The Animal Behavior Science and Technology program is a rigorous and comprehensive program of study intended to help the student develop necessary skills for animal training and resolve problem behaviors in companion animals. The program addresses key topics in behavior change project management including the principles of behavior, functional assessment, behavior change programming as well as workshops in advanced training procedures. The principles, strategies and techniques are applicable with any species. This is not a cursory and basic program of study but rather an intensive and challenging educational experience. Students can expect to do a lot of studying and writing as well as actually working with their own dog (or other species), hands-on, in this program, exploring the various topics in depth.
The graduate would be awarded a Animal Behavior Science and Technology Certificate and allowed the letters Cert.ABST after their name.
This program requires approximately 200 work-hours; 30 hours in actual assignment preparation. If you are looking for something more in-depth and advanced, check the Diploma of Animal Behavior Science and Technology program. The Cert.ABST program does not include coursework in professional ethics or professional activities and case management so is better for personal interest or for those not working directly with clients per se, such as shelter staff for instance. The Dip.ABST does include all of this coursework and is more suited to professionals or those working toward being a professional.
Courses:
- Principles of Behavior 104
- Animal Training Technology 105
- Functional Assessment 108
- Behavior Change Programming 114
Learning Objectives:
Upon completing this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe the assumptions of the natural science of behavior, and distinguish this approach to behavior from others: psychology, ethology and the medical model orientation
- Define, contract and compare sensitization and habituation
- Define, contrast and compare operant and respondent behaviors as well as operant and respondent conditioning
- Define key terms utilized in the science of behavior
- Describe the Law of Effect
- Define and relate the 5 basic principles of operant conditioning: Extinction, +R, +P, -R, -P
- Describe the 3-term contingency and relationships between each of the terms
- Identify and describe variables affecting operant conditioning
- Describe respondent conditioning and the four basic respondent conditioning procedures (i.e., trace, delayed, simultaneous, backward)
- Describe respondent extinction
- Identify and describe variables affecting respondent conditioning
- Define, contrast and compare conditioned and unconditioned reinforcers
- Describe the problematic secondary effects of aversive stimulation
- Define and discuss learned helplessness
- Define the compound procedure differential reinforcement, including different types, and explain how it can be utilized as an alternative to aversive control of behavior
- Identify the basic schedules of reinforcement and describe their effects on the rate or frequency of behavior
- Define, contrast and compare generalization and discrimination
- Define stimulus control and explain how it is transferred
- Explain how to choose, establish and utilize a conditioned reinforcer
- Define target behaviors and training objectives
- Define prompts and explain when they might be appropriate and inappropriate
- Explain why it is important to fade prompts quickly and how to fade prompts
- Explain why physical prompts are often counterproductive
- Explain how to transfer stimulus control
- Explain, under which conditions shaping, chaining or simple differential reinforcement would be an appropriate procedure
- Apply the principles of behavior and training strategies and tactics to training animals to perform common behaviors, such as: either walking on a loose leash, come when called and sit for dogs, or step up, come when called and target objects for parrots, or come when called and walking on leash for cats.
- Carry out a shaping program for one's own companion animal, analyze results and identify problem areas and likely solutions
- Carry out a behavior chaining program for one's own companion animal, analyze results and identify problem areas and likely solutions
- Carry out the Training Game with friends or family members, analyze results and identify problem areas and likely solutions
- Develop and implement a formal training plan
- Generalize performance to new environments
- Effectively deliver reinforcers
- Analyze one's own training programs and identify ways to improve training performance
- Communicate effectively about training tasks
- Define behavior chaining and explain the behavior chaining process
- Contrast and compare total task chaining, forward chaining and backward chaining
- Differentiate between chaining (single trainer delivered cue) and "sequencing" (in-chain cues producing a series of separate chains)
- Dog training equipment and its proper and improper use.
- Describe, contrast and compare the behavioral approach to assessment versus the medical model approach
- Analyze problem behavior situations as a functional relationship between behavior and the environment and describe and explain the behavior in a 3-term contingency
- Define functional assessment
- Identify and describe the three approaches to functional assessment: Informant interview; Direct observation; Functional analysis
- How to identify behavior of concern
- Track level, trend and variance of behaviors of concern quantitatively in graphical form
- Explain how to carry out a functional analysis
- Guidelines for performing functional analysis
- Explain how to choose a measure of the behavior concern (e.g., rate, relative frequency, duration, magnitude etc.)
- Producing a contingency statement for the behavior of concern that will be the basis for the rest of the behavior change project
- Identify the stages in a behavior change project
- Identify the components of the intervention stage of a behavior change project
- Contrast and compare the constructional approach to the eliminative approach to changing behavior
- Determine quantifiable behavior objectives for the behavior of concern and track them quantitatively
- Choose appropriate behavior change procedures for the problem contingencies in question including both antecedent control procedures and/or postcedent behavior change procedures
- Describe systematic desensitization and respondent extinction and explain what behaviors they are appropriate for
- Describe differential reinforcement and its variants, including shaping and for what situations these are most appropriate
- Describe more aversive approaches to changing behavior including extinction, negative punishment, graded negative reinforcement and positive punishment and explain why these are best avoided in favor of less aversive approaches
- Identify exactly what information should be included in a complete written behavior change program and the structure of such a document
- Describe how to effectively coach clients on the procedures they will need to carry out
- Describe how to implement the behavior change program and adjust as appropriate to achieve objectives
- Describe how to shift from intervention stage to the maintenance stage
Tuition:
The tuition is identified at the top of this page with the payment button. Tuition is in Canadian funds (Currency Converter). Textbooks not included in tuition. They may be purchased through http://www.dogwise.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.abebooks.com or http://www.half.com in most cases. Also check the Student Library. Canadian Residents 5% GST.
Schedule:
This program is self-paced within a 1 year time limit.