Applications of behavioral training to laboratory animals (2021)

Shyan-Norwalt, M.

Abstract

How many of us have had this experience? We go to a conference, we read an article, we watch a video. We understand operant conditioning. We grasp the concepts behind clicker training, target training, and how we are supposed to do it. Then we try to apply all this and—boom!—nothing coordinates, nothing makes sense, the laboratory animals we're trying to train just don't get it. What happened? Why is this so hard? Applying training just is not that straightforward. The author of this article, who is a professional animal trainer, breaks down and explains the different steps involved in training: “GetSetSelectStepTrain” or GSSST. Two specific training examples are also given: training minipigs to a scale and training sheep to enter tilt table.