Many horse clicker trainers advise using protected contact when teaching a new horse about clicker training or in situations that could be unsafe for the trainer. I’ve also met some horse clicker trainers who never use protected contact. They feel that they know their horses and they know how to keep themselves safe. However, I […]
Here is Amy’s latest “trick,” which we’ve been working on for awhile now. When I call her, she comes running! Training a rat (or any small animal) to come when called is a great behavior to teach because if you were to loose the animal in your house, you could just call the animal. Of […]
Last spring, I spent a very fun day at the Dallas Zoo. My professor and advisor, Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, spoke at a weekly lunch lecture series the zoo has for their staff, sharing information about some of his research on poisoned cues. I wrote most of this post then, but never got around to completely finishing […]
So, elephants can’t mimic human speech. Right? Actually… wrong. Koshi, an Asian elephant at a South Korean zoo can do just this. Scientists from the University of Vienna saw video clips of Koshi on YouTube. At first, they thought just what I did — this must be fake! However, they’ve been studying Koshi and his […]
I’ve been chatting some with Joy Malin, a professional artist from New York City. Joy is both an artist, specializing in oils, and an art instructor, teaching students about painting and the fundamentals of art. She is also the owner and director of Malin Fine Art, an independent fine art brokerage firm. Joy has always […]
Have you seen Lili Chin’s latest poster? It’s inspired by this great quote from Ted Turner (behaviorist and head trainer at Sea World): “If you can teach a whale to pee in a cup, you can train your dog without punishment.” The illustration features twelve great examples of wild animals who have been trained to […]
