Wyn & Mary Burch, Ph.D.
AKC's Canine Good Citizen and S.T.A.R. Puppy Director, Certified Applied Animal BehavioristCitizen Canine Blog (that’s right, this one!) Wins at Westminster!
Every year, on the Sunday before the Westminster dog show, dog writers from across the country travel to New York City for annual writing awards that are the equivalent of “Best in Show” for dog writers. This year, the Citizen Canine blog (that’s right, this one!) won an award as the Best Blog in a writing competition and the Citizen Canine book won the prestigious Maxwell Medallion in the Dog Writers Association of America (DWAA) contest. For more information on DWAA, see dwaa.org
About the Programs
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy® is the puppy level of Canine Good Citizen® (CGC). AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy is designed to provide dog owners and their puppies with a great start in training. With more advanced skills than AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy, CGC rewards dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. The Canine Good Citizen Program stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs. The Hartford is a proud sponsor of the CGC and AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy programs.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Stimulus Control
We’ve talked about reinforcement, extinction, and punishment. The last of the main behavioral principles is stimulus control. Behaviors are said to be under stimulus control when there is an increased probability that the behavior will occur as a result of … Continue reading
Punishment…the Scientific Definition
Another one of the main principles of operant conditioning is punishment. Punishment…ugh. How I wish Skinner would have named it something else when he was defining the terms. My guess is as Skinner worked in his lab with pigeons, he … Continue reading
Extinction
We’ve talked about using reinforcement to change behavior. Extinction is another operant (learned) method that can be used to change the behavior of people or animals. Extinction is when a behavior that was previously reinforced is no longer reinforced, and … Continue reading
Will Work for Food: Reinforcement
Reinforcement is when a behavior, followed by a consequent stimulus, is strengthened or becomes more likely to occur again. Positive reinforcement: good things will come your way. A positive reinforcer is a stimulus that, when presented following a behavior, makes … Continue reading
The Basics of Behavior
This week is behavior week on the Citizen Canine blog. When it comes to training animals or people, it helps to have a basic understanding of the science of behavior. Because modern day dog trainers are more sophisticated than ever … Continue reading
Survey Results: What Are Your Training Goals?
Reading the survey results made me feel honored to be associated with all of you who read the blog. It’s clear that we have top-notch trainers here, dog owners who are committed to learning new skills, and instructors who continually … Continue reading
A Club’s Goal to Train German Shepherd Dogs
Here’s a great case of an AKC Specialty (for one breed only) club that had a goal. Lisa Marie Fortier, a Canine Good Citizen evaluator and AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy instructor, wrote to tell us about wonderful work being done by … Continue reading
Your Own Training Goals
This week has been all about setting goals, and we want to hear from you. What are your training goals? Whether you’re a dog owner, intructor, or evaluator, what would you like to accomplish when it comes to training? Share … Continue reading
AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Video: Setting Goals for Puppies
This week we’re talking about setting goals in training. Here is a video of Karen Prichard’s AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy class at Cherry Point Dog Training Center in Pensacola, FL. In addition to setting goals for herself as an instructor, Karen … Continue reading
CGC is a Good Goal for All Dogs
Yesterday we talked about setting training goals. Barbara Garceau of Chaplin, CT, is the proud owner of “AJ” who is known in the dog show world as GCH S.Xposur N Dynastys Chasin Neon Rainbows CD, RE. And that’s not all. … Continue reading
