- This event has passed.
December 11, 2025 – December 14, 2025 EST
Agility Challenge Acres (Troy, OH)
Essentials of Modern Dog Training — General Training with Special Emphasis on Agility
Instructors: Forrest Micke and Dr. Stewart Hilliard, with Daisy Peel
Join us for four days of in-depth discussion, scientific analysis, and hands-on training with Forrest Micke and Stewart Hilliard. This event will focus on the essentials of modern dog training, including the application of functionally-defined aversive control, and is appropriate for trainers working in a broad variety of disciplines, including companion dogs, working dogs, and obedience training. Forrest and Stewart will be joined by internationally-famed agility competitor Daisy Peel to bring new innovations to the special technical challenges of training for high-level agility competition. Working, audit, and livestream options are available.
Program Overview:
This seminar will be approximately 40% lecture and theory, and 60% demonstrations and hands-on training with selected participants’ dogs.
Dr. Hilliard’s lectures will provide insights into the following topics:
- Pavlovian Conditioning: The mechanisms of stimulus — stimulus learning and their relevance to dog training, including inhibitory conditioning, counterconditioning, and the technical problem of extinction.
- Instrumental Conditioning: Essentials of response — consequence learning and practical applications.
- The Contingency Square: A deeper understanding of the distinction between the valence (feels good or feels bad) of the stimuli we employ to train the dog, versus the valence of the consequence the dog actually experiences
- Pavlovian – Instrumental interactions: How Pavlovian-Instrumental interactions determine the effectiveness of training techniques, and procedures used to “insulate” the target instrumental response from interference by embedded Pavlovian contingencies
- Aversive Control: Distinguishing between aversive stimuli (those that are unpleasant for the dog to experience) and functionally-defined aversive control (defined by the effect on behavior), and understanding why the distinction is important for dog welfare.
- Negative Reinforcement and Positive Punishment: Mechanisms of negative reinforcement and positive punishment, including the critical distinction between escape and avoidance, and the importance of safety cues
- Signaling: The roles of secondary reinforcers and secondary punishers in dog training.
- Dog Welfare: The truth about learned helplessness, the nature of stress, and why dog welfare should not be defined in terms of the presence or absence of stress, but instead in terms of the dog’s ability to predict and control stress
- Training Methodology: The Agency- Accountability Approach to dog training and how it provides for training techniques that are kind and fair to dogs, ethically-defensible, and consistent with scientific data on animal learning and animal welfare– while also providing real-world results for dog trainers
Special events
For those of you who are specially interested in agility, Daisy will be hosting two agility course run-throughs at Agility Challenge Acres during this event. These run-throughs are open to the public and will take place during the evenings on Wednesday, Dec 10 (open to everyone) and Friday, Dec 12 (for seminar attendees and special invitation). Seminar attendees are invited to watch or participate in both run-throughs (participation is included with seminar registration at no extra cost)
Stewart and Forrest will be attending these run-throughs to brainstorm with Daisy technical solutions for agility, which will be discussed at the seminar.
Registration options
Seminar Participant (On-Site) – $400
Fully immerse yourself in formal lectures on advanced topics, lively discussions, and hands-on demonstrations with or without your dog. Unlike typical seminars that prioritize individualized attention addressing the particular needs of each dog-and-handler in turn (with little participation from other handlers and “auditors” paying a nominal fee to passively listen in), the hands-on portion of this seminar will be inclusive of the entire group, permitting everyone to ask questions, fully participate in discussions, and learn by observing a multitude of dogs working through different challenges and at different levels. The goal is to leave you with an actionable game plan and a framework from which to build, rather than an assortment of one-off fixes. (Bored scrolling awaiting “your turn” NOT a thing!)
Live demonstrations and training sessions will be curated to show the practical application of principles introduced in the lectures, highlighting training progressions as response requirement criteria are advanced (aka, how to up the ante without busting the game). As such, a limited number of “demo-dogs” (along with their handlers) will be accepted to participate in live training sessions based on how tractable they are for illustrating the application of concepts described in the program overview. Those who opt not (or are not selected) to bring a dog get the full benefit of hands-on demonstration without the responsibility of having a dog in tow.
Demo-Dog / Handling Spot UPGRADE (+$200) – Limited to 8 (Requires Application)
Those who would like to apply to participate with their dogs in the hands-on portion must first purchase a ticket to reserve their spot as a seminar participant and get into the queue to upgrade to a handler spot. After purchasing your seminar ticket, submit multiple 1 – 2 minute video clips (rather than one very long video) of a training session showcasing your dog working in a busy, unfamiliar environment. Video clips should show your dog interacting with multiple rewards, including food, different types of toys, and bites on equipment (if appropriate for your discipline). The objective here is to make sure that the dog can function well in a seminar context and will promote learning for all seminar participants, including your dog. (Not saying your pokey puppy that couldn’t give a hoot about treats or toys couldn’t be motivated, or your radioactive rocket readjusted, but is outside of the scope of this event). Note that we will ask those who are selected sign a waiver form to be filmed for live demonstrations.
Submit your videos via WhatsApp to Stewart at 210-382-4872 (preferably attached as a document for higher quality) or share via e-mail (or a google drive upload) to events@kynology.org. Your dog MUST show interactions with reinforcers, as described above.
If your video is approved you will then receive an email directing you to Kynology.org where you will be able to lock in your handler by making an additional payment to purchase a Demo-Dog UPGRADE. Those who are not selected will still be able to fully participate in the seminar, with no additional purchase required. Note that purchase of the handler applicant ticket commits you to attend the seminar, and that no refund will be given if your dog is not selected as a demo dog.
Virtual Participant (Livestream) – $250
Can’t make it in person? Join us from anywhere! (Lectures and Discussions will be live-streamed). Note that while we are unable to address virtually-submitted questions in realtime, livestream attendees will have the option to submit written questions and comments during the seminar. These questions and comments will be reviewed by the instructors during breaks and will likely influence subsequent discussions. General questions will be broadly addressed during the course of the lectures, and a select number of interesting questions may be answered in an FAQ section available to registrants after the seminar.
Access to Recordings
Time zone, Job Responsibilities or Prior Commitments getting in your way? Due to popular request, we will be granting attendees access to recordings for a window of time after the event (one month, possibly longer) to catch up on anything missed due to dogs, jobs and that pesky need to sleep. We intend for this to be a LIVE event that encourages (and is influenced by!) remote participation (rather than paid access to videos on-demand), but also don’t want to exclude those of you who can join us for much but not all of the seminar.
NEW — Hybrid & 2-Day Options
We have added two additional options to allow partial on-site participation (weekend or otherwise), with or without access to Livestream and recordings. Note that we added this to accommodate those who are unable to participate all four days, but it is highly recommend that you register as a full seminar participant (and attend all four days in-person) to experience the full picture and get the most out of this seminar.
Hybrid Option (2 days on-site + 2 days livestream) – $325
For those who cannot make it on-site all four days. Includes Livestream and temporary access to recordings.
Weekend Warrior (2 days on-site) – $225
On-site only. Does NOT include Livestream or access to recordings.
For questions or issues registering, please contact events@kynology.org or check out our handy-dandy FAQ troubleshooting page https://kynology.org/faqs/
*** Note that this is our first time handling ticket sales internally, and we still seem to be experiencing intermittent glitchiness. If you encounter a “sold out” or any other issue blocking you from purchase, please contact us at events@kynology.org (or check out Ticket Purchase FAQs) and we’ll get you sorted ***