Are you interested in animal training?

On this site 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

Those pesky squirrels!!

By Mary Hunter on August 2, 2014 in Dog Training

Do you have a dog that loves squirrels? My parent’s dog, Ginger, could sit in the backyard for hours watching the squirrels. Many dogs find squirrels quite interesting, which can be a big distraction during training. Recently, one of my advanced classes took a field trip to a local park. Although it was pretty warm, […]

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Randomly and all the time

By Mary Hunter on July 25, 2014 in Concepts and Terms

These two phrases — “randomly” and “all the time” — are ones that I hear quite often when I am working with my training clients. Often, dog owners call in a trainer because their pet is exhibiting behaviors that are annoying, frustrating, or even downright dangerous. My job as a trainer is to identify the […]

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Cute koalas and other zoo news

By Mary Hunter on July 18, 2014 in Other Species

I had a very fun Wednesday this week! I got to present the research study that I did for my Master’s thesis at the Dallas Zoo, as part of a lunch lecture series that the zoo organizes for employees. It was fun getting to share my research and we got into some good discussions about […]

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What is your horse’s favorite itchy spot?

By Mary Hunter on July 12, 2014 in Horse Training

Note: I found this post when I was going back through some drafts that I had typed up, but never published. This story is actually from three summers ago. However, I love these pictures of Lil’ Bit and Josie, so I thought this post was still worth publishing! Hope you enjoy it and hope your […]

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Are you teaching “new” behaviors?

By Mary Hunter on July 9, 2014 in Concepts and Terms

A (brief) introduction to Israel Goldiamond’s Blue Books Recently, I have been reading through The Blue Books. I plan to share some of my thoughts and musings as I work my way through them over the next few weeks. (Well, probably more like the next few months, they are over a thousand pages!). I have […]

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Enrichment ideas: The bottle game

By Mary Hunter on July 6, 2014 in Dog Training, Enrichment Ideas

Note: This is my first attempt at embedding a video from Facebook onto my blog. If for some reason you can’t see the video, you can access it directly here. I’m always on the look out for new enrichment ideas. That is, interesting games and puzzles that will keep my animals mentally stimulated while providing […]

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