This badge signifies completion of a bundle of courses on Understanding Choice, Control, and Assent in the field of animal training.

This roadmap explores how the concepts of genuine choice, control, and assent have evolved within the science of behavior and their critical role in improving animal welfare and caregiver–animal interactions. While these ideas are often discussed broadly in animal care, this collection takes a deeper, evidence-based look at what these terms truly mean from a behavior analytic perspective.

Throughout this roadmap, you’ll encounter video clips, discussions, and real-world case examples designed to inspire and guide your understanding. You’ll see how the field has evolved—from early interpretations of control and cooperation to more refined frameworks emphasizing degrees of freedom and alternative contingencies that enhance welfare and clarity.

Course content studied includes the following:

• Improving Welfare by Providing Genuine Choice in Animal Training
• Genuine Choice in Practice: Your Questions Answered
• Understanding “Control” in Animal Training
• The Benefits of Considering Degrees of Freedom in the Zoo Animal Community
• Degrees of Freedom – A New Lens to Examine Welfare
• Understanding Assent Through an Analysis of Alternative Contingencies
• The Role of Assent in Animal Training with Anna Linnehan and Awab Abdel-Jalil
• Ascending Towards Assent in Husbandry

This represents approximately 10 hours of study.