Connecting animal trainers and behavior analysts through loopy training
A dog-training loop gives BCBAs a plug-and-play shaping script for chaining any skill.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kurland and colleagues wrote a think-piece. They mapped a dog-training trick called loopy training onto ABA shaping rules.
Loopy training loops three steps: cue, response, treat. The loop repeats until the cue and the response feel like one smooth move.
The authors asked BCBAs to borrow the loop and to team up with animal trainers.
What they found
The paper is all ideas, no new data. It shows how each loop step lines up with reinforcement, stimulus control, and chaining.
The takeaway: a ready-made pattern already exists for teaching long behavior chains.
How this fits with other research
Lattal et al. (2022) extends this call. They say animal tricks need the same lab tests we give autism interventions. Concept first, experiment second.
Farmer-Dougan et al. (1999) is an early mirror. They translated Monty Roberts’s horse-whispering into ABA terms thirty years ago. Skilled trainers keep rediscovering our principles.
Mace (1994) set the stage. That paper urged a three-step chain: animal lab, human lab, real world. Kurland’s loop is a fresh example of step one.
Gasiewski et al. (2021) offers a side clue. Their BCBA-OT teamwork guide shows how to talk across professions—useful when you sit down with a dog trainer.
Why it matters
You can steal a dog trainer’s loop today. Write each link as cue-response-reinforce. Run the loop until the learner cues himself. Then add the next link. The pattern keeps errors low and motivation high. Try it with shoe tying, tooth brushing, or any home chain. Bring a trainer to your next team meeting—both sides win.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Pick one home routine, script it into three-step loops, and run each loop five times before adding the next link.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The communities of behavior analysts and animal trainers remain relatively disconnected despite potentially beneficial links between behavioral principles and the practices of animal training. Describing existing links between research by behavior analysts and practices used by animal trainers may foster connections. In this paper, we describe an approach used by many clicker trainers, referred to as loopy training. Loopy training is a teaching process built around the concept of movement cycles. Interactions between the animal learner and the handler are refined into predictable, cyclical patterns that can be expanded into complex sequences. These sequences include cues, target responses, conditioned reinforcers, and consummatory responses. We link the foundations of loopy training to existing work in the experimental analysis of behavior, compare loopy training to other shaping approaches, and describe areas for future research. We conclude with a series of recommendations for further developing connections between behavior analysts and animal trainers, using loopy training as the foundation for our suggestions.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2022 · doi:10.1002/jeab.779