There are A LOT of myths about fish being dumb and untrainable. As I found out a couple of years ago with my goldfish Blaze, fish are actually very trainable! (You can see some of his training here or here.) Recently, scientists have discovered that fish use tools. Scientists use to think that only humans [...]
Shaping behaviors in a goldfish using clicker training
Blaze is my star fish who I’ve been clicker training. (Actually, err, he’s a goldfish, but he is a star pupil!) I trained him a bit at first using the R2 fish training kit (see a video of his first few tricks HERE). He proved to be a smart fish and a fast learner for [...]
Clicker Carnival #2
Welcome to the second Clicker Carnival, a blog carnival especially for clicker trainers and positive animal trainers. I hope October was a wonderful month of training for you and your animals. We had 20 days of rain, so the horses got plenty of practice of walking through puddles this month! This month’s edition of the [...]
The Clicker Carnival #1
Welcome to first edition the clicker carnival, a new blog carnival especially for clicker trainers and positive animal trainers. I recently heard someone ask if horse (clicker) trainers could learn anything from dog (clicker) trainers. The answer, of course, is a resounding Yes! Even when the species is different, the principles of reinforcement, shaping and [...]
wait, you mean you didn’t know a goldfish could play a set of handbells?
A fellow fish blogger has made a video of her goldfish Jor Jor learning to play a set of handbells. It just proves that good training is really only limited by the creativity of the trainer! She attached strings to the handbells, then taught the fish to pull on the strings. Currently, she’s working with [...]
Fish Genius!
The fish training kit I use was developed by Dr. Dean, of the R2 Fish Training School. The BBC has just produced a short clip of one of his star pupils, Comet, for it’s program Animals at Work. It’s pretty great to watch him performing all of his tricks. Blaze, the fish I’m training, is [...]
How to Praise a Fish
Many animal trainers that use positive reinforcement and operant conditioning rely on a clicker or a certain word (such as “Good!”) to mark correct behavior. The marker sound or word functions as a secondary reinforcer. It’s paired with food over and over again until the animal associates it with good behavior. Then, when you give [...]
What’s the best way to train an animal?
Stale Cheerios will help you learn new knowledge and techniques to take your training skills to the next level. So stick around, your animals will be grateful!
I'm a graduate student studying the science of behavior and training. On this blog I share stories of my animal training adventures, as well as tips, techniques and tricks to help you improve your training. Although most of this blog centers around training rescue horses, the ideas discussed apply equally to all species. The other animals I work with, including dogs and rats, also appear occasionally on the blog.
Mary Hunter
cheeriotrainer@gmail.com
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