Animal behavior expert to speak Nov. 12 
Dr. Bob Bailey, an animal behavior expert who has trained more than 140 species, will speak at Henderson State University Nov. 12 from noon-1 p.m. in the Garrison Center Banquet Room.
Bailey is a biologist, chemist, and businessman who served as CEO of Animal Behavior Enterprises (ABE), the first commercial enterprise to use operant conditioning to train animals. ABE produced animal shows nationally and internationally.
In his career spanning more than 55 years, Bailey has trained or supervised the training of more than 10,000 individual animals. He became the first director of training for the U.S. Navy’s Marine Mammal Program in 1962 before joining ABE.
Bailey retired from ABE in 1990, but continues to teach and consult on animal training and behavior.
From 1990 to 1998, he and his wife Marian conducted a “History of Modern Behavioral Practices” research program, interviewing more than 300 behavioral practitioners, teachers, and researchers from many fields who all made use of applied behavioral principles.
Marian Bailey taught psychology at Henderson State from 1981 until her retirement.
In his presentation at Henderson, Bailey will discuss recent developments in animal training technology, including ongoing commercial, military, and police programs with dogs, and animal husbandry procedures in major zoos around the world. He will also show some of the work of well-known behaviorists Ivan Pavlov, B.F. Skinner and other technologists.
Bailey’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is presented by Henderson’s Department of Psychology, Psi Chi, and the Psychology Club.