Kynology Down Under: Civil Aggression in Police and Military Working Dogs (Event #3)

Two days’ focus on a core aspect of training biting dogs for sport or service– understanding and working with social aggression. In lecture, we will focus on the ethology of working dog training and the traditional Raiserian model of predation vs aggression, but also the operant realm of stimulus control of bite intent. Thus we’ll examine desirable aggression as a training objective through both ethological and also behavior-analytic lenses. Practically, Dr. Hilliard will zero-in on demonstration and teaching of the neglected art of civil agitation. Stewart will first evaluate participant dogs for social aggression, thresholds, and agency under social stress, and then transition (with care) to instructing a small number of selected participants in using modulated social threat to induce a constructive level of stress, and movement to convert emotional barking to instrumental barking and install resilience and agency under pressure.