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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

Time For Horses

By on February 19, 2009 in Horse Training

I spent the better part of the afternoon sitting on the ground picking bunches of grass and feeding them to a big blue-eyed brown and white paint horse. He’s still not at all sure he wants to be my friend, but he started being convinced by the end of the session. I had a friend […]

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Phrenology for Horses?

By on February 15, 2009 in Book and DVD Reviews, Horse Training

When’s the last time you talked to someone about phrenology? Probably not very recently. Phrenology was a 19th century scientific philosophy for determining human personality traits based on reading bumps and fissures on the skull. Although this concept has been dismissed as pseudoscience, a small number of people believe that techniques such as these can […]

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Dog Whispering

By on February 13, 2009 in Dog Training

Many people love Cesar Millan; there’s no doubt about that. He’s confident, well spoken, good looking, and seems to work miracles with problem dogs. However, while his techniques do seem to work, they might not be the best ones to use. Many professional dog trainers and animal behaviorists are opposed to Cesar Millan’s techniques because […]

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How well do you know your dog breeds?

By on February 10, 2009 in Dog Training

So you know you can tell a poodle from a collie and you think you can tell a corgi from a dachshund, but how well do you really know dog breed characteristics? And how good are you at determining the possible breeds for a mutt? DNA testing for dog breeds is becoming increasingly popular. Mutt […]

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Fish Training 101

By on February 9, 2009 in Other Species

Did you know fish can be trained to do tricks? To jump through hoops, weave poles, ring a bell or do all sorts of other things that you’d expect a dog to do? Fish are actually quite trainable, given the right motivation (i.e. yummy food, and lots of it). We’d have goldfish every once in […]

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