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


A Ginger Adventure

Ginger got away at dog training class tonight. Luckily, the property is fenced, so she didn’t really get away. She just got to tear wildly around the property for awhile until I cornered her and stepped on the leash.  When other dogs have gotten loose in the past, they want to investigate the other people […]

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What animals can’t we train?

A smart trainer can theoretically train any behavior that an animal is physically able to perform and mentally able to understand. The folks at the New England Aquarium are taking this task seriously, and they’ve been training all sorts of behaviors to some of the most unlikely species! They’ve recently been working on target training […]

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Strange and Wonderful Equine Hybrids

Strange and Wonderful Equine Hybrids

Many equine species are able to breed with each other. Although the offspring are usually not fertile, some of them can be quite interesting too see! Most people know that a mule is the cross between a horse and a donkey. (The above mule is a little fellow named Scooby. We used him for riding […]

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Miniature Horse with an Attitude!

Many miniature horses are sassy, spunky little things. I think they know they’re adorable, and know that since they’re small and cute they can get away with things that people would never put up with from big horses. The camp where I’ll be working this summer has 2 miniature horses, Blossom and Midnight. The minis […]

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Scientific Accuracy

National Geodetic Survey officials say the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) west of where it should be, the Deseret News reported. The only place in the United States where four state boundaries come together was first surveyed by the government in […]

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