Recently I posted about how platforms, pedestals and mats can be helpful during training new behaviors to our animals. These items give the animal a target to go to, which can reduce errors and lead to faster learning. (Click here to check out that post.) This post led to some interesting discussions on facebook with […]
Alright readers, here’s a challenge for you. Check out this youtube clip below of a raven, who is being trained to peck at a yellow bowling pin. He has two choices–peck yellow or peck blue. If he pecks the correct pin, he receives a bit of food as a reward. If he pecks the incorrect […]
At the Art and Science of Animal Training conference this year Alexandra Kurland spoke about loopy training, which is a concept she has been developing over the past year. Loopy training was the focus of a clinic I did with Alexandra Kurland last fall. The more I hear about it, the more it makes sense […]
Using clicker training, Ginger dog has recently learned how to bow! I’ve included a short video clip at the bottom so you can watch her practicing her bow. With clicker training, many dog trainers advise to get the behavior occurring at a high rate BEFORE trying to add a cue to it. This actually makes […]
Ginger and I have been working on Doggie Zen, which is an exercise from Sue Ailsby’s training levels. Doggie Zen is a leave it type exercise. At the early stages, you teach the dog to ignore and leave alone a piece of food in your open hand. Later on, this evolves into more complicated exercises, […]
Leading is how we get our horse from point A to point B. And most horses lead well enough that you can usually get them from point A to point B. However, games that involve leading can be a great way to work on fine-tuning your communication with your horse. Creative leading exercises can help […]
