Constructional Approach to Animal Welfare and Training

It’s no secret that dogs love our attention. For us, it almost seems like loving animals is part of who we are. However, sometimes dogs will find funny or problematic ways to get our attention. Some dogs are calm and other dogs can get really excited, they may jump on you or bark.
As mentioned in our previous episode, those dogs who approach you and jump or bark at you are telling you that they want your attention and affection! For the dogs that are like this example, Constructional Affection is an effective way to teach desirable behaviors!
In this episode, Sean, a founder of Constructional Affection, explains to us the procedure of Constructional Affection in a step-by-step fashion with many wonderful examples and stories.
Constructional Affection is the use of our affection to teach our animals how to calmly ask for and receive affection. Sean will first explain what affection means, and explain the two-step process of Constructional Affection. The purpose of Interaction Guidelines is to teach animals how to calmly ask for and receive affection. The purpose of Affection Loop is to extend the calm behaviors that the animal learned in the Interaction Guidelines to various situations that are important for both the animals and their caretakers.
Below are the websites that we mentioned in the episode:

• Kellie Snider’s website: https://kelliesnider.com/
  • You can check Kellie's blog about her experience in our CAAWT Online Conference: https://kelliesnider.com/2020/06/12/japan/
• Constructional Affection website:
  • English version: http://constructionalaffection.com/
  • Japanese version: http://constructionalaffection.com/caJP.html

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to our podcast!

For the next two episodes, we will welcome our special guest, Dr. T.V. Joe Layng, to explain the foundations of the Constructional Approach. Dr. Joe Layng studied with the founder of the Constructional Approach, Dr. Israel Goldiamond, for many years at the University of Chicago. In this episode, he describes the origin and development of the Constructional Approach, how he got involved with the works, and the defining characteristics of the Constructional Approach.

This approach provides a new perspective in dealing with the situations that you find problematic and troublesome. Rather than looking to eliminate or get rid of the problems, we build desirable behaviors by asking “what needs to be established the absence of which is a problem?” and we assume that all behaviors make sense, although it looks “irrational” or “maladaptive.” This approach is useful and can be applied to many aspects of our lives, including relationships with other people or animals, achieving meaningful goals, and creating training programs.

We hope you enjoy the interview!

Below is the link to the Google drive where we included the articles that Dr. Joe Layng has mentioned during the interview:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/180jdDrXEN43i43_1nUdfnz4YaR_aCOm1

Here is the breakdown of the articles mentioned in the interview:

• 2:42 - Goldiamond, I. (1974). Toward a Constructional Approach to Social Problem: Ethical and Constructional Issues Raised by Applied Behavior Analysis
• 5:26 - Dyrud, J. (1971). Treatment of Anxiety States
• 6:15 - Goldiamond, I., & Dyrud, J. (1968). Some Applications and Implications of Behavioral Analysis of Psychotherapy
• 12:34 - Merley, S. & Laying, T. (1976). In-patient Psychiatry and Programed Instruction: Application and Research in Constructional Theory

For those of you who are interested in Dr. Israel Goldiamond and his works, we highly recommend checking the article below, which is also included in the Google drive.

• Layng, T. V. J. (2009). The Search for an Effective Clinical Behavior Analysis: The Nonlinear Thinking of Israel Goldiamond

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to our podcast!
In today’s episode, we will share a new approach to training and living with our animals that has been featured for many years in Clicker Expo and The Art and Science of Animal Training Conference. This approach has changed the lives of countless animal companions and their families, and animals in zoos and shelters.
Sean, a founder of Constructional Affection, will be sharing stories of milestones in the journey that he and his colleague had when discovering the power of affection as a reinforcer and developing the procedure of using affection to train behaviors.
Sean will talk about Constructional Affection being more than just a training, but a way of living with our animal companions to improve our relationships with them. He will talk about the behaviors that we will train with affection and how we deliver affection when these desirable behaviors occur.
We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as this sets the foundation for what will come next!
Here is the website of Constructional Affection:
English version: http://constructionalaffection.com/
Japanese version: http://constructionalaffection.com/caJP.html

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to our podcast!
For this episode, we are going to talk about “relationships,” an important topic that ties directly to our animal companion’s quality of life. First, we will talk about the critical components of good relationships with our animal companions. Ideally, they need to approach us and seek for our affection, and the interaction must be mutually enjoyable for both parties.
The next question is how we can make this wonderful relationship with our animal companions. We will discuss a constructional approach to building good relationships. Doing so in a way that focuses on what we want to see our animal companions doing, rather than what we want to see them stop doing.
Lastly, we will share how having a good relationship with our animal companions can assist and benefit our training with them.
We will share many stories to illustrate each components of a good relationships with the animal companions we have fortunate to work and learn from. Please enjoy it with your animal companions!

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Join us for a fun and inspiring conversation with Chase Owens. Chase and Sean talked about their experience developing the procedure of Constructional Affection with the dogs they worked with in animal shelters! They shared many stories and discussed how the idea of using affection came about and how they systematized the use of affection to teach the dogs easier-to-do, less costly, and "desirable" behaviors in an errorless manner. By teaching those "desirable" behaviors, the dogs can get adopted, stay adopted, and help create mutually enjoyable relationships with their new family. You will not hear their behind-the-stage stories anywhere but here!! We recommend listening to this episode with the Interaction Guidelines Poster!

Below are the links we mentioned during the episode:

🐶 Interaction Guidelines Poster

Download the poster from here: https://www.caawt.com/interaction-guidelines-poster 

👨🏼‍🏫 Register Sean's presentation on Constructional Affection at Behavior Vets Webinar on October 2nd: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/constructional-affection-building-constructional-solutions-tickets-167958868497?fbclid=IwAR0avZfbw-n0W3rqZGddtyT9SNZai3MU71VGk8Spp_S4r6JNLdHI0T1DKKU 

📚Chase Owen's Constructional Affection Thesis: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc984128/m2/1/high_res_d/OWENS-THESIS-2017.pdf 

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