is published by

Howell Book House, 1999.

You can order this outstanding reference through:

Direct Book Service 1-800-776-2665

The Definitive Book on Operant Conditioning for Dog Trainers

By Mary R. Burch, Ph.D. and Jon S. Bailey, Ph.D.

how dogs learn explains the fascinating science of operant conditioning. The authors, who are recognized experts on the topic, are also experienced dog trainers and they explain each operant conditioning principle with dog training examples.

For the first time ever, behavioral procedures that are used with humans such as Behavioral Diagnostics and Functional Analysis have been translated for applications with dogs.

how dogs learn will help trainers solve canine behavior problems and improve training proficiency.

“..this book should be on every animal trainer’s bookshelf for future reference. how dogs learn covers the content of an undergraduate course in learning and behavior, but most of the examples are taken from dog training. This book is practically very useful for dog trainers without sacrificing scientific and technical accuracy.” Jack Michael, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, Western Michigan University

how dogs learn includes entertaining and informative chapters on the history of animal training, all of the basic principles of behavior (reinforcement, extinction, punishment and stimulus control), methods for increasing desirable behaviors and decreasing undesirable behaviors, respondent conditioning, conditioned reinforcement (including the pros and cons of clicker training), the ethics of punishment, and checklists for analyzing both dog and trainer problems.

Mary R. Burch, Ph.D., is a Certified Behavior Analyst. She has also been approved as a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist by the Animal Behavior Society. Her behavioral research has been published in numerous behavioral journals and by the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Burch has trained dogs to the advanced levels of obedience and she is considered an international expert on the topic of therapy dogs. She is the author of Volunteering with Your Pet and The Border Collie, published by Howell Book House. Dr. Burch has won the Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writer’s Association of America for her writing on dog-related topics. She is a founding member of the Animal Trainer’s Forum in the Association for Behavior Analysis.

Jon S. Bailey, Ph.D., is  Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. Dr. Bailey is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and was on the Board of Directors of the Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Dr. Bailey is a past editor of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and he is the author of the book Research Methods in Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Bailey serves as an expert witness on behavioral issues and he has been listed as one of the most frequently published researchers in the field of behavior analysis.