Training Matters

01/10/2026

01/10/2026

Our next Dog Trainers' Retreat in June will provide what we have become known for: solid information on applied behavior analytic approaches to solving complicated behavior problems and hands-on practice with training games and the animals of Lemon's Hope Sanctuary. We mix education with a large dose of fun in a beautiful southern Vermont setting.

Organized and led by Debbie Jacobs of Fearful Dogs and Fearfuldogs.com, the weekend will include discussions of the framework applied behavior analysis gives us to achieve positive outcomes when addressing difficult behavior cases as well as analysis of what is actually going on in training vidoes. It's often not what you think. The weekend will also feature talks by a leading veterinary behaviorist, Dr. Christine Calder, DVM, DACVB, and leaders in the constructional approach to applied behavior analysis, Sean Wills, Ph.D. and Maasa Nishimuta, M.S.

Dr. Calder is the Director of Behavior Educational Content at the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) and oversees Dr. Sophia Yin's educational materials and programs. Wills and Nishimuta run the Constructional Approach to Animal Welfare and Training, a non-profit organization funding programs to get shelter dogs adopted and keep them in their homes. Wills' dissertation at Florida Tech focused on teaching volunteers how to train social behaviors to dogs in shelters and Nishimuta's thesis at the University of North Texas examined the reinforcing effects of petting and gentle scratching with rescued equines.

The hands-on portions of the program will include playing the tabletop training game PORTL (the Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab) and working with the sanctuary's sheep, goat, horses, guinea pigs and rats. These activities allow participants to hone their training mechanics and generalize their skills with other species. And, they're fun!!!! You can definitely get a "smile" from mini horse Angel!

For more details and to register, please see the link in the comments.

01/08/2026

Pet and other animal guardians often wonder at their trainers' abilities to get and reinforce behaviors quickly and efficiently. There's no magic to it. No 'animal whisperer' qualities that make it happen. There's understanding how behavior works and having the mechanical skills that come with knowledge and practice to get and shape behavior.

In February, we will offer pet guardians and caregivers a two-session class to learn how professional animal trainers effectively communicate and teach skills to dogs and other pets. Trainers refer to this as training mechanics, which create clear communication between teacher and learner. They involve timing, rates, and criteria for reinforcement as well as simple mechanics as to when to reach into your treat pouch, how to get off luring behavior, how to cue behavior clearly, how to use your own body to facilitate behavior, etc.

We will practice training mechanics without animals using training games that professionals play to develop their own skills. This course is for people who want to learn to be the best communicators with their animals that they can be to teach wanted behaviors that repeat into the future reliably. Dogs, cats, birds, horses, these skills are relevant to all animal guardians and caretakers.

01/07/2026

Got a puppy? We've got a class for you. In our Life Skills for Pups class, we will work on three important skills for dogs to be able to perform: playing appropriately and responding to humans even in play settings, coming when called no matter what else is going on, and chilling out on a mat even in busy environments. These skills go beyond basic obedience as they are important throughout a dog's life.

This class will run on Sundays in February and will include puppy play time, teaching dogs to relax on a mat with distractions in a mock cafe setup, and practicing coming when called on long lines. Long lines take some getting used to for dog guardians and it's a great skill to work on to set your puppy up for success at coming when called when off leash. It is also useful for guardians to learn to interrupt puppy play when needed to help their youngsters develop good play skills. And, if you ever want to take your dog to a cafe, having a solid relaxation behavior even in busy environments and around other dogs is a must.

Please email me at [email protected] if you are interested. Also, spread the word. We need four to six pups to run the class. Our classes include two instructors, so student-to-teacher ratio is low.

Additionally we check vet records. Up-to-date vaccines and clean fecals are required for puppies to attend class, so if any of these are missing, you will want to allow enough time to get your puppies up to date. Don't delay!

01/05/2026

At some professional animal trainer continuing education experiences, attendees play training games to give them some practice shaping the behavior of other people. The games give "teachers" or "trainers" an understanding of the variables at play in any teaching interaction and how hard it can be for our animal "learners" to understand the information we are trying to convey because of our own imprecision or narratives. Information from the learner prompts the teacher to adjust, i.e., to learn.

One such game is often called "The Training Game," in which attendees decide on a behavior to train a volunteer using a clicker and a stand-in for reinforcement, such as wrapped candies. The learner is not made aware of the behavior to be trained by the volunteer teacher. The learner "behaves," moving in any direction or their body parts to do certain things, like maybe rub their stomach or pat their head. Hilarity ensues as the teacher tries to direct the learner to perform the specified behavior or chain of behaviors using the clicker to indicate correct approximations toward the goal behavior.

A more involved tabletop game, the Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab (PORTL), allows teachers and learners to explore a wide variety of teaching and learning principles, including shaping, differential reinforcement, extinction, and many more basic and not-so-basic principles. In fact, PORTL was developed to serve as a learning laboratory for students of behavior science at universities that no longer have living animal laboratories. One great advantage to all of us, is that the game is available for other learning contexts as well, such as Training Matters' in-person workshops for animal trainers and animal caregivers. We include introductions to PORTL in our annual Dog Trainers' Retreat, coming in June, and our annual Animal Trainers' Retreat in the fall. We are planning a more in-depth PORTL workshop as well.

Trainers must have lots of applied experience with the species they work with, of course. But often that's not enough to learn how behavior works so that we can teach most efficiently and humanely. We can learn about the principles of behavior that will affect our practice outside of that practice, in an applied way, with a sophisticated game like PORTL. In this context, the species we are teaching is human beings, which we trainers work with in addition to our animals: dogs, horses, cats, birds, whatever. The principles apply to all. And, our workshops include hands-on practice with the animal learners of Lemon's Hope Sanctuary in addition to PORTL.

See the comments for a link to an article by PORTL authors Mary Hunter and Jesus Rosales-Ruiz describing in detail the game, its history and importance.

Keep visiting here for updates regarding our professional workshops. There is so much to learn and so much fun to be had!

01/01/2026

12/04/2025

Join us in June for our Dog Trainers' Retreat. This one will feature Debbie Jacobs talking about working with challenging behavior in dogs, from aggression to avoidance and more. She has assembled two fabulous speakers to join on related topics as well. And, as always, we will lead hands-on training experiences with the Portable Operant Research and Training Lab (PORTL) and the animals of Lemon's Hope Sanctuary. Link to post about the event in the comments.