Premier MannersMinder Instruction Manual page 2

Bio
Dr. Sophia Yin, a 1993 graduate of the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is the
author of two books: The Small Animal Veterinary Nerdbook , a best-selling textbook for
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veterinarians, and How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves. She earned her Master's in Animal
Science in 2001 from U.C. Davis where she studied vocal communication in dogs and
worked with behavior modification in horses, giraffes, ostriches, and chickens. During this
time she was also the award-winning pet columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Upon
receiving her degree focused on animal behavior, Dr. Yin served for five years as a lecturer
in the U.C. Davis Animal Science Department. She taught three upper division undergradu-
ate courses in domestic animal behavior and supervised students in various animal
training and behavior research projects. Dr. Yin currently sees behavior housecalls, works
at San Francisco Veterinary Specialists (www.SFVS.net), writes for several veterinary and
popular magazines, and lectures internationally on animal behavior.
For tips and to view video on dog training , or for more
(or cat, chicken, horse, giraffe, goat...training)
information about animal behavior in general, visit her website at www.AskDrYin.com.
Acknowledgements
While humans have been training animals for centuries, we have been lax in collecting
data and then methodically testing and revising our techniques using the scientific
method. The MannersMinder Remote Reward Training System is one of the first train-
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ing systems to be tested in such a manner prior to commercial release. Such research
invariably requires input and collaboration from a plethora of resources and as such, I
would like to thank everyone who helped with or participated in the two research studies
preceding release of this product. I would especially like to thank Bob Bailey, Karen Pryor
and Eduardo Fernandez for their suggestions during the early brainstorming process of the
protocol development.
Additionally, Dr. Sarah Richardson was particularly helpful in coordinating the first
experiment and Dr. Daniel Mills was extremely helpful in reviewing both the methods prior
to the first experiment and the scientific paper prior to journal submission.
I would also like to thank everyone who helped to evaluate the system and who partici-
pated in the instructional DVD, including the focus-group members who watched the DVD
and then demonstrated their interpretation of the techniques. Their interpretations lead to
some key revisions that have greatly improved the instructional quality of the DVD.
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