|
|
|
CAT for Dogs Constructional Aggression Treatment: Shaping Away Canine Aggression http://www.tawzerdogvideos.com/JesusRosalesRuiz-KellieSnider.htm Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, PhD & Kellie Snider A 10.5 hour seminar on videotape with Produced by Tawzer Dog Videos Is available now! Current consensus in behavioral science labels aggression as a classical conditioning problem, and
the treatment, accordingly, is desensitization and counter conditioning. But that might all change in the future. Research done at the Click here to learn about extras available to DVD purchasers. ~~~~~ What’s in it for me? If you are interested in the emotional lives of animals, this seminar will be of interest to you. This seminar is the culmination of several years of research by Dr. Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, Kellie Snider and former students on emotions in animals. If you work with aggressive dogs this work may, as one seminar participant put it, "rock your world". The DVD provides a different approach than what you've learned at the other aggression seminars you have attended. The presenters explore the genetic, dominance and instinct-based theories of the nature of aggression and replace them with their research which reveals aggression as an operant... in other words they demonstrate that aggression is learned behavior, and that by changing the consequences for the behavior using the Constructional Approach aggression can be changed into friendliness. We will present a training procedure that will provide trainers and pet owners with a method that can make significant differences in dogs' behavior. What will I take away from this DVD? What will I be able to use? This DVD will provide you with the tools to replace the aggressive behaviors in dogs with peaceful, friendly behaviors. Many people who have attended a weekend seminar have written to us that they have successfully used the procedure on their own and are now changing how how they have approached aggression issues. Some are working with aggressive dogs for the first time because finally they have a tool that can be used to make a significant change. In addition this work can be used with fearful animals, including feral cats and fearful hoofstock such as llamas and cattle. Feral cats slated for euthanasia are being not only tamed but made into loving pets through the use of a version of this procedure. Why should I buy the DVD? In addition to the points made above, if you have been to seminar after seminar hearing the same old things, this is a seminar you won't want to miss. This is a new approach to the treatment and understanding of canine aggression. This is the only seminar we know of that resulted from original behavior analytic research designed to answer specific questions relevant to dog training. Rather than relying exclusively upon generalized information from other published research, the personal anecdotal experiences of the seminar presenters, or the work of other trainers we have examined the specifics of the behaviors of aggressive dogs and addressed them as the subject matter for our research. The research was conducted in the dogs' real environments (home, park, neighborhood, etc.), not in a laboratory. Pet owners and dog trainers are now taking it and using it with their real dogs in their real worlds with real success. Click here if you have already purchased the video, or plan to do so. Click here to order! http://www.tawzerdogvideos.com/JesusRosalesRuiz-KellieSnider.htm Click here to learn about extras available to DVD purchasers. Copyright, 2007 Some comments from Kellie:
In the CAT procedure we use the reinforcer the dog is already working for. We are listening him by observing the outcome he gets from his aggressive behavior. It is usually distance from aversive stimuli. In our treatment we provide the outcome he wants only when he behaves in safe, friendly ways. This means his needs are still being met, but they aren't putting the lives of others or his own life at risk any more. But a funny thing happens in the treatment. He learns to like other people and dogs. Our experimental question asked whether aggression could be reduced by the contingent withdrawal of an aversive stimulus, introduced at low intensities. We found out more than our questions asked... that we not only ended up with dogs that tolerated the strangers they were once aggressive toward, but we ended up with the dogs being friendly toward the strangers. (This has been successfully replicated with feral cats, too.) The way we determine how the dog views the procedure is that at the end of the procedure the dog is soliciting interaction from the formerly aversive stimulus whereas previously he was attacking it. He is not just ignoring the stimulus or turning to his owner in its presence, either, he's just not worried about it any more. For some dogs who are more stoic in their general demeanor and aren't goofily friendly in the first place, these dogs often just start hanging out with the other dog without attacking or withdrawing... they just start treating them in a way that is accepting. One reason we use negative reinforcement -- probably the most important, is that the dogs have to learn to deal with aversive stimuli that trigger aggression, or else they will have a truncated or restricted life, or a life of fear and defensiveness. We want them to learn that the world isn't such a bad place and that there are other ways to deal with new people/animals that are easier, more effective and produce better results. By training aggressive dogs to be "not aggressive" by giving them food or other positive reinforcers, we introduce an arbitrary reinforcer that doesn't help them deal with the actual problem of being concerned about strangers. In theory it sounds good--teach them to defer to the owner-- but what if you could teach the dog that he doesn't have to turn away from fearsome stimuli and hope his owner is on the ball, but instead simply not be afraid of the stimuli any more? That's what we've managed to accomplish through negative reinforcement combined with an errorless learning (below threshold) procedure that we haven't seen accomplished with positive reinforcement. This is the difference between treating a behavior functionally (providing the reinforcer the animal is already working for, but providing it contingently upon safe, friendly behaviors (as part of a shaping process) rather than the way he is currently earning the outcome- through aggression. By the end we have a decoy that is now a conditioned reinforcer... and thus no longer aversive. (Originally posted to the Click-L_ABAT discussion group on Yahoo Groups.) |
|
|
