Animal Training Using Shaping

Have you ever ‘shaped’ behavior? Sure you have. We all have. If you’ve ever taught a child to talk, write or tie a shoe, you shaped that behavior. If you’ve ever learned to sing or play an instrument, you didn’t begin by playing Bach. If you’ve played baseball, you had to learn how to hit […]

Using Systematic Desensitization To Curb Pet Aggression

This is an inside look at how I used behavior analysis and systematic desensitization to work through a very serious behavior issue in my house – solving parrot aggression. NOTE: this article was written for Hyde Park Living over a year ago.

Why Do Pet Birds Bite?

Okay enough already. I have seen and heard enough of people telling me about mean, aggressive, grouchy, or dominant birds that bite.

Dog Training – Counter Conditioning To Overcome Fear

It was the Fourth of July and everyone likes a good fireworks show on the Fourth of July, right? Wrong!

Dog Training – Putting The Unwanted Behavior On Cue

I found this video on YouTube posted by trainer Donna Hill, whose background includes a degree in zoology and a teaching degree, and over 20 years experience as an educator and trainer. What I love is her positive approach to working with people and their animals.

Dog Training – Positive Strategies For Curbing Guarding Problem

Thank you so much to trainer Therese McClain for letting me publish this article she wrote in 2000 about working on object aggression in dogs. You’ll see that she does not use any type of force, but rather worked from the perspective of…How can I set my dog up for success? By Theresa McClain I […]

Power Of Positive Reinforcement To Solve Parrot Screaming

NOTE: This is one of my past Hyde Park Living pet behavior columns. Sadly Chester is no longer with us but I thought this information was important to share.

Think You Have a Dumb And Stubborn Dog? Probably Not.

(one of my past columns from Hyde Park Living) It was through a parrot behavioral analysis email listserve that I met Jeni Rivett. She is an Arizona-based agility dog trainer, sharing her home with three fully flighted birds and four energetic dogs. I still have one of her posts from years ago when she described […]

Solving Pet Parrot Phobic Behavior – Positively

Note:  This is a past column from my Hyde Park Living pet behavior column. Every once in awhile you have the opportunity to read about my personal stories as they pertain to modifying pet behaviors in the most positive, least intrusive ways. I’ve been studying this for nearly four years now. Not only has it […]

Solving Problem Parrot Chewing With Enrichment

(a Hyde Park Living column written a number of years ago when my dear Chester was still with us) In the days before Barnaby joined our flock, there was just Chester, Dreyfuss and me living together in a large two