The ALS ice bucket challenge has inspired a dog training version called the “Transparency Challenge.” It consists of three questions; What happens when the dog gets it right? What happens when a dog gets it wrong? Is there a less intrusive method? Having watched a number of trainers answer these questions apparently the proper formula […]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-infants-ascribe-social-dominance-larger.html I believe that the interpretation of this experiment is a case of leaping to a foregone conclusion. I temper this however with the acknowledgment that social dominance is indeed possible between human beings because human beings are capable of comparing one moment or one point-of-view to another. Thus it takes a certain amount of […]

(Be advised that this a long essay on theory.) Recently there was a productive discussion (except for you know who) on Lee’s Psychology Today blog in regards to the differences between dogs and cats in terms of their respective social capacities. I would like to springboard off this discussion in order to more thoroughly develop […]

Below are definitions from a site dedicated to Operant Conditioning. http://r-plusdogtraining.info/lexicon.htm Reinforcement = anything that strengthens a behavior Punishment = anything that suppresses a behavior Positive = something added to influence a behavior Negative = something taken away to influence a behavior These are comprehensive DESCRIPTIONS that do indeed encompass the phenomenon of learning so […]

“Hey kid, want to go to the Dentist? Here’s 50 bucks, get on the chair so I can lock you in.” Sooner or later, virtually every puppy, no matter how juicy the tidbit thrown into the back of its crate, is going to balk at going in once it’s now mature enough to form an […]

As an overview, the emotional battery stores both mass and energy, (I mean this literally since physical objects of attraction–as well as their inherent energy–become fused through Pavlovian conditioning onto the animals’ sense of its physical center-of-gravity) and serves as both an energy reserve boost and as emotional ballast (e-cog) as a source of information […]

Physical memories of experience are typed first and foremost according to intensity. The output of the Big-Brain is this intensity, the stimulation engine, perhaps quite like an engine in a car. The Big-Brain is the sensation dynamo, the sensory interface with the environment, and it generates a certain amount of thrust that is variably grounded […]

Kevin Behan and Trisha Selbach continue to discuss “Eye Contact” and the “Negative as access to the Positive”. Also learn more about how dogs “feel what we feel” and why Kevin advises his clients to “Be the Moose”.

Kevin Behan and Trisha Selbach continue to discuss “Eye Contact” and the “Negative as access to the Positive”. Also learn more about how dogs “feel what we feel” and why Kevin advises his clients to “Be the Moose”. The discussion continues: click here to access Part III of this episode.

Kevin Behan and Trisha Selbach discuss “Eye Contact” and the “Negative as access to the Positive”. The discussion continues: click here to access Part 2 of this episode.