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IFAAB 2008 Abstracts
Program Schedule |
Change and repeat: Demonstrating control
over variable and repetitive behaviors in dog training
by Carmen Buitrago
Learning, problem solving and novelty are expressions of behavior long
attributed to complex cognitive processes. However, studies on the
constructs of problem solving and novelty show these behavior patterns to be
correlated with behavioral variability, and behavioral variability has been
shown to be influenced by reinforcement . This poster depicts operant
control of three domestic dogs’ repetitive and variable or novel responding
when the two classes of behavior were differentially reinforced in the
presence of discriminated verbal stimuli. In an alternating treatments
design that included five phases of training, experimental control was
demonstrated over the expression of response variation and repetition in
rapid alternation. All dogs met the minimum criterion of 80% correct, except
for one repetition segment of one dog. This study replicates the work of S.
Page and A. Neuringer (1985) in a practical context and extends it to Canis
familiaris. The ability to cue a dog to vary its behavior within some
confines, and then home in on a desired target behavior on cue and repeat
that, could prove useful in applied settings. Potential practical
applications will be discussed.
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Defining Dominance Relationships
John Ciribassi
The topic of how to describe canine dominance relationships, and how they
apply to domestic settings, has been hotly debated in the behavior community
for years. The determination of which individual in a dyad is considered to
be higher ranking has been based on possession of a valued resource. In this
presentation I will present a quote from E.O. Wilson's book, "Sociobiology.
The New Synthesis" which gives a slightly different take on determining rank
in canids and focuses more on the acquisition of a resource as opposed to
the mere possession of the resource.
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Pre-pet Counseling: Everyone doesn’t need a pet
Diane Mollaghan
The existence of problem behaviors in our companion animals contributes to
the breakdown in the human-companion animal bond, and has been considered
to be the single biggest killer of companion animals in our society. As
applied animal behaviorists, we provide services to mediate the
relationship between people and their pets, and provide pet owners with
tools to modify and improve their pet’s behavior. One of the major problems
that applied animal behaviorists face, is that their services are often
called in too late. By the time the pet is obtained, the emotional bond has
been formed and the substrate for problem behavior already exists, our
attempts to improve the relationship between people and their companion
animals is somewhat challenged.
Timing of the intervention to prevent the breakdown of the human-companion
animal bond, appears to be of paramount importance, and pre-pet counseling
offers applied animal behaviorists an opportunity to be proactive, instead
of reactive. Once the individual has already decided to obtain a pet, any
semblance of pre-pet counseling (often used in animal shelters and rescue
groups used to screen potential adopters) is often perceived as an
inconvenient hurdle, not as an educational opportunity.
This presentation will attempt to address a number of
challenges involved in the marketing of pre-pet counseling. While we may
all agree that not everyone should own a pet, launching anti-pet owning
campaign offers several marketing challenges. In addition, identifying the
target population (individuals thinking about obtaining a pet), will pose
another challenge, as we cannot rely on veterinarians and other pet service
industries, that cater to individuals who already own pets. During this
brainstorming session we will be introducing models used in other fields
(e.g., human relationships) to generate some ideas for new approaches for
marketing the concept of pre-pet counseling. |
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The Serious Work of Military and Law Enforcement K-9
Teams
Mark Hines
The world of law enforcement and military K-9
Teams is unique. The men, women, and dogs that make up these K-9 teams have
one of the most stressful and dangerous jobs in world. Therefore, K-9 teams
utilize real-life scenario training that can be carried over into their
tactical deployments. This type of repetitive training is critical for the
K-9 teams as their day to day tasks, can at times, either save lives or
result in injury or loss of life. Each year in the United States, more than
140 officers lose their lives in the line of duty and over 56,000 officers
are assaulted by criminals. Those numbers would be much higher without the
aid of professional K-9 teams.
Because of cost restraints, most K-9 teams are dual
purpose. At times the dogs are used as street dogs to apprehend criminals.
Other times, they are used for crowd control and a variety of other street
duties. Although street duties are important, the true value of a K-9 team
is scent detection. The majority of all K-9 work involves scent detection,
which can include article searches, narcotics detection, explosive detection
or human detection.
The objective of my talk is to shed light on the
complexities K-9 teams face working in stressful and intense situations.
Furthermore, to explore the challenges K-9 handlers’ encounter when
partnered with very powerful, sometimes dangerous, high energy dogs. And
lastly, I will share the methods and tools currently employed by K-9
handlers to reduce stress in their dogs and more importantly, keep their K-9
partners motivated. Hopefully, this short talk will open a window of
discussion that will be beneficial to K-9 teams around the world, to all of
us, and our neighbors.
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Reconcile(tm) Efficacy and Safety Studies
Wayne HunthausenThis presentation will provide information regarding
the studies undertaken by Eli Lilly in the development of Reconcile(tm) for
the treatment of canine separation anxiety.
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To BeMod or not to BeMod, that is the
Question
Jenn Barg, Pia Silvani, and Sharon Wirant
Animal shelters that have behavior programs are becoming more common. The
behavior program label itself, however, applies to a wide-range of program
types; the gold standard of these types go beyond merely applying behavior
evaluations to decision-making and actually have hands-on, behavior
modification (BeMod) programs for the animals in their care. Our panel
discussion will question the role of behavior modification programs in
shelters from many angles and viewpoints. Items addressed will include:
how to decide which animals enter a BeMod program; what qualifications
should staff have to implement BeMod programs; how should progress be
monitored, including when to start and stop such a program with an
individual animal; how is an animal that comes through such a program
appropriately matched with a potential adopter; how is post-adoption support
offered to the adopting families of these animals; and finally, how do we
evaluate success of the program?
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Would You Look At That? The Art of Observation
By Karen B. London, Daniel Q. Estep, and Suzanne Hetts
In this talk, we will show a few illustrative videos and lead a
discussion about the value of simply observing dogs. Observation is the
foundation of everything we do as applied animal behaviorists, but we
rarely talk about it. It takes training, practice, and a commitment to its
value to make it as useful as it can be. The study of animals in their
natural habitat is getting less and less attention in the field of canine
behavior, and this is more true of the observational aspect of ethology
than the experimental side. We think it's critically important to promote
and teach the observation of dogs? natural behavior, because there is no
substitute for knowing your animal. We hope to build interest in
observation as a tool for successfully interacting with dogs, for
formulating testable hypotheses, and for the discovery of new behavior
patterns. Knowing how to observe can help children avoid dog bites, help
owners recognize problems and better care for their animals and help pet
professionals properly interpret behavior so that they can provide
the best services available.
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The Serious Work of Military and Law Enforcement K-9 Teams
Mark Hines
The world of law enforcement and military K-9 Teams is unique. The men,
women, and dogs that make up these K-9 teams have one of the most stressful
and dangerous jobs in world. Therefore, K-9 teams utilize real-life scenario
training that can be carried over into their tactical deployments. This type
of repetitive training is critical for the K-9 teams as their day to day
tasks, can at times, either save lives or result in injury or loss of life.
Each year in the United States, more than 140 officers lose their lives in
the line of duty and over 56,000 officers are assaulted by criminals. Those
numbers would be much higher without the aid of professional K-9 teams.
Because of cost restraints, most K-9 teams are dual purpose. At times the
dogs are used as street dogs to apprehend criminals. Other times, they are
used for crowd control and a variety of other street duties. Although street
duties are important, the true value of a K-9 team is scent detection. The
majority of all K-9 work involves scent detection, which can include article
searches, narcotics detection, explosive detection or human detection.
The objective of my talk is to shed light on the complexities K-9 teams face
working in stressful and intense situations. Furthermore, to explore the
challenges K-9 handlers’ encounter when partnered with very powerful,
sometimes dangerous, high energy dogs. And lastly, I will share the methods
and tools currently employed by K-9 handlers to reduce stress in their dogs
and more importantly, keep their K-9 partners motivated. Hopefully, this
short talk will open a window of discussion that will be beneficial to K-9
teams around the world, to all of us, and our neighbors.
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Defining the “Ideal Human/Dog Relationship”
– Practical Applications
Glenn Martyn
How can we draw on science (including the “soft sciences”) to help us better
determine “the ideal” human/dog relationship? Can recent research in such
disciplines as sociology, psychology, neurobiology, and behavioral genetics
help shed light on ways to define and facilitate development and maintenance
of this dyad? What tools are available for initial owner/family and dog
“personality assessment” to facilitate a good match? Are there tools to
determine existing owner “dog skills”? What kinds of
environmental/behavioral programs will best develop and maintain a
harmonious interactive relationship? Can we develop better tools to
determine when and how to compensate for emerging relational deficits? A
fundamental understanding of various human-dog relationships that begins
with defining the “ideal” will help determine effective and efficient
behavioral interventions in a family/home setting. A framework for
delineating the ideal dyad will be provided and discussed.
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READING MICRO-EXPRESSIONS ACROSS SPECIES
Patricia McConnell
Decades of research, primarily by Psychologist Paul Ekman, have documented
that human facial expressions of the primary emotions, like fear and anger,
are universally produced and perceived across all cultures. He has also
found that “micro-expressions,” or extremely brief and subtle changes in
expression, are honest, involuntary and usually unconscious indicators of
the true emotional state of a person. In this presentation I will compare
this work with the expressions of dogs, and argue that one of the reasons
that dogs and humans are such ‘best friends’ is that we share similar
expressions of emotions like fear, anger and happiness. The presentation
will include voluntary (and anonymous!) participation in a brief research
project that asks viewers to evaluate fleeting and subtle changes of
expressions on human faces, helping to answer the question: are
professionals who work with aggressive dogs better than the general
population at reading subtle expressions of emotion on either species?
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Humane and effective restraint in the
veterinary hospital
Nancy Williams
The veterinarian is the first contact and most important source of
information for a client concerning their pet’s welfare. Critical to animal
welfare in a veterinary hospital are techniques that minimize the stress of
handling for a frightened or ill animal. Preparation for handling at the
veterinary hospital requires that clients receive information to train and
prepare pets to calmly accept restraint and handling for routine procedures.
We will demonstrate novel techniques that have been developed and used in
veterinary hospitals, to reduce stress in animal handling. Case studies and
video analysis in an animal hospital will illustrate the use of the
equipment and techniques. We will also discuss protocols to train a pet to
allow handling with a minimum of stress, and rehabilitate dogs that are
difficult to handle or restrain.
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Kitty Teaser and Snoot Loop as behavior modification tools
Peter BorcheltAbstract: I will demonstrate and discuss the use
of these tools in my practice and discuss the concept of counter
conditioning using competing response classes (behavior systems) rather than
a "target" and "competing" response
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Assessing behavior and training methods
using physiological measurements
Nancy Williams, Pete Borchelt, Alice Moon-Fanelli and Megan Bulloch
Recent advances in technology have facilitated research into the field of
animal behavior. It is now feasible to measure the physiological changes
that accompany the emotional state of dogs undergoing behavior modification
or a veterinary procedure. The most practical and reliable assessment of
underlying mental or physical stress in a dog is reflected in changes in the
animal’s heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV). While conjecture
and myths concerning dog behavior abound, research using HR and HRV has
started to provide scientific information to refute the misinformation to
improve animal welfare.
We will explain how to measure the HR and HRV of dogs and other animals
using readily available and monitoring devices. Case studies and video
analysis will illustrate the use of these devices during the assessment, and
behavior modification of puppies and dogs. Assessing HR and HRV during
behavioral assessment or veterinary procedures provides objective evidence,
rather than subjective opinions, the predictive validity of behavioral
assessments, training, and overall animal welfare.
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What's Play Got To Do With It?
Pia Silvani, Patricia McConnell and Karen B. London
Play can obviously be a wonderful part of our dogs? lives, but lately it
has become the cure du jour for everything - loneliness, destructive chewing,
social awkwardness, people whose work hours are excessive, and every other
imperfection. Should we be recommending play as a way to help dogs, and if
so, when, why, and for which behavior problems? The increasing popularity
of play as the perfect solution for preventing or fixing problems is
alarming because of the underlying assumption that play is always a
positive force in dogs? lives. The inadvertent message that any and all
play is good, regardless of context or playmates, is damaging to our dogs.
The drawbacks of play as many dogs experience it in the modern world
signify that the time has arrived for us to step back and evaluate what we
as a community are encouraging and allowing in regards to canine play. We
plan to discuss both the good and bad aspects of play as it relates to
dogs? lives these days, and the ubiquitous and indiscriminate use of play
to enhance and change their lives. We hope our discussion will include
what we as professionals see as the role of play in causing, exacerbating,
and ameliorating behavioral problems.
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Competitive Foraging in Dogs
Pam ReidThe dog is a highly social species that, when given the
opportunity, lives in stable groups or loose aggregates of familiar
individuals. Feral and free-roaming dogs typically forage together,
scavenging in refuse dumps and on village streets. Given the social nature
of the dog and its reliance on competitive opportunistic feeding, it makes
evolutionary sense for dogs to possess the ability to exploit others’
knowledge of food sources. We investigated the behavior of dogs foraging in
pairs in a large room in which food was hidden in one of eight buckets. On
certain trials, both dogs lacked knowledge of the location of the food. On
other trials, the subordinate dog was first shown the location of the food,
but the dominant dog remained ignorant of the food’s location. The objective
was to determine if the uninformed dog was able to detect when the other dog
was informed and behave differently than it did when the other dog was also
uninformed. The ability to modify foraging tactics to exploit the knowledge
of others has been demonstrated in various species, including primates,
corvids, pigeons and domestic pigs.
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Differential Reinforcement for Differental
Responses to Compound Eliciting Stimuli that Overlap: A Case Study.
Mellissa Shyan
Drake is a 1 yr old exuberant Weimeranner. Kinser is an 8.5 yr old arthritic
Cocker Spaniel. Drake jumps on Kinser. This has led to several fights, and
an owner was bitten trying to break them up. (Note: neither dog has hurt
each other but the owners report that the dogs sound loud and vicious.) This
has also led to Kinser now growling whenever Drake approaches. Owners were
taught to say “Leave It” when Drake approaches Kinser too energetically or
quickly. If he doesn’t leave Kinser, they spray with a remote control
citronella collar. If he does, they praise him, pet and reward with treats.
From Classical and Operant conditioning, what does this teach Drake? What
does it teach Kinser? (note--if Drake is close enough, Kinser gets sprayed,
too.) Is this a reasonable approach? (We are also doing systematic
desensitization for Kinser, using treat rewards in Drake’s presence.)
Videotape will be presented
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The Association for Behavior Analysis: What
Can They Do for Us?
Jennifer Sobie
In the Spring 2006 issue of the Behavior Analyst, the sponsored publication
of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), James Johnston of Auburn
University—a past president of ABA—made this statement regarding the
increasing popularity of the positive behavior support movement and the
relative lack of education accompanying its practice: "The competencies
required for practicing…cannot be acquired through nonacademic training
experiences because those experiences tend to lack many important features,
such as prerequisites for admission, intensive supervised involvement with
course material and recipients of behavior-analytic services over a period
of months, and systematic measurement of performance." Those of us
practicing in applied animal behavior can easily seize upon this statement
as descriptive of the state of competencies in our field today. Most of us
also recognize that the first step in tackling the problem is the creation
of accredited programs dedicated to applied animal behavior. This
presentation suggests that the ABA and its membership are in a position to
advance the state of education in AAB. The presentation provides an overview
of the Association for Behavior Analysis and its goals, support systems,
certification processes and existing involvement in applied animal behavior,
and posits avenues of mutual benefit between IFAAB members and the ABA, as
well as CAABs and ABA academicians.
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Socialization program for fearful adult
cats: You can teach an old cat new tricks
Jill. A. Villarreal
Early socialization, between weeks 2 and 7 inclusively, increases
responsiveness of cats to people. If the early sensitive period is missed,
not well conducted, or the kittens were resistant to the socialization, as
adults cats are likely to become fearful when handled or groomed. What can
be done for adult cats that show fear responses to handling and grooming? A
socialization program was developed to address this problem. Twenty spayed
or neutered cats (17 females: 3 males) between 2 and 16 years of age (M = 9
years) reported to show mild to moderate fear responses to handling and
grooming participated in the program. Cattery technicians signed up
voluntarily for a “cat buddy” of their choice from the list of reported cats
and received training. Technicians initially rated how well they knew and
liked their cat buddy and how well their cat buddy’s responds to handling
and grooming activities on a 10-point Likert scale. Technicians then visited
their cat buddy 4-5 days a week for 5 to 15 minutes a day, slowly
acclimating their buddy to handling and grooming activities. Technicians
reported their buddy’s progress monthly. Guidance was given to technicians
upon request throughout the program. Within a month, technicians reported
that they knew and liked their cat buddy more. Increased positive responses
of cats to handling and grooming were also reported. These findings indicate
that fearful adult cats: (1) are responsive to socialization, (2) can form a
cat-caregiver bond that increases caregiver knowledge of and positive
feelings towards them, and (3) are capable of changing their response
pattern to handling and grooming.
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"Critiquing a Published Applied Manuscript: Can You Replicate This?"
John Wright
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Publishing Our Work: Tips and Suggestions from an Animal Behaviour Editor
Jim HaAn impressive amount of information is being collected, formally or
informally, by practitioners of applied animal behavior in the course of
their work: this is obvious at every IFAAB gathering. This information,
if properly summarized and presented, would be valuable to both basic and
applied animal behaviorists. This would significantly increase the
visibility of our discipline, and contribute to the welfare of the animals
with which we work. I will present an overview of the (scientific)
publishing process, from manuscript preparation to submission and review. I
will discuss possible journals and their differences, alternative avenues
for presenting our work, and make some suggestions that might facilitate the
process of collecting data and publishing.
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The Use of Aversives in Training
Chris
Brudecki
Radio Systems Corporation is the world’s leading
manufacturer of electronic training products for pets offering brands like
Invisible Fence Brand, PetSafe, SportDOG, and Innotek. Although the use of
aversives in dog training has declined over the utilization of reward-based
techniques, as behaviorists, it is important to understand and become
familiar with the products that are being utilized by members of the public
for containment, bark control, and training. Products will be presented and
demonstrated that utilize sound (sonic and ultrasonic), spray, and static
aversives and methods of use will be discussed. Many have opinions about
these products based on old information and primitive early technology.
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