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Mary Hunter and her horse Apollo


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

Recent posts from the StaleCheerios blog

Ginger dog goes to lunch 2

Leave It games: Treats on your toes (video)

By on December 18, 2013 in Dog Training

I had some extra time to do some dog training with Ginger, my parent’s Brittany, when I was at their house for several days over the Thanksgiving holiday. One behavior that we have been working on perfecting is Ginger’s “Leave It” cue. The value of a great “Leave it” cue Leave it is such a […]

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Books, books, and more books

By on December 10, 2013 in Book and DVD Reviews

Thanks to all who entered last week’s book giveaway for a copy of The Possibility Dogs! I used random.org to selected a commenter, and the random number generator selected comment number 6, which was Mary from Maryland. I’ve contacted Mary and she’ll be receiving a copy of the book in the mail later this week. […]

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Waiting to capture a behavior?

By on December 9, 2013 in Dog Training

Positive reinforcement trainers usually rely on several different methods to train new behaviors. This includes (but is not limited to) shaping, capturing, and luring. Capturing is often described as waiting for the behavior to happen, then rewarding it when it does. The idea is to teach the animal that the behavior “pays off.” Once the […]

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