As owners and trainers, we are responsible for making many decisions for animals every day. Some decisions are simple, while others are of much greater importance to animals’ emotional and physical well-being. In today’s world, the amount of information that we are exposed to and influenced by is vast and often overwhelming.

In this webinar, students will:

• Learn to identify and critically evaluate the information that influences training and behavior
• Examine the role that science should play in the decision-making process
• Learn how to use critical thinking skills to make evidence-based choices for training practices
• Hear a review of the scientific method
• Apply the scientific method directly to studies of canine cognition, behavior, and training
• Explore a detailed (hypothetical) case study to better understand research study designs, the selection of study groups, use of controls, data measurement and collection, the inclusion of statistical tests, a compilation of results, and drawing appropriate conclusions

Following completion of this webinar, participants will:

• Understand the way in which the scientific method is applied to studies of dog behavior and training
• Be able to identify and assess the essential components of a well-designed research study
• Have the skills to critically evaluate different types of information sources for reliability
• Discuss the role that evidence-based training and behavior knowledge play into their own training practices

This talk has been approved for 1.5 CEUs by:

• CCPDT (CBCC-KA and CPDT-KA)
• IAABC
• KPA