Learning From Dog Trainers

Melissa Holbrook Pierson was stunned when she hired a trainer, who established an immediate rapport with her border collie. Pierson was determined to find out more about the methodology and practice of positive reinforcement as a training tool for animals. Eventually she made her way to meeting B. F. Skinner, the man who could train a pigeon to dance in minutes and whose research on behavior has had a wide influence on society at large. After plucking the minds of many animal behaviorists, Pierson turned her findings into the book The Secret History of Kindness: Learning from How Dogs Learn.