Have you ever heard the phrase “You can’t teach an old dog a new trick?” Many people assume that once an animal gets to a certain age or practices an unwanted behavior a certain number of times, that it will be hopeless to try to train the animal a new behavior pattern. However, nothing could […]
We’ve started playing with several of our horses with the noodle fingers obstacle on our new horse obstacle course. The noodle fingers obstacle is definitely pretty scary! The best way to introduce a horse to something scary is gradually, using a shaping process. So, start with something the horse can do, then gradually increase your […]
Resource guarding can be a serious problem for some dogs. (Resource guarding is when a dog displays aggressive behavior when another dog or a person tries to take something away from the dog, such as a toy or bone.) This spring, several of my friends at UNT used Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT) to successfully treat […]
One of the best things about working with rescue horses is getting to see the tremendous progress the horses make, sometimes only in a matter of months. One of the horses I am working with this summer is Gingersnap. Gingersnap is a three year old filly that came to the rescue at the end of […]
Our rescue has lots of new toys to play with!! We’re feeling pretty lucky right now. A scout from Boy Scout Troop #1, of Duncanville, Texas, decided that he wanted to do his Eagle Scout project at our horse rescue. This past weekend, he and part of his scout troop labored in the hot sun […]
What animals can’t be trained?? I had a lot of surprised friends several years ago when I did some clicker training and trick training with my goldfish Blaze. Many species are much more capable of learning than we give them credit for. A woman named Barbara Ray recently posted on one of the discussion groups […]
