Animal Training

The importance of positive rewards in dog training

Arabella Gray discusses the latest evidence of the negative impact of aversive‐based training methods on companion dog welfare.

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Gray, A. 2021. The importance of positive rewards in dog training. Veterinary Record 188(2), 82-83.

Regular touchscreen training affects faecal corticosterone metabolites and anxiety-like behaviour in mice

Automated touchscreen techniques find increasing application for the assessment of cognitive function in rodents. However, hardly anything is known about the potential impact of touchscreen-based training and testing procedures on the animals under investigation. Addressing this question appears particularly important...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Krakenberg, V., Wewer,M., Palme, R. et al. 2021. Regular touchscreen training affects faecal corticosterone metabolites and anxiety-like behaviour in mice. Behavioural Brain Research 401, 113080.

Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella)

Physiotherapy can be used to treat an animal following surgery, to help correcting abnormal gait and for treating tendon, bone or ligament damage. […] Of course, an animal can't just be given a set of exercises to follow. To carry...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Capuchin, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Coventry, C. 2020. Positive reinforcement training as physiotherapy for a brown capuchin (Sapajus apella). RATEL (Journal of the Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers) 47(2), 16-17.

Using positive reinforcement training to build compliance in Sinclair mini pigs

Pigs are an ideal model for treating osteochondral defects, though their sedentary nature could impair their healing when being used for one of these projects. Following joint injury, some level of lameness is anticipated. Developing a routine of exercise is...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Perez, J., Collins, R., Lambert, K. 2021. Using positive reinforcement training to build compliance in Sinclair mini pigs. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 50-53.

Applications of behavioral training to laboratory animals

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...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: All/General, Pig, Sheep

Citation: Shyan-Norwalt, M. 2021. Applications of behavioral training to laboratory animals. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 13-15.

The basics: Getting started with animal training in LAS

Professional animal trainer now Animal Health Technician explains various animal training terms and concepts.

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Buehler, A. 2021. The basics: Getting started with animal training in LAS. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 17-19.

Cooperative pig training that literally saves your back

This article describes the successful training of a pig to wear a jacket.

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Combs, S. R., Lambert, K. 2021. Cooperative pig training that literally saves your back. Laboratory Animal Science Professional 9(1) (January/February), 42-45.

Normal and abnormal parrot behavior

Behavior and behavior-associated issues are an important part of psittacine medicine. However, many veterinarians have an approach to parrots from the basics of handling and restraint to their assessment of behavioral issues (e.g., feather plucking), that fails to take into...

Year Published: 2014Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Animal Training, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Bird, Parrot

Citation: Speer, B. 2014. Normal and abnormal parrot behavior. Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine 23(3), 230-233.

Using preferred fluids and different reward schedules to motivate rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in cognitive tasks

Rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) used in behavioural neuroscience are often required to complete cognitively complex tasks, for which a high level of motivation is essential. To induce motivation, researchers may implement fluid-restriction protocols, whereby freely available water is limited, such...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Animal TrainingAnimal Type: Macaque, Nonhuman Primate

Citation: Gray, H., Thiele, A., Rowe, C. 2019. Using preferred fluids and different reward schedules to motivate rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in cognitive tasks. Laboratory Animals 53(4), 372–382.

Nutrient intake, feeding patterns, and abnormal behavior of growing bulls fed different concentrate levels and a single fiber source (corn stover silage)

Twenty-eight bulls weighing 227 ± 6.8 (SD) kg were randomly assigned to four concentrate levels (1-1.5 kg [low level of concentrate {LC}], 1.5-2 kg [medium level of concentrate], 2-2.5 kg [high level of concentrate {HC}], and 2.5-3 kg [highest level...

Year Published: 2019Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Animal Training, Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: ur Rahman, M. A., Xia, C., Ji, L. et al. 2019. Nutrient intake, feeding patterns, and abnormal behavior of growing bulls fed different concentrate levels and a single fiber source (corn stover silage). Journal of Veterinary Behavior 33, 46-53.