Kirsten Kraljevic

About

I have a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from St. Mary's College Of Maryland and have been a professional pet dog trainer for 35 years. I grew up riding horses and living with dogs, cats, birds, and the occasional reptile. My first real jobs included working for the Humane Society in Rockville, Maryland, and as an assistant manager in a well-known pet store specializing in hand-fed baby birds. I consider myself a lifelong student of animal behavior and training. In 2002, when I took all 5 of Bob Bailey's Chicken Workshops, I finally understood what it meant to say that behavior is lawful. Animal behavior across species is lawful, and principles govern it. I discovered a world of people creating excellent results in changing the behavior of many different species using Operant Conditioning. Operant Conditioning allows you to break behavior down into its smallest components. It isn't until you learn to break something down into its smallest form and master it that you can innovate and change. We haven't discovered everything possible with this technology yet, and there is a new generation of innovators in animal training out there ready to learn. This belief drives me to keep the Chicken Workshops available to anyone wanting to learn from them. The Breland's and Bailey's accomplished animal training feats at greater distances, through more significant distractions, and for longer durations than I ever thought possible. Their students have accomplished similarly amazing things in their chosen disciplines. After Dr. Bailey officially retired from giving workshops, I was fortunate enough to be able to help him with some of his historical projects aimed at preserving their contributions to modern-day animal training. A common thread throughout their legacy was the use of chickens to teach others how to change behavior. In the ‘40s they used chickens to train staff and clients such as the General Mills feed salesman who gave stage shows across the country. By the ‘90s Bob and Marian refined their exercises into traveling chicken workshops they gave the public for the first time. Bob says they looked for a better behavior model for teaching trainers for over 40 years but always returned to the chicken. I became obsessed with the "Why" As the world was shutting down due to the uncertainties that came with the pandemic, my husband and I began building a small proof of concept facility—My Chicken Workshop. The technology is too important to be shelved only to be found again at a later date. I believe in the humble chickens' power as a teacher. I believe in what I am doing. Regrettably, I never met Dr. Marian Breland-Bailey. However, I attended my first Chicken workshop in the summer of 2002 when Bob, keeping his promise to Marian, resumed teaching the workshops. They say the teacher arrives when the student is ready. I know that is true because when I met Bob I was shut down as a trainer, not progressing, not motivated to challenge myself, and definitely not reaching my potential. As hard as it must have been for Bob that summer to get back out on the road and resume teaching, something he and Marian had always done together, He was still able to recognize what I needed as a student and how to bring it out in me. It wasn't until years later that I fully appreciated how he had set up the environment in those workshops so that I felt safe enough to practice taking a risk, experience mistakes as a learning opportunity and challenge myself to improve. Bob understands the power of motivation on a level most of us do not. The way he set up his workshops met people exactly where they were, and if they were open and ready, the student blossomed. Seeing that was infectious in a good way to me. Had I told my younger self that when I was 56 I would pour my savings into a chicken workshop in my backyard, I would have thought myself crazy… yet here I am! There isn't a day that I don't draw inspiration from Marian. I think of the hours she spent in the barn in Minnesota, keeping data on all the animals she and Keller were training and observing, or the long hours she spent in the car with Bob as they traveled from town to town or base to base using the shorthand she had come up with to keep notes on their discussions. I think of how, even though Marian started as a psychology student of Skinner in the ‘40s, her fulfilling family life and passion for application and innovation got in the way. Marian finally got her Ph.D. when she was 58 and taught college-level classes and chicken workshops into her ‘80s. I think of all the fantastic students she watched grow and change. Suddenly, what I am doing doesn't seem that crazy after all. My Chicken Workshops are just the latest iteration in a long history of chicken workshops developed to teach people how to change behavior. I don't know how long I will be lucky enough to do this, but I hope long enough to pass the torch to the next passionate person to continue such meaningful work.