I love hearing Steve Martin speak. (the bird trainer, not the actor!) He was one of my favorite speakers at the 2009 Art and Science of Animal Training conference and I enjoyed his talk at this year’s conference just as much. These are a few of my thoughts from his talk.
Steve Martin is a [...]

Horse training (or dog training, parrot training, fish training, etc.) should be fun. Let me repeat, training an animal should be fun and enjoyable for both you and the animal! So, are you having fun yet? And is your horse or dog having the same amount of fun?
Many times we say an animal (or person) [...]

Your horse is lazy. Your pony won’t go. Your mule just isn’t motivated. Many equines are masters of conservation of energy. They do what they have to or do just enough to avoid trouble and get the job done. Helen, of New Beginnings, has recently written an excellent article about motivation for Smallholder magazine. [...]

I’ve found a new blog that I really like. It’s the blog of Laurie Luck, a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and Karen Pryor Certified Training Partner. She also has a M.A. in psychology and is the Vice President of the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.
She’s recently blogged about two topics that are near [...]

These are my notes from the ORCA Great Minds conference at UNT in March 2009. The Great Minds conference brought half a dozen top trainers together to talk about animal training, clicker training, operant conditioning and the future of training. This is the second post of my thoughts and notes. To read more about the [...]