Eighty Percent Rule

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According to Bob Bailey, an icon in the training world (look him up), eighty percent of training problems lie with these three things: * Rate of Reinforcement (RoR) too low* Criterion too high (see above)* TimingThe RoR should be around 10-12/minute, or every 5-6 seconds. … Continue reading →

When You Give a Horse a Cookie

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“Polly wanna cracker?” “Hey, kid! Ya want some candy?” “Here, sweetie, lemme give you a treat.” “How about a cookie?” What do you think of when you see or hear those words – candy, cookie, treat? Something special, right? Something … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part Three, 7-29-20

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Leo is a feral cat that I’ve seen in my barn a few times over the years, mostly in winter.  I haven’t entertained his residence until this past winter because he and Ebony seemed to tolerate each other and because … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part Two, 7-29-20

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Lena came from a feral colony and was re-homed to me as a barn cat about four years ago, before I got Ebony.  She’s a calico who has a limp in her left hind. I got Lena when she was … Continue reading →

‘Fraidy Cats, Part One, 7-28-20

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Ebony is a barn cat that I got three or four years ago from a church friend.  Ebony was nine at the time and had spent all his life as an indoor-outdoor house cat.  He is now a full-time barn … Continue reading →

Pieces to the Puzzle, 4-2-19

This post is an essay on thinking through the basic pieces of what I want later and figuring out not only what those parts are, but how to train them. Atticus tends to walk in a downhill way – head … Continue reading →

Diamond Polishing – 4-18-2018

Diamond has really been making progress.  Or maybe I should say that I have.  Or something.  I do tend to get stuck on a particular behavior and I don’t want move on to a new behavior until I have what … Continue reading →

Diamond’s Journey, Day 4 – 5-20-17

I love latent learning.  I love that I can wake up in the morning, go out to train, and find that the student has learned what to do overnight. Miss D certainly seems to have figured out a few things … Continue reading →

Why Learn More?

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I have to admit that I’m something of a training geek.  To be specific, operant conditioning training.  The more I delve into learning about operant conditioning, the more I want to know and understand.  That all comes to a screeching … Continue reading →