How do you Get a Cookie to Beat a Squirrel? Presented by Yvette Van Veen

CEUs: PPAB 1

Behavioral Momentum, The Holy Grail of Skills Training. 

Powerful distractions, such as squirrels, cats, garbage and other things often seen as “more valuable” than the cookies trainers have in their hands. It’s not true that some chow hounds are more suited to food as a reinforcer than other dogs.

Learn how to harness the power of behavioural momentum - the ability to create strong, powerful behaviours that persist despite distractions and even when reinforcements are not present.  It’s the holy grail, the magic tipping point of dog training. Once you learn how to create it at will, you’ll be chasing momentum in every skill you teach. You can stop trying to chase the magic high value cookie in favour of creating behaviours that your dog loves to do, despite distractions.

Learning Objectives:

• What is behavioural momentum.
• How does it work?
• What factors are required to create it.
• Why does rate of reinforcement matter?
• Learn about the optimal level of reinforcement.
• How to add distractions so you can “crush the competition (the squirrel)” with training technique.
• Why Premack is should not be the go to method of dealing with distractions during initial training.

About The Presenter

Yvette Van Veen

Yvette Van Veen has two decades of experience training dogs, lives and works in London Ontario. She offers both group and private sessions. She has worked extensively with formerly feral dogs. Yvette’s writing has been a long-standing feature in Ontario’s newspapers, currently appearing in the Toronto Star.  Her life is shared with her son Jordan, her formerly feral dog, “Kipper the ex-crotch ripper”, border collie, “Karma” and Icarus the cat. You can reach Yvette at info@awesomedogs.ca or follow her at:  https://www.facebook.com/londondogtrainer/