Robert Forto

canine training

The iPad and How we Utilize it at Denver Dog Works

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The iPad and How Denver Dog Works will Utilize It

By Robert Forto

As many of you know we offer a course at Dog Works Training Centers to teach people how to become the best dog trainers in the world. In our course we provide an interactive learning environment that is partnered with cutting edge technology and over nineteen years of living with dogs.

With the recent release of the iPad, Denver Dog Works and Dog Works Training Centers plans to include an iPad with every course and include it in the student’s enrollment package.

Our next canine trainer career course starts the week of September 5th, 2010 and is a 24 week course that consists of three days of training every two weeks on Friday-Sundays. You can find out more information on our canine career courses by visiting our website at http://www.denverdogworks.com

Over the next couple months I will be re-writing our companion course book to include video links, .pdf exams and projects, interactive lessons and more. A perfect partnership of class lectures, our video library, and the iPad technology.

You may think I am crazy to jump on the iPad bandwagon. To the contrary. We have always offered a low-end net-book computer to our canine trainer students but with the release of the iPad it will take our training school to new heights.

Use of the iPad in our every day business operations at Denver Dog Works

We at Denver Dog Works also plan to utilize the iPad in our every day business tasks such as credit card processing through Cynergy Data’s Lucy Gateway and Paypal as well as training contract review with clients, training plan utilization and more.

If you would like to have a career that you love and want to become one of the best canine obedience instructors in the world, give us a call at 303-578-9881 and speak to Robert Forto or Michele Forto anytime.

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Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com


Knowing What You Want

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By Robert Forto

Lead Dog RevengeAs a practitioner of Neuro-Linguistics (NLP) I am constantly asked, “Mr. Forto, how do I know what I want?”  I tell my clients when you set an outcome you are programing your mind to achieve that goal. Consciously or unconsciously, you that to notice opportunities and possibilities around you that can help you reach your goal. So getting the program absolutely right from the very beginning is an important step. Otherwise you do not achieve your outcome–and you may actually get something you don’t want.

The starting point for any outcome is to make sure that you express it positively–what do you want to have. Consider the difference between these two outcomes

I do not want to feel trapped in my boring job any longer,

I want to face new challenges in my job every day.

Although the first example does not include any overtly negative words such as no or not, the statement expresses what you don’t want. Even more importantly the first statement does not give any indication of what you need to replace the current situation.

The difficulty with focusing on what you don’t want is that in order to think about not having something, you need to think about that very thing. This puts your attention on what you don’t want rather than what you do want.

Some examples of focus on what they don’t want are below:

  1. I want to stop smoking.
  2. I want to stop being short tempered at work
  3. I want to cut out sweet and fatty foods to lose weight.

To change these desires into positive outcomes you must concentrate on what you want rather than what you need to stop doing and give up. To make the shift ask yourself this instead: What do I want instead?

When you honestly answer this question your outcomes shift to things like this:

  1. I want to live a healthy lifestyle.
  2. I want to be more patient at work.
  3. I want to be slim.

Look over your outcomes and look for words like should, must, and try.

If you would like to be the best at what you do or your want to reach your peak in performance, give me a call and we can talk about it.

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Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com

Influential People in the Development of Learning Theory Part 3

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By Robert Forto

Breland and Bailey

Lead Dog RevengeIn 1938, Marian Kruse, a research assistant, was bitten by one of B. F. Skinner’s lab rats.  On her way to receive medical attention Kruse met Keller Breland, a brilliant and ambitious graduate student in psychology. A professional and personal relationship developed and they were married in 1941; the same year the United States was going to war.

B.F. Skinner was convinced that the science of operant conditioning could be used to effectively help the war effort.  Skinner’s prior experience with the behavior of pigeons was invaluable to Project Pelican.  Keller and Marian Breland trained pigeons to guide bombs for the Navy; fittingly these bombs were called “pelicans”.  Project Pelican was disbanded in 1943, but Marian Breland carried on by training animals for commercials and animal shows.

The Brelands published Applied Animal Psychology in 1951.  This paper described how operant conditioning could be used to teach animals. They are credited by many for ushering in the commercial application of the science of operant conditioning.

With stories in The Wall Street Journal, Time, and even Life; the Brelands were obviously quite popular.  With this popularity, Marine Studios in Florida noticed the Brelands and worked with them to develop a dolphin act.  The development of this same act led to the publication of the first procedural training manual for dolphin trainers. Operant conditioning and conditioned reinforcers played an enormous role in the training procedures of dolphins due to the distance that the trainer is removed from the subject.

The Brelands’ involvement with dolphins brought them, and their teaching methods, to the attention of the Navy yet again.  A zoologist from the University of California by the name of Bob Bailey headed up the Navy’s Dolphins at Sea program. In 1965 Bailey drew on the extensive experience of the Brelands in respect to the behavior of pigeons. In this with respect, in developing an ambush detection system for the Army.  In the same year Keller Breland passed away.  Bob Bailey and Marian Breland continued the work that the three of them had started. They were eventually married in 1976.

Bob Bailey also developed the concept of a bridging stimulus, which is a method of using a “bridge of time” between the subject animals’ correct response and the delivery of a primary reinforcer.

The value of the contribution that these individuals made to the advancement of learning theory is without measure and cannot be understated. Because of their redundant work the understanding of learning has made important advancements throughout the years.

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Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com

Influential People in the Development of Learning Theory Part 2

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By Robert Forto

Pavlov, Thorndike, and Watson

Many attribute the beginning point of modern theories of behavior to Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936).  A Russian physiologist, and Nobel Prize winner, Pavlov studied digestion in dogs.  While conducting this research he observed his canine subjects salivating before the food was presented.  Pavlov reasoned that his dogs were displaying this behavior in response to either the presence of his lab assistants, or the sound of the door opening.

Pavlov then conducted a series of experiments where he rang a bell just prior to feeding his canines.  After a number of trials, the ringing of the bell by itself elicited the reflexive salivation of the canines.  This phenomenon became known as Pavlovian or classical conditioning.  Pavlov had succeeded in taking a reflexive action and putting it on cue, thereby creating a “conditioned reflex”.  This new science became known as respondent conditioning, and was an important predecessor to modern operant conditioning.  Respondent conditioning and conditioned reflexive responses explain why a dog begins to salivate when its owner begins the feeding ritual.  The understanding of this type of conditioning can enhance a trainer’s procedure.  Most training procedures are indeed built upon the principles of operant conditioning, which will be discussed in greater depth in a later part of this chapter.  Respondent conditioning on the other hand is most useful when trying to change a dog’s behavior.  Some examples might be habituation, counter-conditioning, systematic desensitization, and flooding.  These principles will also be discussed later in this chapter.

Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949) studied the effect different consequences have on behaviors.  Thorndike is known for the Law of Effect, which simply states that responses or behaviors that produce pleasant rewards are likely to increase in frequency.  This law is the foundation on which operant conditioning is built, and is the predecessor of all the “treat training” now being advocated in modern dog training.  Thorndike’s experiments were being conducted in the United States near the time that Pavlov’s dogs were salivating in Russia.

J.B. Watson (1878-1958) has been credited as the father of modern behaviorism.  A psychologist who worked at John Hopkins University, as well as, The University of Chicago, Watson emphasized the need to move the study of behavior away from the concentration on thoughts and feelings towards a more scientific, experimental study of behavior.  Watson is best known for his “Little Albert” study in which he and his colleague, R. Rayner, conditioned a fear reaction in an eleven-month-old boy named Albert.  The study went like this:

“Initially, Albert was allowed to play freely with a white rat.  Then, a loud noise was presented whenever Albert reached out and touched the rat.  The noise was loud enough to startle Albert.  In one week, whenever the rat was presented Albert would cry, even without the noise.  He also generalized his fear to other things, including a dog, a rabbit, and a Santa Claus mask.  Watson used respondent conditioning (in this case, the startle reflex) to modify Albert’s behavior.”

This is will be a multi-week series on the influential people in learning theory and the dawn of modern dog training.

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Robert Forto is the host of The Dog Works Radio Show and is the training director of Alaska Dog Works. Robert Forto can be reached through his website at www.alaskadogworks.com