"training The Trainer" Activities?

[Guest Giselle]

Hi all. I need some ideas. I'm facilitating a course that deals with applied animal behavior. The ultimate goal of my course (or, at least, the most current version of it in my head ) is to produce students who have internalized learning theory deeply and who have, at the very least, a rough but solid introduction to actual application. Our class meets once a week for 1.5 hours, and I developed the syllabus so that they spent about 4-5 weeks thinking about learning theory and doing case studies before I let them handle a live animal.

 

Last week was our first live-animal workshop with 6 dogs (4 students per dog). FYI: To the best of my ability, I prepped the students in timing & criteria & shaping with human demos before this. They were micromanaged as best as possible, but it was less than ideal because I actually had to spend 50% of my time dealing with one student's severely leash aggressive dog. Suffice it to say... 23 novice handler + 6 dogs + 1 preoccupied me = not-so-great-results. My assistant informed me that there was a lot of mishandling going on - a lot of inadvertent jerking of the leash, repeated babblings of the dog's name when dog wasn't focusing, a lot of NON-shaping "techniques", late rewards, incorrect criteria, no criteria at all! And the biggest disappointment of all?? The group that was working with Ivy frustrated her so much that she began to regress. My assistant told me that they kept complaining about her lack of focus, when it was very clear that she WAS offering the behavior but they just weren't catching it/rewarding it. By the end of class, when they handed her back to me, she was non-responsive and began displaying aggression towards other dogs - something she has not done in YEARS. The other dogs were not so badly "damaged", but they didn't gain much out of it, either.

 

I'm very disappointed. Clearly, I gave the students too much room for error. Their grasp of the theories are pretty good, but their handling is quite awful

 

I desperately need some good training-the-trainer activities, especially ones that I can apply to a group of 24 students. Also, I think their awful handling corresponds to some emerging complacent mentalities. They don't SEE their own body language and how it affects the animal's behavior, so they don't think twice about themselves. How can I help them SEE it? It's frustrating! If you guys have any advice for any of these problems, please let me know. I'm starting to get a little bummed out.

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

videotape both the handlers and the dogs and critique in class? (or, have some friends do a role play that you tape so that it isn't students getting torn apart)

 

smaller sessions which means more of your time.

 

Can you use Sniffy the virtual rat? DH uses it in his learning and conditioning classes. I know it's a rat, but it teaches response stuff.

[Remolacha]

Can you work with one group & their dog at a time, while the others watch? Then rotate to the next group. Sometimes actually seeing it (and seeing your corrections) will make it "click". I know I would learn better that way, and it would be (almost) one-on-one.

[Guest Giselle]

videotape both the handlers and the dogs and critique in class? (or, have some friends do a role play that you tape so that it isn't students getting torn apart)

 

smaller sessions which means more of your time.

 

Can you use Sniffy the virtual rat? DH uses it in his learning and conditioning classes. I know it's a rat, but it teaches response stuff.

Oh wow!! Very cool I'll go check our resources and see if I can download that program. That would actually have been VERY useful in the beginning of the course. (HMM, I think our syllabus needs updating.)

 

And wouldn't you know? I brought a camera to last week's workshop, but I was so preoccupied with the rabidly-barking-leash-aggressive dog and running back and forth to check up on all the groups that I didn't have time to videotape anyone. I SHOULD have. Some of the stuff I saw was very disappointing, and, if I played it back for the students to critique, I'm sure they would have immediately seen what they did wrong.

 

I'm also bringing Ivy back this coming class and having a few students work with her while others watch + critique. However, I've noticed that a lot of students don't understand what to look for in real life, so maybe some suggestions on how to keep them actively thinking + analyzing?? It's so easy to teach a dog to think but not so easy with 18-25 year olds

[greysmom]

Love the virtual rat idea. With that age group, they are so into the tech of things. I would think it would be really hard for them to *see* techniques in real life.

 

I have to say, I became much more aware of Cash's fear responses after watching "our favorite TV dog trainer" work with his clients. One of the reasons I think he is successful is that he can recognize very small signs in dogs - before most others do - and can move to correct the behavior quickly. is problem comes in the correction most times (IMO), and in his inability to explain what he does without resorting to dominance theory-speak.

 

Maybe watching a few segments where you can really slow the tape down and *see* the dog's actions, or anticipate them based on behavior. Or see if they can critique what's going on correctly. Not sure, but that came to mind.

 

Or have them clicker-train each other!

Edited March 13, 2011 by greysmom

[Guest Liz_in_PA]

I really don't know dog body language so when people like you post videos "showing" the behavior, I pay attention. So I don't think you should assume that they know what they're seeing.

 

DH says that he makes his students train Sniffy 4 or 5 times before they ever get to touch a real rat. They're too expensive and it's just not respectful to the rats to go in without that experience. (and without the Sniffy experiences, it takes three times as long to accomplish it)

 

You might also assign them a project to shape a family member or roommate. DH shaped his sister into twirling her hair every time he talked to her. As an undergrad, he incited his class to trap their professor in to a corner of the chalkboard by only paying attention when the professor was at that end of the board. While I realize these aren't dog examples, humans are animals, too.

[Guest Giselle]

The 4-5 weeks prior to handling a live animal was composed of video + picture analysis, numerous case studies, learning theory tests, and human-demos. They've watched and analyzed various videos from both ends of the training spectrum (including our favorite TV star), as well as numerous pictures from the shelter with which I used to work. They understand body language pretty well (in theory!). Before I let them handle an animal, they all had the chance to shape a classmate or they all came up with shaping techniques for in-class human demos. We would then critique each other's usage of shaping + timing + criteria in those demos. I guess that's part of why I'm so surprised that, despite all that preparation, their handling of live dogs was so shoddy!

 

Although, I do understand why it's so hard. Learning to become an "effective trainer/teacher" requires assuming the role of 1) objective observer who can accurately assess the situation + 2) subjective leader who can alter and tailor methods to fit the subject. Being #1 is easy. Being #2 is pretty straightforward. But being #1 and #2 simultaneously is hard, and I'm open to any activities or exercises that might help them!!

 

If I do use one student and one dog as a demo for the entire class, what could I ask the other students to do to keep themselves engaged and actively thinking? And how can I get the student working with the dog to think about his/her body language + gradually learn to become the objective observer + subjective leader? Also, maybe some body awareness exercises? Basically, they have the theory down but their application needs a lot of work, and I don't remember specific exercises that helped me other than my own self-awareness!

[kudzu]

Perhaps, ask one student to work with the dog & another student to use a different sounding marker to "tag" the working student when that student is doing it right? You'd need a marker that dog would not recognize. You could video it, play it back & let both students critique themselves?

 

Also when working on shaping with an instructor I have a tendency to explain why I marked some things. Have learned a lot that way plus my instructors have also been surprised sometimes.

 

Me: "I clicked because her ears are in batwing position."

Instructor J: "You are mixing in body part awareness?"

Me: "Um, no. Well... I clicked her because she looked cute. I like it better than when she look serious."

Instructor J: "At least you're honest."

 

God bless the instructor for laughing.

[kudzu]

- Would set more criteria for the dogs involved. (Unnecessary comment, I know.)

- Are they working off leash? I wouldn't entrust my dog's leash to anyone I had not seen working with a dog already. If not already off leash could they worked in a small ring, like two xpens put together.

- And they have instructions not to touch the dog or speak anything more than praise?

- How long are their sessions? I would think quite brief like only a couple minutes right?

[Fruitycake]

How much space do they have, and with that many animals and people it is a lot to deal with for both dogs and people. Everyone is probably distracted and missing things and delaying because of the distraction (as with driving, reaction times slow when you're trying to pay attention to different things/things are distracting you).

 

Would it be possible to have a pair trying the "training of a human" experiment but with everyone else wandering around and doing other things and making noise and stuff (while you tape the training pair)? If you wanted to make it really difficult, find out what the people training in front of the class like to talk about/do and have everyone in the room talk about that (and throw in maybe their names, or their children's names or something - things that DO catch your attention even if you don't want them to), and every once in a while someone does a sharp vocal correction or gives a different command. Even if you don't tape, you could do it for about 5-10 minutes before the day's lesson and then stop everyone and ask "How easy was it to pay attention to what you were trying to do with everything else happening, even though you knew this situation was setup? Can you recognize how difficult it is for the dogs with this kind of distraction too?" Maybe it would illustrate how important it is to be patient!

 

ETA: If you wanted people to see how difficult it is, you might split the group in half, half trying to distract and the others trying to watch the training and focus, then switch. That might be interesting too.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Fruitycake

[MaryJane]

You're spreading yourself to thin and it sounds like you realize this.

 

Break the class up so that you have some even number of groups and have one group go though the paces while another group watches as the "observer" group and gives "hints" as to what they are seeing - I specifically am not using the "critique" word. The groups are not knowledgeable enough to "critique" yet without giving offense to the "working group". The observer group could offer details like "seems like the dog is loosing focus" or "is the leash is right position", or "looks like dog is escalating" .. whatever would be appropriate for their skill level. Maybe you could even put up on a board the details (both good and bad) that the "observer" should be a second set of eyes for for this particular session.

 

If you have 24 students, you could break it up into 6 groups of 4 students each with 2 being the observers while 2 are the "doers". I would also set up a certain list of activities that the dog needs to go through so all the "observations" would be on the same activities.

 

This way hopefully you would be "overall" monitoring the 6 groups while they go through their activities. You should be able to identify which group is doing well for that session and give them the "hardest dog".

 

You also want to switch around the people in the groups so that they are always working with different people.

 

One question -- how big is the area that the training takes place in?

 

Good Luck

[cleptogrey]

that's a huge class. can you get an assistant or 2? i have taught for 35+ years as a visiting artist. most of them were specialty art classes where i had to deal w/ 30 kids in a class. the most successful were with teams and assistants. i made teams of 4, well balanced spreading the talent out and pairing the underdog up w/ kind sharing piers. i don't know if you can balance the groups as evenly, i had 20+ sessions w/ each class and really got to know the students well. i shuffled children around as needed and directed assistants around as well.

 

can the teams write up assesments while the other members are working? it's more work for you providing an assesment guid line or a check list looking for clues, behaviors and responses, but that will fill the student's down time. also one can be taking pictures, visual assesment while a handler is working the dog.

 

i have noticed in training classes over the years that it's usually the handler who DOESN'T get it, not the dog. it really sounds like way too many people. maybe cut the class time in 1/2 and have section a, section b w/ less time, smaller groups and in the end the students will really have more time since they won't have as much down time. people get bored just like dog, but they don't have the interesting smells to keep their minds occupied.

[Guest Giselle]

Thanks for the ideas!

Some background info on the class: This is an experimental undergraduate class at my university. Our classroom is a typical undergraduate classroom in a publicly funded university (in other words - extremely small and overcrowded ). Gotta love the UC system! The live animal demonstrations take place on the grass lawn outside our classroom building, which is extremely large - much too large, in fact, for me to monitor at any given time. For that reason, I've asked the students to confine themselves to one corner of the grass lawn whenever we have demos. I don't think I can find another assistant at this point in the semester because very few people have the appropriate knowledge to assist and I don't have anything to compensate them for it.

 

Re: the demo. The students had specific activities to try with the dogs (1. free shape eye contact 2. free shape sit 3. free shape down). I've talked to my faculty and curriculum adviser, and we believe that: Yes, I was stretched much too thin! I'm going to give my assistant facilitator more explicit responsibilities next time. No, the students observing weren't given specific criteria to look for. I see that that's a common suggestion from you guys, too, so I will be incorporating a checklist for our next demo. Nope, the students weren't given enough individual support. I've decided to ease them back into the routine by bringing just two dogs and having 2-4 students try their technique while the others offer encouragement and advice. We tried this just a few days ago, and it worked MUCH better. At the very least, students actually saw and understood the power of shaping. Their actual technique will require practice, but at least they really understand what they're looking for now!

 

My curriculum adviser also mentioned something that I think was a strong component of why the students performed so poorly: They were nervous! Because they were nervous, novice, and weren't seeing initial success, they also got frustrated. When I was beginning, I got easily frustrated and would revert back to my old ways: leash jerking, collar popping, etc. It only makes sense that they would, too. We talked about that last class, too, so the students understand how I felt, how they felt, and why they did the things they did. So, now we know, and we're working on it!