Are you interested in animal training?

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


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Chewie’s Diary Week 1: Arrival

I have a new horse! Chewie and I have just wrapped up our first week together. In this post, I want to introduce you to Chewie and tell you what we’ve been doing so far.  Where did Chewie come from? I adopted Chewie from Habitat for Horses, a rescue group in Alvin, Texas. Baby Chewie […]

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Remembering Karen Pryor

Karen Pryor passed away earlier this month. I encourage you to read this obituary that the New York Times wrote about Pryor; it is a well-written overview of her life and accomplishments. Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz hugs Karen Pryor at the 2017 ASAT Conference. I met Karen several times at conferences, and I had the great […]

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Goodbye Apollo

As some of you may already know from social media, I lost my Arabian gelding, Apollo, in mid-November. He was 20 years old. Horses are tough, resilient creatures. But, they can be quite fragile, too. Medical issues can escalate rapidly, even with the support of a great team of vets.  Apollo’s passing was unexpected. I am […]

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The PORTL Laboratory

I have some exciting news today! During the last part of 2022 and the beginning of this year, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and I were busy with a writing project. And, the article we were writing is now published! The article, which is titled “The PORTL Laboratory,” was published earlier this month in the journal Perspectives […]

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Let’s talk about slow learners

Darley is an older Arabian. He was skin and bones when my friend first rescued him. But, he’s a happy horse now! I’ve been doing some clicker training with Darley, and he enjoys our training sessions.  However, at first, Darley wasn’t really catching on. Sometimes, he would do several behaviors in a row. Then, he […]

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