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Mary Hunter and Ginger - edited2
On this site I share stories of my animal training adventures, information about the science of animal training and behavior, and tips and advice to help you improve your training.

Join me as we explore the best training strategies for creating fast learning, effective communication, and enthusiastic, willing animals.

If you’re new to Stale Cheerios, I recommend that you start by visiting this page to learn more about Stale Cheerios and that you visit my Top Posts page.

~Mary Hunter
mary@stalecheerios.com

Recent posts from the StaleCheerios blog

Offered behaviors and unwritten rules

By on March 28, 2020 in Conferences and Clinics

On the Thursday before ClickerExpo, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and I gave a one-day PORTL workshop to an excellent group of about 40 Karen Pryor Academy trainers.  Here’s one interesting idea that came up during our discussions. As we interact with our animal or human learners, the patterns of behavior we reinforce can sometimes unknowingly create […]

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Grown-ups and initial training environments

By on January 17, 2020 in Horse Training

Apollo and I have been working on Alexandra Kurland’s “the grown-ups are talking” exercise. This is a polite manners exercise that teaches the horse to stand calmly next to you for an extended duration of time with his head straight ahead. One important consideration when we first started this exercise was our training environment. When […]

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ginger sleeping on the rug

Making alternative plans

By on December 20, 2019 in Training Stories and Tips

When you are training an animal, you are working with another living creature. What happens during training is an interaction between this particular animal and your training plan. In some cases, the animal does something that you didn’t anticipate.  I’ve been thinking this week about what happens when things don’t go as planned. What happens […]

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Introducing Apollo

By on December 13, 2019 in Horse Training

I have some exciting news to share…. This summer and fall, a friend and I did some volunteer work at a local horse rescue. At the end of November, I adopted one of the horses from the rescue. Apollo is a middle-aged Arabian gelding. He’s been at the rescue since this past spring. Other than […]

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