Last week, I did a webinar for Animal Training Academy about the topic of multiple markers. (The webinar replay is available for ATA members on the Animal Training Academy website.) Positive reinforcement trainers often use a clicker as a marker. However, many other types of auditory and visual signals can also be used effectively as […]
Training Stories and Tips RSS feed for this section
Dogs, horses, and rats. Birds, goldfish, cats. Dolphins, raccoons, and elephants. What animals can’t we train? In this section you’ll find lots of great training stories and tips. You will also get to meet many of the wonderful animals that I get to train. I hope that you’ll enjoy reading about my adventures (and misadventures) and that these articles and tales can provide you with insight that will help you with your own animals.
Chewie’s Diary Week 81: More mutual grooming (video)
It’s hot here in north Texas! I’m hot. Chewie’s hot. Liberty’s hot. We’re still doing a little bit of training every day, but we’re definitely ready for some cooler weather! I wrote several weeks ago in Diary #78 about how Chewie and Liberty have started mutual grooming with each other. Since that post, I’ve seen […]
Chewie’s Diary Week 80: Scary hoses
This picture may not look like much, but it’s a bit of progress! Chewie drinks from the water trough Chewie and I worked a lot last summer on sponge baths. However, Chewie still doesn’t like to be hosed off. She thinks the hose is pretty scary. So, for now, I don’t give her baths with […]
Chewie’s Diary Week 79: Stay with duration
Chewie and I are making a lot of progress with her new stay behavior. (You can read about the beginning of this project in Chewie’s Diary #76.) We first gradually increased the distance until I could walk about 12 feet away. Why twelve feet? It’s about as far as I can walk away from Chewie […]
Chewie’s Diary Week 78: Mutual grooming
We’re officially in the dog days of summer now. It’s hot and yucky outside, even in the morning and even in the shade! Chewie and I are still doing a little bit of training, but I can tell that she’s wishing for cooler days. Chewie and her buddy Liberty, the donkey, are both pretty itchy, […]
Chewie’s Diary Week 77: Distractions
As I wrote about last week, Chewie and I have started to work on stay. Currently, Chewie can stay on her platform while I walk about ten feet away. I am expanding this behavior by adding more distance. We are also increasing the duration of time that I can wait when I walk away. Here’s […]