Sometimes, I wish I could ask Chewie, “What types of treats and foods do you like best? Do you have a favorite flavor of food?” When we are training, we often use hay pellets, alfalfa pellets, or a low-starch feed called Stabul 1. However, recently, I’ve been experimenting with several new types of hay pellets […]
Chewie has now been at the new barn for two months. She and her buddy Liberty have been living in the largest pasture on the property. They have room to roam and a run-in shelter to protect them from bad weather. There’s also plenty of room in the pasture for training! Chewie and Liberty. You […]
Over the weekend, I had the privilege of presenting as part of the R+ Horse Summit. It was a fun three-day event, all about positive reinforcement training for horses. Today, I want to share one of the video clips from my lecture. Chewie and I practice rasping one of her hooves When I adopted Chewie […]
I have been on the road this week! I’m in Richmond, Virginia, for the 2025 APDT annual convention. APDT is the Association for Professional Dog Training. Opening presentation at APDT 2025 On Tuesday this week, Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz and I gave a six-hour workshop about shaping. We had a great time with the workshop attendees. […]
It’s interesting watching animal friendships develop! Chewie and Liberty are definitely becoming friends, which I’m very happy about. My slow introduction process gave them time to start getting to know each other. Now, they have been living in the same pasture together for a couple of weeks. And, they seem like they are enjoying each […]
I have been introducing Chewie to her new friend, Liberty the donkey. This has been a gradual shaping process over the past couple of weeks. I wanted to go slowly, to make the experience positive for both Chewie and Liberty and to make sure we didn’t have any injuries or negative experiences. At the previous […]
