ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on behavioral training, specifically positive reinforcement training (PRT) techniques, as it applies to health care programs for laboratory animals. Training animals to voluntarily participate in management and research behaviors represents an important refinement in the continuous, ongoing evolution of laboratory animal care programs. Trainers teach animals to perform particular tasks by providing reinforcement immediately following the performance of the task. Animals learn that they receive reinforcement when they perform the target behavior, altering the probability that they will perform that behavior again in the future. The training process can be facilitated and, in many cases, must be facilitated by the use of desensitization techniques to teach animals to tolerate previously scary objects or situations. Although PRT techniques can be effectively employed in many circumstances with many types of animals and behaviors, PRT does not work in every circumstance.
