The Science of Fear

Understand Fear.

Increase Progress.

Improve Outcomes.

An interactive, self-paced course that takes you deep into the science of fear — helping you better understand behavior, make informed decisions, and develop more flexible, effective approaches to behavior modification.

Start anytime. Work at your own pace.

Are you a trainer or behavior professional who:

Does this work because you want to help animals feel safer and live better lives - to help them live a life worth living.
Wants to move beyond the basics of classical conditioning to develop a more complete understanding of fear?
Wants to understand why an animal is responding the way they are, or why progress isn't happening as expected?
Wants to feel more confident assessing fear-related behavior and deciding how to proceed?
Knows several behavior modification techniques but wants a deeper understanding of why they work, when they might not, and how to adapt them?
Is just getting started and wants a strong foundation to build from?

If so, The Science of Fear is for you.

Developing a deeper understanding of fear gives you the knowledge to make more informed decisions, recognize when adjustments are needed, and respond more flexibly to the needs of individual animals.

Understanding the Science Changes How You Approach Fear Cases

In the Science of Fear, you’ll learn:

How Fear Develops

What fear is, how it relates to emotion and threat, how classical conditioning works, and the many factors that influence the strength of fear learning.

Stress and Trauma

How stress influences learning and behavior, what research tells us about trauma in animals, how trauma-related changes in the brain can affect behavior, and what that means for behavior modification.

Fear Reduction and the Return of Fear

The science of extinction, why fear often returns, what the research says about addressing fear, and the limitations of counter conditioning.

Connecting Science to Practice

Throughout the course, you'll explore how the science applies to assessing fear-related behavior, evaluating behavior modification techniques, and making informed decisions about individual cases.

Understanding the science of fear helps you see beyond the behavior, recognize factors influencing progress, and adapt your approach when things aren't working as expected.

Rather than providing step-by-step behavior modification protocols, this course focuses on developing the scientific understanding that helps you evaluate and adapt your approach to meet the needs of individual animals.

Don't Just Learn About the Science. Work With It.

The Science of Fear is an interactive learning experience designed to make complex scientific concepts easier to understand and apply.

Learn by doing: Engage with interactive lessons, activities, and opportunities to apply what you're learning.
Build your understanding: Progress from foundational concepts to more advanced material, with explanations and activities to support your learning.
Learn at your own pace: Work through the material on your schedule and revisit challenging concepts whenever you need to.
Check your understanding: Test your knowledge and identify areas where you may need additional clarification.

Your Learning Helps Shape the Course

Throughout the course, you'll have opportunities to share your understanding of key concepts and identify areas where you may have questions. Dr. Spaulding reviews these anonymous responses approximately once a month and uses them to provide additional clarification, explanations, or examples where needed.

The video has no sound.

Self-paced. Start anytime. Get immediate access.

Special offer: Enroll by November 19th and get access

to two live Q & A calls with Dr. Spaulding!

The calls will be held on:

Thursday, November 19th at 7 pm ET

Friday, December 4th at 2 pm ET

5+ hours of content, 4 CEUs

$200

You'll have access to all course materials for a minimum of two years after enrollment. After that, you can continue accessing the course for as long as it remains available on the Science Matters platform.

Kristina Spaulding, PhD, CAAB

Dr. Kristina Spaulding has been in the dog training and behavior profession for over 20 years. She owns Science Matters Academy of Animal Behavior LLC. She has a PhD in biopsychology—the study of the biological basis of behavior—and is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist. She also has a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

As part of her graduate training, Dr. Spaulding instructed university courses on learning, neuroscience, and behavior and was formally trained in effective teaching techniques. In graduate school, she received an award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student.

She is particularly interested in stress, neurobiology, cognition, emotion, and well-being and how to apply these concepts to the prevention, early intervention, and treatment of behavior problems in dogs. She currently teaches a variety of online courses and webinars on the science of behavior through her website, www.sciencemattersllc.com. She also regularly presents on canine behavior science at conferences and other events.

In 2019, Dr. Spaulding received the Association of Professional Dog Trainer’s (APDT’s) Member of the Year Award. She currently serves on the IAABC Foundation Board and the Fear Free Advisory group.