This session is designed for both beginners and advanced trainers alike, it will explore essential tools for training and maintaining successful medical behaviors.
Part 1 of the Session will focus on key training tools such as stationing, targeting, desensitization, gating (kenneling), recalls, and improving desensitization and general tactile acceptance. Part 2 will then shift to focus on specific techniques for successfully training behaviors for blood-taking, injections, medication administration, working around the mouth and head, removal from the environment, and passive restraint.
Throughout the presentation, common questions will be addressed: How do you keep a behavior with any type of discomfort from breaking down with frequent use? How do you prevent an animal from discriminating against the medical team? Can you teach animals to anticipate the novelty associated with medical behaviors? When restraint is needed, should that be done by the primary trainer or is it better handled by someone else, to prevent a breakdown in the relationship? Don't miss this important presentation designed for trainers of all experience levels.
This is a presentation that Ken has never shared at an IMATA conference previously. It is designed for trainers at all experience levels. Have you ever wondered why certain tools cause so much controversy? Why do some trainers insist that a specific tool is a great idea while others suggest it is a mistake? What does science say about these controversial tools as opposed to how practical trainers use them?
Join Ken as he dives into an examination of some of the more controversial tools in use by trainers every day. He will discuss the Keep Going Signal (KGS), Jackpots, No Reinforcement Markers (NRM), Intermittent Schedules of Reinforcement, and End of Session Signals (ESS). Ken will look at these tools objectively with a solid science focus while still giving you the practical realities of using these tools so you can make choices about your use of each tool.
PLEASE NOTE: It is important to understand that while these animal training seminar courses are presented by IMATA, they are not part of the IMATA conference. The courses are separate from the IMATA conference, and participants must pay a tuition fee that is separate from conference registration. Conference registration is not required to enroll in the animal training seminar courses.