Bridgton, Maine - OFF THE WALL presents Kayce Cover, founder of the Syn Alia (sin uh lee'yah) Training System, for the first time in Maine, Sept 8-10, 2006.
Friday evening, there will be a special demonstration at the farm of Karen Hawkins, for Maine Greyhound Placement Service, and for animal shelter and rescue workers, with a special focus on greyhounds. Press are invited. Saturday and Sunday will be seminar, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. (same location). Dedicated animal professionals and lovers are welcome for this mixture of presentation and hands-on training. Call Karen (see below) for more information.
Cover maintains that most animals have the ability to learn and understand many things about their care and the world around them, especially if we help them to learn. Using three signals: the Terminal Bridge (tells the animal when it is finished), the Intermediate Bridge (tells the animal it is on the way to success) and the Target (shows the animal where to go or look), we can describe almost any behavior to an animal, and coach the animal to perform that behavior. We can even teach concepts, like Left versus Right, Up versus Down, Move versus Stop, body parts, colors and numbers. Cover named this system of communication, Bridge and Target Training, in a manual she published in 1991, "An Introduction to Bridge and Target Technique". Bridge and Target Training is part of a larger training and management system, SATS (Syn Alia Training System), which Cover developed.
SATS works with all animals, and is kind, simple, fast and fun. People are usually amazed to learn how smart their pet is.
What has been done with SATS /
Bridge and Target?
• Heifers told scientists what they wanted. (UMD, see http://kayceschronicles.blogspot.com)
• Horses were litter trained (UMD)
• Chickens danced for a Wild West chicken show.
• Polar bears presented teeth and nails, for examination (Smithsonian's
National Zoo)
• Monkeys have been trained to aid quadriplegics (Tufts New England
Medical Center).
• Dogs have learned to find family members and go for help!
In over thirty years of work, Cover has introduced many innovations to training, including the Intermediate Bridge and Perception Modification, which are scientific terms for a special way to coach an animal, and teaching animals to cope with stress and emotion. Cover will show video of birds learning English words, a dancing horse, and a six month old baby learning left and right. Cover has degrees in animal management and education and has worked at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of Maryland, and Mystic Aquarium, and has worked in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and all corners of the US.
For more information about SATS,
visit http://www.synalia.com
To read about some of Cover's adventures, see
http://www.kayceschronicles.blogspot.com
Or contact:
Karen Hawkins 207 627 3734 barefoot@offthewallemporium.com
or
Kayce Cover 757 214 2836 kc@synalia.com