Lining up the How, What and Why of Training. Presented by Alexandra Kurland

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, IAABC 1.5, CCPDT 1.5

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“How" refers to the teaching method you select.  “What" refers to the behavior you are going to teach.  “Why" refers to the function of the behavior.  You need to consider all three.  Positive reinforcement training is wonderfully powerful.  That’s part of its appeal.  But you need to be careful how you use it. It’s easy to think you are looking out for an animal’s best interest because you are training with clicks and treats.  But what are you asking your animal to do and why?   

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”  This presentation helps to line those three elements up so they satisfy the trainer's needs as well as the animal's welfare.  It looks beyond the layer of methods to explore why we are drawn to certain training choices.

As pet owners and animal trainers, we live in a world that divides.  There are people who make similar training choices to ours and then there are “the others”.  Seeing how “others” treat animals can be hard.  We want to defend animals, to protect them, to teach others “better ways”, but the more we push against what “others” are doing, the greater the divide becomes.

This presentation is intended to help us understand better how these different training belief systems emerge.  Alexandra will be introducing you to the work of the cognitive linguist, George Lakoff. Through an understanding of primary metaphors and cognitive frames, we gain tools for understanding one another. Instead of creating a deeper divide, we gain better ways to communicate with one another.  In the process we become better trainers.

George Lakoff is not an animal trainer, but his work certainly relates directly to training. Alexandra will be introducing you to his work and making the direct connections to horse training but the presentation will also be invaluable for all pet professionals!

Learning Objectives:

• The three layers every training system has
• Identifying core belief systems 
• Primary metaphors defined
• Source and target domains and the connection to training
• Treats - why do some reject them, others use them?
• The strict father versus the nurturing parent model of training
• Words matter - respect versus respect - same word, different meaning.  Why?
• Why do people attack your training choices - and what can you do about it?
• Frames - defined and connected to training
• What frame are you in? How does that influence your training choices?
• Why focusing on what you WANT matters so much
• Command versus cue-based training
• The hierarchy of behaviour change procedures - revisited
• Convincing others without creating conflict - biconceptuals and frames
• How, what, and why matter - lining up your training methods with your core values
• Homework - techniques for maintaining the training frame that best serves you and your learners