Animal Behavior Modification LLC

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I've been training animals my entire life. From guinea pigs and chickens to pet dogs and now working dogs, I have been successful because of an intuitive understanding of how to get behaviors and how maintain them. Over the past 10 years, I've traveled around and attended seminars held by professionals in the animal training field and through this education I have developed my own style of training. I now offer this information to you in an easy to understand format demonstrating that behaviors that are rewarded increase in frequency, intensity and duration.
Bob Bailey and the late Marian Breland-Bailey left a big impression on my training style. The Bailey Workshops offer a regimented curriculum of the application of Operant Conditioning and the use of the "Secondary Reinforcer" in this case the clicker. Marian studied with B. F. Skinner, and after WWII she and her first husband, Keller Breland, started the first commercial animal training business. You can view their accomplishments at their web site.
I attended all of the workshops offered by Bob and Marian and I finished the program with an incredible wealth of information about behavior modification. We worked with chickens during these workshops, and I learned quickly to have lightening fast reflexes, the importance of defining criteria, how to balance the rate of reinforcement for optimum results and most importantly that - TRAINING IS A MECHANICAL SKILL.

Don't wait! The most important time in your relationship with your new puppy is the first 16 weeks of its life. You and your puppy are developing habits that will last a lifetime. It is much, much easier to establish good habits from the beginning than to try to correct inappropriate behaviors later. The first leaning goes the deepest.

This is a course in relationship-building exercises. Come, Sit, Down, Walk on leash with attention to handler, Stay and Off. These are all taught with positive reinforcement such as food, toys and praise.

If you waited until the dog is 5 months old to begin training, this will be the course for you. You will learn why your dog is behaving inappropriately and how to redirect the behavior into an acceptable one. I use both Classical Conditioning to neutralize fear-based responses and Operant Conditioning to teach acceptable responses.

I teach the basics with an emphasis on FUN FUN FUN!!! Agility is great for people who want to improve their relationship with their dog through cooperation and leadership. This is a beginning level class that emphasizes proper foundation training and safety.

This is a sport for any dog from 8 weeks old to 10 years old and for people and dogs who are not interested in the physical exercise required for agility. Tracking teaches obedience and concentration and is one of the most rewarding and interesting sports available to the dog/human team.

If you want a group class situation, I offer group classes for dogs that have the basic behaviors of focus, come, sit, down, and stay and want to add the distractions of other dogs. This class is considered an intermediate level class and teaches the dog to stay focused on the handler in the presence of other dogs.

I offer private classes for beginners because I find it hard for beginner dogs to learn in a group. I stress this because I want my clients, both the dog and human team to be successful. Since I want to train with positive reinforcement, I will simply not offer a beginning class that requires you to administer corrections or punishment to keep your dogs attention.

Our training facility is on the north side of Bloomington, half a mile from State Road 37 on Sample Road.
For more information, call me at 812.322.1100, or email deb@animalbehaviormodification.com.