My Journey to Skill Improvement
There are limited places to go to learn mechanical skills, learning concepts and training plans. In 2003 I took a workshop with Bob Bailey - a small taste of his now famous "Chicken Camp". Here is a link to Bob's bio : Bob Bailey Bio
Bob Bailey was married to Marian Breland Bailey until she passed away. She was one of B.F. Skinners students. Bob and Marian formed a company called Animal Behavior Enterprises. The purpose of Bob's Chicken Workshops, which are highly popular and sought after from animal trainers from around the world, is to develop mechanical skills and thought process/training plans to get to goal behaviors. Why use chickens? It's not about training chickens - very few of us have chickens or will get the chance to train them for specific behaviors. One reason to use chickens is that they are quick. Their behavior impacts ours. Timing is part of skill development. A fraction of a second off and you'll get a chicken doing another behavior then the one you intended. An example is that you'll get a chicken pecking at the red triangle instead of the black target or shakes the elastic band rather then pulling it. Chickens will also let us know about our choice of rate of reinforcement. If we are too slow - they will go to where there is food.
Bob Bailey says, “A chicken is the best teaching tool for training animals, offering more behaviors and more repetitions in the shortest amount of time.” That means we have a chance to get in a lot of repetitions in a short about of time. This also gives us a chance to undo a training mistake.
I learnt a lot from this mini-workshop. He has since 'semi-retired' and sold his Chicken Camp training to Terry Ryan of Legacy Canine. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to take a workshop with him.
Then I stumbled upon Kay Laurence and her Clicker Competency Assessment Program. The purpose of the CAP: 1) to provide a clear pathway, with marked steps for learners to gain their skill, knowledge and understanding 2) to provide a certification system validating the competency of clicker trainers
With CAP it's about the handler being assessed and not per say how the dog performs. There are currently 4 levels. I've completed Level 2 and currently working through Level 3. I have two remaining criteria to work on and to hand it for assessment, then hopefully I'll gain my Level 3 Certification.
CAP Criteria
What I've found with CAP 3 is that I get sucked into the behavior - the quality, fluency and reliability that I forget about my skills - how I use the clicker, how I use rewards, which rewards to use, how to deliver rewards, etc. Video taping is a good tool to have in skill development. It allows you to re-watch a training segment so that you can really see what's really going on. My assessor pointed out some good qualities in my dog's responses and Kay was able to pin-point a weakness in my skill. So I just have to be a little more mindful of both my behaviors and getting the behaviors I plan for.
Hopefully in the next few months I'll have some good news to share.
Bob Bailey was married to Marian Breland Bailey until she passed away. She was one of B.F. Skinners students. Bob and Marian formed a company called Animal Behavior Enterprises. The purpose of Bob's Chicken Workshops, which are highly popular and sought after from animal trainers from around the world, is to develop mechanical skills and thought process/training plans to get to goal behaviors. Why use chickens? It's not about training chickens - very few of us have chickens or will get the chance to train them for specific behaviors. One reason to use chickens is that they are quick. Their behavior impacts ours. Timing is part of skill development. A fraction of a second off and you'll get a chicken doing another behavior then the one you intended. An example is that you'll get a chicken pecking at the red triangle instead of the black target or shakes the elastic band rather then pulling it. Chickens will also let us know about our choice of rate of reinforcement. If we are too slow - they will go to where there is food.
Bob Bailey says, “A chicken is the best teaching tool for training animals, offering more behaviors and more repetitions in the shortest amount of time.” That means we have a chance to get in a lot of repetitions in a short about of time. This also gives us a chance to undo a training mistake.
I learnt a lot from this mini-workshop. He has since 'semi-retired' and sold his Chicken Camp training to Terry Ryan of Legacy Canine. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to take a workshop with him.
Then I stumbled upon Kay Laurence and her Clicker Competency Assessment Program. The purpose of the CAP: 1) to provide a clear pathway, with marked steps for learners to gain their skill, knowledge and understanding 2) to provide a certification system validating the competency of clicker trainers
With CAP it's about the handler being assessed and not per say how the dog performs. There are currently 4 levels. I've completed Level 2 and currently working through Level 3. I have two remaining criteria to work on and to hand it for assessment, then hopefully I'll gain my Level 3 Certification.
CAP Criteria
What I've found with CAP 3 is that I get sucked into the behavior - the quality, fluency and reliability that I forget about my skills - how I use the clicker, how I use rewards, which rewards to use, how to deliver rewards, etc. Video taping is a good tool to have in skill development. It allows you to re-watch a training segment so that you can really see what's really going on. My assessor pointed out some good qualities in my dog's responses and Kay was able to pin-point a weakness in my skill. So I just have to be a little more mindful of both my behaviors and getting the behaviors I plan for.
Hopefully in the next few months I'll have some good news to share.
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