When living with animals, have you ever thought, “Hmm.. this behavior is a little challenging for me,” or "I don’t know what to do with this behavior.” When we encounter behaviors that our animal does that we find problematic or troublesome, how should we approach them? What can we do in our training and living that is ethical and effective in order to solve problematic behaviors and achieve the kind of relationship and lifestyle we want with our animals? When encountering problematic behaviors, there are two approaches First approach: This approach views undesirable behavior as a problem itself. Since the behavior is a problem, the behavior must be eliminated. With this approach, the focus is on eliminating, reducing, or stopping the undesirable behavior, without considering why the animal engages in the behavior or what the animal wants from that behavior. Second approach: This approach views undesirable behavior as a symptom that the animal needs to learn a better and more desirable behavior to get something they really need. Since the animal does not know or cannot do the better and more desirable behaviors, we will build these desirable and easy-to-do behaviors together. With this approach, the focus is to understand why the animal engages in the undesirable behavior and what the animal wants from that behavior. Once we understand what the animal wants, we then focus on building behaviors that are desirable for both the animal and the human. As you can see, how we view the undesirable behavior can change everything, from training goals and what kind of training technique to use, how to apply them, and how to live with animals! The second approach is called the “Constructional Approach” (Goldiamond, 1974/2002; Layng et al., 2022). CAAWT uses the constructional approach and applies it to working with shelter dogs, training, and living with animals. What we teach through online classes, workshops, and CAAWT membership is based on this approach. We value the approach of understanding what the animal wants from the undesirable behaviors, and not withholding what the animals want, but valuing what they want and using it to build the kinds of behavior that are mutually enjoyable for both animals and humans. Webinar Overview The Constructional Approach focuses on how to build desirable behaviors, rather than how to stop, reduce, or eliminate the undesirable behaviors. In this webinar, Sean and Maasa will explain the basic concepts and foundation of the Constructional Approach in an easy-to-understand step-by-step fashion, while comparing it to the traditional eliminative approaches! How you view the undesirable behavior can change everything from training goals and training itself to our lifestyle with our animals! The kindness and compassion for animals start with the type of approach we take! We hope this webinar will provide you with helpful knowledge about the Constructional Approach and how we can harness this approach into our training and living with our animals! If you are taking the webinar on separation-related behaviors (09/09/2025), you will learn the approach behind the two case studies with Chuu and Remy! This webinar is a great companion webinar with separation-related webinar!

Sponsor:Constructional Approach to Animal Welfare and Training
Speaker(s):Dr. Sean Will & Maasa Nishimuta, M.S., BCBA

Contact: Dr. Sean Will
 Email: caawtcontact@gmail.com
 Web: https://www.caawt.com/