Carrots and Sticks
Carrots and Sticks
Out of Print
Have you ever wondered how a sheep dog, police horse, leopard or octopus is trained? Drawing on interviews with leading animal trainers, Carrots and Sticks offers 50 case studies that explore the step-by-step training of a wide variety of companion, working and exotic animals; reviews the preparation of animals prior to training and common pitfalls encountered. The book brings behavioural science to life, explaining animal training techniques in the language of learning theory. Opening sections on instinct, rewards, punishers and intelligence are richly infused with examples from current training practice and establish the principles that are explored in the unique case studies. Its accessible style will help reassess your preconceptions and simplify your approach to all animal-training challenges. This exciting text will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest, amateur or professional, in the general basics of training, as well as students of psychology, veterinary medicine, agriculture and animal science.
- Highly illustrated in full-colour
- Contains 50 detailed case studies
- Accessible, easy-to-follow text with helpful subsections
Reviews & endorsements
'A new book by Paul McGreevy and Robert Boakes aims to prise open the black box and explain in scientific terms the whys and hows of animal training. If you've ever wondered how police attack dogs are trained or how to teach an octopus to take the lid off a jar, it will tell you that too. … The approach of this book is straightforward and the ideas are well-presented … The tips and insights from animal trainers area useful resource. Most importantly, it provides the reader with the opportunity to draw their own conclusions about the ethics of animal training and its impact on the welfare of the animals involved.' RSPCA Animal Welfare Science Update
'… accessible and shrewd … providing a foundation of the need to understand instincts, biological constraints on learning, the role of early experience and individual differences in order for trainers to learn how to work effectively with predictable responses.' Biologist
'… there was an obvious need and niche for this book … the layout … and its general aims were brilliant … In an area of applied science and animal management which is becoming increasingly popular and actively implemented on a practical level with more and more species in most captive animal industries, this book provides a much-needed insight into the 'nuts and bolts' of learning and how these can be used to train animals, or to identify where training is occurring already in some systems.' Animal Welfare
Product details
November 2007Paperback
9780521686914
318 pages
246 × 189 × 15 mm
0.7kg
51 b/w illus. 297 colour illus.
Unavailable - out of print May 2010
Table of Contents
- Part I. Preface:
- 1. Instincts and their modification
- 2. Learning theory and positive reinforcement
- 3. Fear, punishment and avoidance training
- 4. Animal intelligence
- Part II. Case Studies:
- 5. Companion
- 6. Exotic
- 7. Working
- Part III. Conclusion: Glossary
- Further reading
- References.
