by Joshua | Apr 30, 2019 | contents, Horse, contents
Magnum—a paint Clydesdale/Stockhorse cross gelding—came to live with us at the end of 2004. We had recently moved to a large property, and my plan was to get two horses to go on quiet trail rides through the forest. I’d had a lifelong love of horses, but my...
by Joshua | Apr 30, 2019 | Business of Behavior
“You can’t train a lion with force, so why would you do it with a dog?” I see this claim weekly on the Facebook pages of my dog training friends. It’s usually accompanied by a lovely photo or video of a lion, tiger, orca, or elephant calmly engaging in...
by Joshua | Apr 30, 2019 | Shelter, Small Animals
Congratulations! You’ve just adopted one of the most popular pets on the planet. (Ellis, McCormick, Tinawro, 2017). To allow for focusing on the behavior aspects of life with a rabbit, let’s assume that you’ve set up a proper environment for your bunny, have the...
by Joshua | Apr 29, 2019 | Dog
Puppies are not tiny dogs. While they are subject to all the same rules of learning theory, they are neurologically wired differently than adult dogs, and also have different physical abilities (Fox, 1964; Gross et al., 2010; Mychasiuk et al., 2012). My use of the,...
by Joshua | Apr 28, 2019 | Dog
As a licensed veterinary technician by trade, training cooperative veterinary care is a practice that is near and dear to my heart. I have worked in environments where animals have been restrained against their will, and admittedly have even participated in this...
by Joshua | Apr 26, 2019 | Shelter, Cat
Her big green eyes sucked me in the moment I saw them. They had the potential to be so beautiful, but right now they were filled to the brim with fear. And they wouldn’t change much for a good 10 weeks. Craisin came to our Colorado limited-admission,...
by Joshua | Apr 25, 2019 | Dog, Business of Behavior
Running a group dog training class is an inherently different challenge than working individually with owners and their dogs. The behaviors you teach may of course be very different, but there are also the management questions. What sequence of behaviors will you...
by Joshua | Apr 24, 2019 | Business of Behavior, General
When Marian Kruse entered the University of Minnesota in 1938, her ambition was to major in Latin and minor in Greek. Marian later wrote of “harboring the strange notion of becoming a Latin teacher in Alaska.” Before matriculating and heading to Alaska, however, even...
by Joshua | Apr 22, 2019 | Reptile
The following is an overview of two methods I have used to train snakes to voluntarily shift from their normal enclosure/living space into a temporary holding area or transport container. These methods have worked successfully for carpet pythons (Morelia spilota) and...
by Joshua | Apr 22, 2019 | Parrot
I have an Aru Eclectus hen named Cah’ya (pronounced “cha-HI-uh”) who invented her own game. In this game, she stands on my arm and slowly leans far over to one side. I am then supposed to lean to the opposite side. She waits for me to do so. Then she slowly leans over...
by Joshua | Apr 22, 2019 | Working Animals
In the past four years as executive trainer for the Good Dog Foundation, I have been witness to moments that have left me gratified, awed, deeply moved, and absolutely certain of the substantive healing capacity of therapy dogs in animal-assisted interactions. I have...
by Joshua | Apr 22, 2019 | Dog
I would like to introduce myself so that you can better understand the basis of this article. I became a professional dog trainer by 1961, at the age of 15. Prior to that I had studied dog training as best as one could in those days. I learned by training my own and...
by Joshua | Apr 21, 2019 | Cat, General, Research
Twice a year, IAABC holds a contest for a Rebecca Park Scholarship, which grants the winner a free place on the IAABC Animal Behavior Consulting: Principles & Practice online course. The following essay was the winning entry for Spring’s scholarship, and was...
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