All effective modern animal training has a common basis: the discovery of "operant conditioning" by B.F. Skinner. Assisting in this research were Keller & Marian Breland, graduate students of Skinner who continued to develop the science into a systematic method for training animals. They documented their work in the seminal text, Animal Behavior, first published in 1966 but out of print for decades. This historic book brought the Brelands' research to the world.
In 2018, Animal Behavior was republished by Storymakers, Inc. with a slate of historic photographs and a Special Introduction by Dr. Robert E. Bailey, ScD.-esteemed colleague of the Brelands and first Director of Training for the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Training Program. Dr. Bailey's introduction provides historic context for the contribution of the Brelands' work to behavior science.
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Essential reading for animal behaviorist.
This book is a reprint from 1966 with a new foreword by Bob Bailey. The first half of the book is about animal behavior as seen by scientists, who were graduate students of B.F. Skinner. The second part, “Historical Photographs” illustrates the work done at Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE) where for 40 years, more than 15 000 animals of 143 species were trained. The last section, “Selected Readings” made me deepen my thinking about animals, our relationship with them and training. Pretty costly, but I think it is an essential reading for animal behaviorist.
