An In-Depth Look at Counter Conditioning. Presented by Alexandra Santos

CEUs: PPAB 1.5, CCPDT 1.5, IAABC 1.5, KPA 1.5

Feeding a dog in the presence of an eliciting stimulus is often masked as counter conditioning him. When it doesn´t work we label the process as ineffective or assume it’s not the best choice for that particular dog or situation. But the only times counter conditioning doesn’t work is if it’s not counter conditioning, if it’s not performed correctly, or if there is some physiological or neurological process inhibiting learning.

There are pillars that support a counter conditioning procedure. Novelty, salience, contingency, contiguity and timing are the main ones. Similarly, there are factors – mainly human error – that hinder the process. In this webinar we will explore those pillars and discuss human errors that make counter conditioning “ineffective”.

Learning Objectives

- Understand the importance and impact of novelty.

- What is more important? Contiguity, contingency, or both?

- Learn how pre-exposure to the US can make it less effective.

- Increase US salience while decreasing trigger salience.

- Learn about trace conditioning, simultaneous conditioning, short and long-delay conditioning and when to use them.

- The role of backward conditioning.

- Avoid common errors during a counter conditioning procedure.

- Some practical examples.

About Your Presenter    

Alexandra Santos

Alexandra Santos is a professional canine behavior consultant and trainer, with formal education through The Animal Care College in the U.K. where she graduated with honors for the Diploma of Advanced Canine Psychology, and through The Companion Animal Sciences Institute where she graduated with distinction for the Diploma of Advanced Dog Training.

She is the author of the books “Puppy Problems”, “Puppy Training: How to housetrain your puppy effectively”, “How to leash train your dog and enjoy walking him”, “O meu cão e eu”, “Cão educado, dono feliz” (published in Portugal), and has also authored and co-authored several scientific articles for the Journal of Applied Companion Animal Behavior and the International Institute for Applied Companion Animal Behavior.

Alexandra lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal, as a guest professor at Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias and provides individual coaching for dogs and their people. She has been a presenter at several seminars in Portugal and Brazil on positive reinforcement-based training and regularly presents webinars for the Pet Professional Guild in the USA and Edogtorial in Spain.