SNAKE avoidance training
with ken ramirez
A KPA LIVE!™ Class featuring real-time training and coaching WITH Ken
Life-saving skills for your dog!
Learn this important protocol from Ken in just six weeks, with real-time classes over Zoom and a robust, coordinated curriculum!Snake avoidance training can be a lifesaver for dogs that live in areas with venomous snakes—on the plains and in the desert, mountains, and forests. Learn snake avoidance with Ken Ramirez in our 6-week LIVE virtual class with Ken’s proven, go-to, positive reinforcement protocol for teaching dogs to detect, indicate and avoid snakes. You will also learn how to adapt this protocol to help keep dogs safe from a wide variety of other environmental dangers and odors including skunks, porcupines, and other critters.
Did you know? The most common way to train snake avoidance is to instill in dogs a fear of snakes by pairing a strong aversive, like an electric shock, with the appearance of a snake. This class teaches an effective, positive training alternative- one that has eluded many trainers!
Ken's Snake Avoidance Training protocol uses innovative positive reinforcement training. The curriculum coordinates with the schedule of LIVE real-time classes over Zoom that are also recorded. With clear video demonstrations, detailed hands-on exercises to practice with your dog, and feedback/coaching from Ken, you can teach this lifesaving skill to any dog.
Dogs that come in with a reliable recall, strong targeting behavior, and an understanding of some type of scent work will have an advantage in this class but Ken will teach you everything you need to know to become proficient at each of those skills if those skills are new to you or your dog. See "Is this Class Right for Me?" in the FAQs for more details.
LEARN, PRACTICE, SHARE
LEARN
Six weeks of training, a week-by-week curriculum integrated with four LIVE virtual classes with real-time coaching, interactive learning, and Q&A. Super educational, super fun.
PRACTICE
The LIVE week-by-week curriculum integrates with, and prepares you for, the weekly LIVE class. New levels of advancement each week!
SHARE
Ask questions and share insights, pics, and your training videos. Celebrate progress together!A week-by-week curriculum guides your learning every step of the way. Then, join your classmates for the four LIVE classes for real-time training and personalized interactive coaching plus Q&A with Ken. In class, you will see students practice the behaviors, hear Ken’s feedback, make adjustments, and experience the change. Each of these Zoom-based classes is two hours long except for the final one which is 2.5 hrs. All students get the full week-by-week curriculum and class forum. In each Zoom class:
- Engage students watch training and Ken's coaching and can ask questions through chat.
- Excel students get personalized real-time coaching and feedback on their training in class PLUS on-screen Q&A
Miss a class? No problem. LIVE classes are also recorded.
Let's Begin This Fabulous Journey, Together
- Unit 1 Lessons
- Live Class 1: July 5th
- Unit 2 Lessons
- Live Class 2: July 12th
- Unit 3 Lessons
- Live Class 3: July 19th
- Unit 4 Lessons
- Live Class 4: August 2nd
SHOW YOUR SKILLS
EARN YOUR DESIGNATION
SkillCheckTM assessment with Ken
Meet the criteria to earn the designation during the course or up to 30 days after the course ends
Available only to the Excel experience and included in tuition
You earned your KPA SkillCheck: Snake Avoidance digital badge!
SkillCheckTM is a formalized KPA method for teachers to provide feedback to students on the skills taught in a specific course. SkillCheck criteria are developed for each KPA course or class.
In this course, SkillCheck is available only to students in the Excel experience. You will receive an easy-to-digest assessment of your skill progress on the Snake Avoidance protocol and, if you demonstrate proficiency, you will earn the SkillCheck designation for Snake Avoidance!
LEARN WITH ken ramirez
Ken Ramirez is Executive Vice President and Chief Training Officer at Karen Pryor Clicker Training (KPCT). He oversees educational programming and teaches courses online at Karen Pryor Academy, in-person at ClickerExpo conferences, and at KPCT's National Training Center. Ken developed his protocol to successfully teach dogs to avoid snakes using 100% positive reinforcement training through research projects and live field application of the protocol across the world.
A trainer and consultant for nearly 50 years, Ken is highly active in animal conservation worldwide. Prior to joining KPCT, he served as Executive Vice President, Animal Care and Training, at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium. Ken is the author of a seminal book on animal training. A selection of his lectures is available on streaming video.
Here's What You'll Be Learning UNIT by UNIT
1
Set the foundation
And we are off! Ken teaches you the foundational behaviors that are essential to a fluent snake avoidance behavior. You will also learn about the history of snake avoidance training and how this life-saving protocol was developed.
The lecture, discussion, training plans and exercises in this unit help you build these two foundation behaviors,- target indication and recall. You will get started teaching a reliable target indicator and recall, and learn how to train these behaviors to fluency. The training plans and associated exercises in this unit will organize and focus your training time and be your indispensable guide as we “meet” in the discussion forum and until we are together in the virtual classroom.
Follow the recommended training plan because Unit 2 builds on the skills in Unit 1! We can’t wait to see everyone’s training video links and comments posted to the class forum and Ken will provide feedback on the videos and answer the questions of Excel students. Everyone should follow along and learn!.
In our virtual classroom, our Excel students will demonstrate their foundational skills progress, get coaching from Ken, share their experience and ask questions about these early steps. We’ll talk about the links to the skills taught in our next unit as well (including generalizing, desensitization, and chaining).
Skill Bonus! Learn the steps for a reliable kennel behavior. While this behavior is not required for most snake avoidance protocols, it will be shared for those who need it and the skill will be supported and integrated into the protocol in the subsequent units.
2
desensitization, generalization, and chaining
In Unit #2, Ken helps you build on the skills you established with your dog. The lecture, discussion, training plans and exercises in this unit help you advance the target and recall behaviors, as well as the optional kennel behavior. The training plans and associated exercises in this unit focus on teaching duration and distance to these behaviors. You will also begin generalizing these behaviors to new environments and desensitizing your dog to new distractions.
Ken will also introduce students to the importance and techniques needed for creating a strong and reliable behavior chain, and how to determine which behaviors should be chained. You will begin chaining behaviors together during your hands-on practice with your dog in preparation for your second live class meeting.
In our virtual classroom, our Excel students will demonstrate their skills progress, get coaching from Ken, share their experience and ask questions about these early steps. We’ll talk about the links to the skills taught in our next unit as well (including adding cues).
3
Adding audible, visual, and olfactory cues
In Unit #3, Ken guides you through adding cues to the behaviors you have been working on with your dog. Specifically, Ken teaches you how to incorporate audible, visual, and olfactory cues, as well as the intricacies of handling odor, so as to avoid contamination - which ensures that your dog learns cues reliably. You will continue building on your skills by getting your trained behavior chain under stimulus control. Ken will also share his personal tips for how and where to acquire biological materials.
In our virtual classroom, our Excel students will demonstrate their skills progress and demonstrate the process of putting their chains on cue, get coaching from Ken, share their experience and ask questions about these early steps. We’ll talk about the links to the skills taught in our next unit as well (including adding cues). We’ll talk about how to bring all of their training together to accomplish the final snake avoidance behavior with their dogs, and how to prepare for the live evaluation.
There will be a two-week break between the live class for Unit #3 and the live class for Unit #4. This additional time is provided for students to continue strengthening the skills they learned in the first 3 units.
4
The finale, fine tuning, maintenance, and more
There will be a two-week break between the live class for Unit #3 and the live class for Unit #4. This additional time is provided for students to continue strengthening the skills they learned in the first 3 units.
In Unit #4, Ken will share how to avoid common challenges encountered in snake avoidance training, as well as insights from previous snake avoidance projects. Get a behind-the-scenes look at intriguing case studies and learn from past failures and mistakes. This final unit will help you understand how to fine-tune your training plan so that you can help your dog maintain their snake avoidance skills.
In our final virtual classroom, our Excel students will demonstrate their skills progress, including the final behavior chain, and receive expert tips to prepare for their final evaluation. This is your last chance to get live coaching from Ken, share your experience and ask questions about these early steps.
