Benjamin Franklin was a pretty amazing guy. The quintessential Renaissance Man, he was a scientist, inventor, author, musician, scholar, business man and politician. There are many popular stories and quotes from Franklin's life, but one in particular demonstrates his astute understanding of human behavior. In fact, this story became so well-known that it eventually led to what is now … Continue reading The Ben Franklin Effect
Operant Conditioning
Deconstructing the Click
I am a clicker trainer. All of my own dogs are clicker trained and many of the classes that we teach at my training school, AutumnGold are "clicker-centric". Clicker training is not only a scientifically sound approach to teaching dogs new things, but is also a kind, enjoyable, and bond-strengthening method of training - something that benefits both dogs and their people. 7-MONTH-OLD SIMON LEARNS EYE … Continue reading Deconstructing the Click
The Quiz
Imagine that you have enrolled in a college math course. You have been attending lectures for several weeks and although the material is quite difficult, you feel that the instructor has been explaining the concepts very clearly and that you have been able to learn a great deal from his lectures. You have completed and … Continue reading The Quiz
Yogi Bear Dogs
Do you live with a Yogi Bear dog? You know what I mean - one of those smarter than the average bear dogs? I am quite certain that I live with several. For example, Chippy my Toller, excels at retrieving rings and carefully placing them over a pylon, riding a skateboard (sometimes recklessly, in my opinion), and playing … Continue reading Yogi Bear Dogs
Speaking of treats…..
Like kids with their Halloween candy, do dogs rank the treats that we provide to them? Many trainers selectively use what we call "high-value treats" for some behaviors and "low-value treats" for others. However, other than subjectively observing the level of our dog's pleasure at receiving different types of treats, do we have actual evidence that treats vary in their influence upon … Continue reading Speaking of treats…..
Treat Please!
One of the things that I love best about training dogs (and there are many, many things to love about training dogs) is that they respond well to so many different types of positive reinforcement. We have a wide variety of "fun stuff" from which to choose that communicates "Yes!!! That is it!! You are SO … Continue reading Treat Please!
The Science Dog 