Having problems with your dog not bringing the toy back to your hand, or not wanting to release the toy? As always we want to apply an objective eye to what is driving the behaviour. WTF? “What’s The Function?”, as Dr Susan Friedman would say. ​ Often people have issues with their dog not wanting to give them the toy, and it’s because the moment the dog DOES bring it to them, the human throws it away again. They never bothered to ask the dog what game HE wanted to play and they’re making an assumption that the chase is the thing the dog is enjoying. The dog, however, actually wants to play tug ..read more

A guest blog by Tessa (15), from Texas USA, after the Positively Together clinic on March 7-8, 2020, hosted in Austin by The Willing Equine. During the Positively Together Clinic with Bex Tasker in Texas during March, I took away some very deep and interesting points that have really been settling well with me and that I have already seen beautifully improving me and my horse’s flow of training. First of all, I just want to say what an incredible trainer and person Bex is. She truly has an amazing gift of being able to teach others with such a profound mindset that is expressed through ..read more

This morning I watched my 4 year old training his rabbits with differential reinforcement of an incompatible behaviour. He didn’t realise that’s what he was doing, but he was.  Is his lack of understanding an issue, considering that his methods were effective? I had sent him out to give his bunnies their breakfast. They were crowding the gate, but instead of just squeezing past, or growling, or pushing them, he put the pellets down and went to pick some spinach leaves. When the bunnies hopped along the fence-line after him he d ..read more

Shaping behaviour is a two-way conversation, in which we ask a question, receive an answer, listen and acknowledge, back and forth. When the animal tells us they’re ready we respond by changing the question slightly or asking for a little more. It is an art-form akin to a dance; we might take two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward and in this way we dance our way ever closer towards our goal. You may have heard the terms "splitting" vs "lumping". Or the phrase "rewarding the smallest try". I’m going to add another word to the mix: criteria. Criteria is one corner of t ..read more

We often see the most creative and effective methods of behaviour management coming from those dealing with exotics and wild animals. (Perhaps because you can't put a choke chain on a parrot or a shock collar on a dolphin, and "whip taps" simply aren't effective on a rhino?) Earlier this year a group of kea (a highly intelligent and notoriously cheeky New Zealand alpine parrot) began entertaining themselves playing with road cones in Milford Sound. They were shifting them around and tipping them over and generally causing havoc in the one-way tunnel where roadworks were underway. The delightf ..read more

Mini Ha Ha Horse Haven in North Canterbury, New Zealand, is a place where miracles happen. Neglected, sick and severely laminitic horses that in their previous homes have often, quite literally, had a hole dug for them, come to the Haven and they survive.  Often, they begin to thrive.  Unfortunately there is no waving of wands that can create this particular brand of magic: it takes fierce dedication, deep knowledge and experience, a fair bit of money, and relentless hard  work. Mini Ha Ha Horse Haven is run by Jen Heperi and her husband Lindsay and is currently home to 23 miniature horses ..read more

Time. Or rather, the lack of. Most of us have work or study or young kids or multiple horses (or all of the above!) and it's sometimes hard enough to find time to squeeze in a regular ride let alone "make time for training". Good news: you don't necessarily have to! Or at least, don’t let that be the excuse you make to justify doing no training at all. First of all, clicker training done well (with structure and a clear plan) is so effective that you can often achieve a huge amount in just a few 5 minute sessions here and there. But if you're struggling to make that happen (trust me, I emp ..read more

​Animals are learning constantly. The dinosaurs were learning and adapting their behaviour as a result of consequence and association long before humans came along to peer at lab rats in boxes and write papers about operant and classical conditioning and argue endlessly online about quadrants. ​ For this reason, I define “training” as simply “learning that happens in the direct presence of a human”. Broad? Yes, intentionally so. Any time we are interacting with our horses, we are potentially training them. If a human allows a horse to learn that shoving or biting or pinning ears is an e ..read more

I don't know about you, but I've constantly got ideas for new things I want to train churning around in my head. I'll discover a training gap which is causing me problems, or identify a new ridden goal, or see a friend doing something cool with their dog and think "I bet I could train a horse to do that".  But once you've thought up the latest, greatest thing you want your horse to be able to do, are you clear on next steps to turn it into reality? Or does it all feel a little murky? Do you find yourself thinking "where do I even start?!" The great Bob Bailey knows a thing or two about good ..read more

Now that we're home and settled, here's some final thoughts on the whole experience.  This is the final instalment in this series. The seminar on Friday, and the demos/clinics on all three days had much larger audiences than I'd expected.  The seminar room was almost full and I had full grandstands for the most part (I was pleasantly surprised considering my clinic times clashed with a number of very popular international clinicians in natural horsemanship, dressage etc).   In terms of the Sunday night Top Talent performance, we won the Fan Favourite competition, and came 3rd overall in the O ..read more