Last week we had a woman come and give several lectures to our department about behavior analysis and autism. She helps run a large treatment center in Georgia for children with autism. The two lectures she gave in the morning were pretty interesting. In the afternoon, we had a handful of presentations so that some [...]
Connor Moves Faster with Smaller Steps
It seems a bit counter-intuitive. If we break a training task down into more steps, it should take longer. However, the opposite is usually true. Smaller steps can get us to our goal quicker and often result in better quality behavior. This came in handy several weeks ago when we picked up Connor from the [...]
Alexandra Kurland and Loopy Training
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 [...]
Dr. Robert Epstein: Engineering Complex and Novel Behavior in Animals
Robert Epstein was the keynote speaker for the Art and Science of Animal Training conference this year. (Be sure to read the rest of my notes from the conference as well.) Epstein, who was the last student of B.F. Skinner, researches the creativity process and how novel behavior develops. All behavior, in some sense, is [...]
Clicker Training Doggie Zen (videos)
Ginger and I have been working on Doggie Zen, which is an exercise from Sue Ailsby’s training levels. Doggie Zen is a leave it type exercise. At the early stages, you teach the dog to ignore and leave alone a piece of food in your open hand. Later on, this evolves into more complicated exercises, [...]
Are You a Splitter or a Lumper?
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 [...]
Overcoming Fear and the Power of Cues
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 [...]
What’s the best way to train an animal?
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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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