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January 22 – January 25 America/Los Angeles
Seminar: Science and Swear Words in Los Angeles
Instructors: Darshan Herran and Dr. Stewart Hilliard
Essentials of Modern Dog Training — General Training Emphasis
Join us for four days of in-depth conversation, scientific analysis, and hands-on training with SoCal’s Darshan Herran and Dr. Stewart Hilliard. In addition to being an industry-leading expert on progressive dog training and behavior modification, and a very successful competitor in French Ring Sport who has trained dogs since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, Darshan is a very nice man whom you could definitely take home to meet your mother. Stewart, however, will cuss enough for the both of them. This event will focus on core aspects of modern dog training, including the application of functionally-defined aversive control. The curriculum will be appropriate for trainers working in a broad variety of disciplines, including companion dogs, working dogs, and obedience dogs. Note that CANIS is offering a discount for early registration
Program Overview:
This seminar will be approximately 40% lecture and theory, and 60% demonstrations and hands-on training with 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
Registration options
General Admission ($700) Early Bird Special – $550 before 15 Dec 2024
Get the full benefit of hands-on demonstrations without the responsibility of bringing a dog. Opting for an auditor spot allows you to fully immerse yourself in the lectures and discussions, and allows uninterrupted observation of multiple dog/handler teams as they work through challenges, so that you can gain actionable insights to apply to your own training later.
Working Spot Upgrade (Approved Dogs Only) – Requires Application + $300 Upgrade from General Admission Ticket
To apply for a handler-dog team spot, please 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 types of rewards, including food rewards and different types of toys. The objective here is to make sure that the dog can function in a seminar context and that in-seminar work with the dog will promote learning for all seminar participants, including your dog.
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