

Our conversation with Jane Jackson continues as she introduces us to her horse, Percy. Percy is a sensitive, athletic, smart thoroughbred cross who sits on the fringes of any bell shaped curve you might want to fit him into. He's presented Jane with many training puzzles. In this week's podcast she shares how she started him under saddle - and the monkey wrench he threw into that process, along with many other stories. We're heading towards a description of a procedure Jane developed to help Percy feel more comfortable leaving the barnyard and his familiar paddocks. But first we wanted to introduce you to Percy so you would have a better appreciation of the challenges this kind of horse presents.