Training With Kayce

Description
This week is a bit of a break.  No training, no resources, no outlines.  Just this announcement of what I am trying to accomplish.  Some of you are really working to put the material to work.  Hurrah. I don’t know how long I will continue in this vein.   I’ve been doing this for about eleven weeks now.  I have a series of training videos to illustrate the things we have been discussing.  I hope to have those out soon.  In the meantime, please read and think about this material.  Ask questions.  Test it.  And please, join the conversation.
 
Best wishes,
 
Kayce Cover and Joseph Loflin, Producer

Practice applying the concept of the Intermediate Bridge, until you are proficient and comfortable so that you can use this powerful tool to turbocharge your training.  
 
Rules, Tools, Fools, Drools
Rules:
 
When teaching:
Cue…Immediately start IB, leading to TB (Terminal Bridge)
 
You can drop it at any time, as the animal gains proficiency and confidence
 
When you see hesitation:
Immediately reinstate the IB to bolster the animal through distraction, challenge, confusion, uncertainty.  
 
It costs nothing.  It requires nothing except your proficient readiness. 
 
In emergencies:
Use the IB to anchor the animal to calm, quiet behavior, to help them through dangerous situations.  I will even demonstrate a nuance here:  The Doppler Modulation.
 
Anchor without modulation:   guguguguguGood
Anchor with modulation:  guguguguguGUGUGUGUGUguguguguGood
 
The IB can be a lifeline.  Use it.
Tools:
 
Directions:
 
First IB: Choose a sound:  a sharp, crisp consonant sound, like x, gu, d, k, or  tck
Practice reciting this in a string (see cadence tool, below)
Second IB:  Choose a second sound, with same features as the first.  Your tongue will fatigue sometimes, so be ready to seamlessly switch to the second sound.  Develop your own proficiency.
Teach your animal the first and second IB.  Animals seem to understand and respond appropriately to the IB without even being taught about it, but teach it anyway.
 
Video showing how to teach the IB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKQlC3F7hT0 
 
Now use your IBs to support your animal’s success.
 
To hone your IB skills, use this tool made for us by Jamie Dolan:
Cadence tool: http://synalia.com/cadence-tool
 
If you like, you can record your results and send on to me for review and feedback.  Directions to do this are on site on the Cadence Tool.
Fools:
 
You don’t want to look the fool  by making this ridiculous sound in public, right?
 
Wrong!  This is such a powerful tool that once you understand and master its use, you would be a fool NOT to use it.
 
The story: “Kayce, we hate the IB”  
 
A group of certified trainers were together, and a lady spoke up “Kayce, we hate the IB.”
 
“Why”
 
She told this story:
 
They had gone to a horse training seminar and the trainer did not give the horse any information - he just stood in judgement, waiting for the horse to ‘offer’ something.  The horse was getting frustrated.  The SATS trainers saw the frustration.  They were not used to seeing such frustration.  They were used to seeing animals flow into successful, almost errorless, learning.  They realized something was missing here.  There was no information, and there was no encouraging feedback or guidance.
 
They sidled closer to the horse.  They knew what the teaching trainer wanted.  They started the IB to guide the horse to success.  Amazingly, the horse picked up on it.  He calmed down.  He started moving to success.
 
These trainers were convinced, and amazed.  It worked even though the horse had not been trained to understand the IB.  This is a feature of the IB:  it is intrinsically reinforcing.  It still amazes me.  This will be the subject of a future podcast.
Drools:
 
Your tongue can fatigue.  Be ready to change sounds, as described previously.  Here is a video that lets you hear how I bridge, and what the bridges sound like.  
 
Various bridges: https://youtu.be/AYvTxlLbkYU
 
Sounds like mmmmm, lllll, and some others can make your lips buzz, or worse, and they don’t make the best bridges.  Use a different sound.
The pay-off
 
Surisia recall, Sylwia Matulewska
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1220174373474209
 
Leads to other training advances:
https://synalia.com/2026/08/18/13-uses-of-the-intermediate-bridge/
 
 

It's very useful to name body parts.  In general, I name every body part I touch, and I work at touching all of them.  I do this by simply pressing the surface of the body part, speaking the name, and bridging - wait an instant - move to the next body part.  I often cover 5-13 body parts in a few minutes.  I will repeat body parts as I stroke or massage the animals and recontact the body parts - so I automatically review the new information.  I teach in opposing or contrasting pairs, like ears vs eyes, tail vs head,

Complex, risky behavior - lots of things can go wrong, there can be pain and blood involved. However, it’s necessary, and your animal’s feet will suffer if you don’t keep up on nail trims. I am working on a series of nail trim videos to share. One of my first nail trims went very well, with very little training. However, at the end of the trim, we see the behavioral cost of not preparing a dog sufficiently. She did great through the trim, but when it was done, she got a bit hyper aroused and did not want to do any more training trials on this. This often happens to pet owners. So how to prevent the problem. Commit to giving your animal a good foundation in the skills required for nail trims to go well. Let’s talk about what those are.

Kayce Cover introduces the "intermediate bridge" (IB) — a continuous vocal support signal (rapid "good, good, good…" roughly every 1/8 second) that confirms moment‑to‑moment progress toward a cued behaviour, faster and more precise than a clicker. Usable across species and from distance, the IB speeds responses, accelerates learning, encourages innovation and self‑correction, reduces errors and makes training nearly errorless; stopping the IB pinpoints where the animal needs to adjust. Practical tips: use it continuously while shaping and drop it once behaviour is fluent; audio cadence examples and a cadence tool are in the notes — subscribe, try and practise/record your own bridge.

Kayce Cover distinguishes between teachers (knowledge transfer), and trainers (reliable on‑demand performance) and how leadership(service‑oriented influence), and highlights that effective communication, and motivation boost all roles. Drawing on extensive experience in animal‑training and training of students and volunteers, Kayce stresses ethical, adaptive methods (avoid coercion), and training without food when needed. Kayce's focus has shifted from training animals to teaching both animals and teaching people— both professional trainers and pet owners. SATS prioritizes responsible, community‑minded behavior and durable outcomes.

We have an extremely efficient and user friendly training system. It is so fast to train via SATS that most trainers are skeptical that we actually train as fast as we do. Don’t worry, we have receipts. If you are passionate about animals, AND a ‘student of the game’, you are likely to want to learn SATS - to revolutionize your training. You are likely to love this process. You are also likely to be overwhelmed by it. If this sounds like you, today is a gift with you in mind. Today I’ll share my personal training path/plan for starting new animals in SATS.

Ask permission before touching an animal's body. It's simple and respectful and you would want it too. There are 4 easy steps. I also describe what the 'permission position' looks like, and what to do when you don't get permission.

Kayce Cover explores the concepts of the "Keep Going Signal" or, KGS, versus the "Intermediate Bridge," or IB, in animal training. The Intermediate Bridge, introduced in the early 90s, is a reinforcer, conditioned with food. It provides immediate and continuous feedback, as the animal progresses correctly through a behavior. It helps animals feel secure and understand their progress towards a the Terminal Bridge (sometimes called a 'Success Signal, while the IB is called a "Support Signal"). Cover contrasts this with the keep going signal, which is a recue, rather than a reinforcer Each signal serves a different purpose.

Tonight, (2/21/26) a near miss accident leaves me relieved but embarrassed, and grateful that my injury was not severe. It wakes me up to the fact that life is risky - especially for animal trainers, and we need to carefully plan and prepare. I share a few stories to push the point home. Also, when we are injured, we need help. We often cannot assess the damage and risk, by ourselves.