At the Art and Science of Animal Training conference this year Alexandra Kurland spoke about loopy training, which is a concept she has been developing over the past year. Loopy training was the focus of a clinic I did with Alexandra Kurland last fall. The more I hear about it, the more it makes sense [...]

I’m sick and it won’t stop raining, but wow! What a great weekend. I spent the weekend at the 2010 Art and Science of Animal Training Conference, which was hosted by ORCA, an animal training lab in the behavior analysis department at the University of North Texas.
(I am still adding notes from the conference. Be [...]

by Martin Pettitt, on Flickr
I volunteer with ORCA at the Heard Museum about once a week. (ORCA is a lab in UNT’s behavior analysis department that focuses on animal training.) One project for this semester is crate training the museum’s two blue and gold macaws. During the fall and spring, Texas can have crazy [...]

Horse clicker trainer Alexandra Kurland often speaks of splitters and lumpers. These are funny words, but they refer to an often serious training problem!
Most behaviors can be broken down into many smaller pieces and approximations. When we break our goal down into tiny chunks and build gradually to a target behavior, we’re being a splitter. [...]

This post is part of a series of several posts on cues.
I recently watched one of Alexandra Kurland’s DVDs, Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues. It was a fascinating look at positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, desensitization, fear and cues.
Learn more about the DVD or purchase it on Alexandra’s website. Horseflix subscribers can also rent [...]