In 2013 when attending the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants conference in Rhode Island, I sat down at a table for lunch and struck up a conversation. There was a woman at the table who was very interesting to talk to and it was obvious she was not only passionate, but informed. She started talking about Behavioral Analysis and I asked ‘What’s That’. Her explanation and that moment at the table is one of the definitive moments that changed my life.
Her name was (and still is) Parvene Farhoody. Over the course of the next few months, I continued to learn what incredible fate I encountered that day. As I learned more and more about Behavioral Analysis, it was clear that Parvene and her partner Bob Bailey were the ONLY game in town (the world) for not just learning the science of Behavioral Analysis, but then getting the opportunity to APPLY that practice.
Bob Bailey is a legend in the training community and has been training animals for 50+ years using operant conditioning principles. He was the CEO of Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE), the first company to train animals for commercial purposes, originally founded by Marion and Keller Breland, students of BF Skinner. ABE trained more than a 100 species and thousands of animals for animal shows across the world. They developed technologies (some can be found in the Smithsonian) and kept data, they applied behavioral science.
I attended my first Bailey-Farhoody Operant Conditioning Workshop in 2013 and it was a transformative experience. It became so clear to me how often training (often called positive reinforcement or clicker training) uses the science incorrectly. How many misunderstandings exist and how much gets in the trainers way of getting behavior.
The Bailey-Farhoody workshops are unique in that so much of our time is applied working with chickens, applying what we learn in the lectures. It is NOT about training chickens. It is about us, the trainers. Training is a mechanical skill. It is about timing, rate of reinforcement and criteria. A slight twitch prior to your delivery of a reinforcer to your chicken (chicken feed) can lead to a host of issues. The chickens will tell us (and Bob and Parvene) if we have learned something or not. There are reasons we use chickens, but trust me, this isn’t about chicken training.
Parvene, Meisje, Jerri & Bob
I got to know Bob and Parvene, also participating with them in 2013 at their Orlando Workshop. They are both deeply committed to sharing the science (it is ours they say). I will continue to attend the workshops, meet like minded trainers and build my community. I will continue to grow as a trainer, add species and think smartly about the science.
And to answer that question about Raptors for my friend Yvette. . .(As a caveat-I have NOT seen Jurassic World. Anyone who knows me well, knows I dream vividly and for some reason ‘creatures’, invade my dreams, so I’ve never seen any of the original 3 or this one. Gremlins gave me nightmares for 5 years. . .)
My Facebook feed BLEW UP with my dog training friends who were disappointed in how the clicker training was portrayed. Tonight I conferred with Bob and Parvene who both agreed, that the science was incorrect. When the term ‘blazing clickers’ was used, I knew exactly what it meant and indeed don’t even need to watch to tell you that Chris Pratt’s character clicked the clicker many times in a row before rewarding. That, my friends, is incorrect science and not how you should training ANYTHING, let alone a Raptor.
Bob did encourage me to see the movie, ‘research’ he called it and said I should go with a group, power in number to protect me I suppose. Apparently the entire group went from a recent workshop, he said it was fun. So for Bob and Yvette, I promise to try.
So my friends, I will not be training your chicken, but I can train your dog, or better yet, help you train your dog. And where is my “A” Dog in all of this? She is lounging at home, lonely waiting for me to come home and polish up all my cues. This is the cueing workshop after all!