Animal Trainers' Retreat: Training With Love + Science

A retreat in a sublime location, this event offers a relaxed mini-conference learning opportunity and hands-on training experience. Regardless of where you are in your journey to be the best trainer you can be, this weekend has something for you to help you positively impact the lives of owners and pets. We have brought together a stellar lineup of some of the best trainers and presenters in the business to give talks on their latest research and behavior analytic-based training procedures. Interspersed with informational talks, will be applied learning interactions using the Portable Operant Research and TeachingLab (PORTL) and working with the animals of Lemon's Hope Sanctuary.

PORTL is an interactive tabletop game for learning about behavioral principles and phenomena, honing training mechanics, improving teaching skills, and conducting research. It is played using a collection of small objects, a clicker to select behavior, and small blocks as reinforcers.

Animals at Lemon's Hope include horses, guinea pigs, sheep, a goat, rats and resident dogs. Teaching even simple behaviors to different species and individuals than those one typically works with builds a trainer's fluency in adapting and generalizing mechanics, reinforcement principles and teaching strategies and deepens understanding. Your feed delivery, rate and criteria changes will vary by necessity.

The event will be hybrid in format, with both in person attendance and presentations, and remote attendance and presentations. Online attendance is for the talks only, which will occur throughout the weekend with breaks. Exact schedule for talks is TBD. Topics are listed in the event agenda.

Speakers will include:

Kiki Yablon, MA, KPA CTP, CPDT-KA, KPA Faculty

Mary Hunter, MS, publisher of the PORTL manual with Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz

Mindy Waite, Ph.D., M.S., CAAB, CPDT-KA

Maia Nahele Owen, Ph.D., MA, KPA CTP

Dr. Keira Moore, BCBA-D, KPA-CTP

Hannah McGee, MA, CBCC-KA

Ceus pending. Schedule subject to change.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

1104 Ames Hill Rd, 1104 Ames Hill Road, Brattleboro, United States