Jesús Rosales-Ruiz, Ph.D., ClickerExpo faculty member, is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas. As a researcher and mentor to graduate students in Behavior Analysis, he has developed a focus on applied operant conditioning, bringing formal study methods and data collection to real-world animal training sessions. Many of his students have gone on to work as behaviorists and trainers in zoos or as academics exploring the principles of behavior. Dr. Rosales-Ruiz's areas of interest include antecedent control of behavior, generalization, behavioral cusps, fluency-based teaching, treatment of autism, teaching of academic behavior, animal training, and rule- and contingency-shaped behavior. We were delighted when he recently agreed to answer a few of our questions about his work.
Trainer Interviews
A Positive Oasis: Rivendale Learning Center
By Gale Pryor on 11/01/2005Steve and Jen White have been training animals positively for more than 25 years—long before clicker training became a household word. Steve has been a faculty member of ClickerExpo since its inception, and Jen has now joined the Expo team as a coach.
Steve brought marker-based training to the training of Seattle's K9 unit, while Jen helped introduce positive training to rehabilitate aggressive dogs at the MSPCA in Boston. Since their marriage in 2003, they have joined their formidable talents to teach more clients, both professional trainers and pet owners, the power of the principles of operant conditioning and positive reinforcement.
Recently, we asked them to tell us about their new life work, the establishment of Rivendale Learning Center, a hub of teaching and training in no force, no fear techniques in Woodinville, Washington.
JavaDawgs: Clickers and Coffee
By Miranda Hersey Helin on 11/01/2005Clearly, JavaDawgs is more than your average dog training group. "This is not a top down training group," explains group founder Lisa Clifton-Bumpass from her home in Hayward, CA. "We function as a team, working for the betterment of each dog-owner team and as a larger team of people focused on bettering themselves as dog enthusiasts. Not all members are on the field at once. Some members work their dogs, others act as training coaches, and others are observing dog body language, timing-criteria setting, and handling skills. All voices and observations are of value in this process as we are all developing our skills as a team."
Helix Fairweather on the Art of Dog Play
By Gale Pryor on 08/01/2005Helix Fairweather became interested in the skills dogs need—and too often do not have—to play happily with other dogs. She decided to launch a series of Dog Park play sessions to allow skilled dogs to teach other dogs the art of playing and to teach handlers the observation skills necessary to understand canine communication.
Service with a Click
By Gale Pryor on 05/01/2005Debi Davis, service-dog trainer and ClickerExpo presenter (Minneapolis, November 2005), writes training articles for national and international magazines and is an Internet mentor for service-dog teams in training. In 1998, she co-founded OC-Assist-Dogs, a Yahoo Group Internet discussion list for those clicker training service dogs, now the largest service-dog discussion list on the web. In 1999, her papillon, Peek, became the first toy breed and first clicker trained dog to earn the Delta Society's National Service Dog of the Year award. In 2003, Peek was among the Pedigree Paws to Recognize Canine World Hero nominees. Peek and Debi were also profiled on a segment of the international television program Dogs with Jobs. A member of the APDT, IAADP, IABC, and the Delta Society, Debi lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband and five clicker trained dogs. Recently, we spoke to her about clicker training assistance dogs and her experiences attending ClickerExpo San Diego.
