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Are you interested in animal training?

Mary Hunter and Ginger - edited2
On this blog 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

Can two people clicker train at the same time?

Can two people clicker train at the same time?

By on November 16, 2018 in Dog Training

During my group dog training classes, there are several people and dogs in the room. Each person has a clicker and is clicking when his or her dog does the correct behavior. New students always ask, “Won’t my dog get confused? How will my dog know to distinguish between my click and somebody else’s click?” […]

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Dear Professor

By on November 8, 2018 in Teaching People

Last week, I wrote about how I learn the names of the students in my undergraduate class. This week, I’d like to share some thoughts with you about how my students learn my name. This may seem like it should be pretty easy for the students. However, for some of my students, I’ve realized that […]

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The alternative to “trying harder”

By on November 2, 2018 in Teaching People

Every semester, I have somewhere between 30-50 students in the undergraduate course that I teach. That’s a lot of names to learn! I’m not good at learning names. I’ll get “Mike”and “Mark” mixed up. Or, I won’t be able to keep straight the two students who always sit together. And never mind the student who […]

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Quote - the organism is always doing something

Help! My dog does nothing during shaping

By on October 5, 2018 in Concepts and Terms

“The continuousness of behavior means that the organism can be thought of as always doing something.” In September, I shared this quote on my blog and discussed how it relates to “problem” behaviors. You can find that post here. However, this quote also relates to shaping. If you spend some time on YouTube, you can […]

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Quote - the organism is always doing something

Something is always happening

By on September 20, 2018 in Concepts and Terms

My friend Dr. Joe Layng was in town this past weekend. While he was here, he gave a two-hour lecture for the Department of Behavior Analysis at UNT which was titled “Implications and applications of nonlinear contingency analysis.” Joe’s talk was packed full of great information. For this post, however, I want to focus on […]

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living room with a couch

The paradox of choice – Part 1

By on July 13, 2018 in Book and DVD Reviews

Recently, I started listening to a new audiobook. It’s called “The Paradox of Choice,” by Barry Schwartz. If you’re curious – the book is available from both Amazon and Audible. Having choices is usually good. However, one basic idea that Schwartz explores in the book is that when it comes to having choices, it is […]

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