You can find these buoys with a handle at www.mytrainingstore.com with the following link http://www.mytrainingstore.com/productView.asp?ID=8

I have attached a photo of Dayle, a Canine Companion Inc service puppy in training.  We tried to get a picture wearing the BD halter but a black halter doesn’t show up in a photo very well on a black dog!!!!!!!!!! He wears it every day on his walks and during training sessions.  He is getting much better wearing it and since the design allows the muzzle piece to ride lower, the abrasion he got from the GL is completely healed. We are very happy.

Packed with great information for training different species of animals! Produced for professional animal trainer and animal behavior/husbandry students, this book focuses on sound operant conditioning training principals. Organized around critical skills essential to successful animal training, this experience-based book is a valuable resource for all animal training practitioners.

• Shows how to develop an overall strategy for animal training
• Offers an innovative and successful approach to animal training
• Explains husbandry training process using operant conditioning
• Uses real examples of human-animal interaction in positive reinforcement training
• Provides a comprehensive collection of articles and reading on animal training “Animal Management Resources (MyTrainingStore.com) is the number one seller of my book Animal Training: Successful Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement.” – Ken Ramirez, author of Animal Training: Successful Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement.

While I didn’t have a life time of horse knowledge to share with the group it was apparent that my background in training could be put to use and help the volunteers learn to establish trust with horses that had no reason to trust.

My husband, Greg, and I were asked to put together a series of training classes as a pilot program for USERL. Below is an article about the class that was published in the USERL quarterly newspaper.

Special Needs Training by Will Walls

Horses: starved, sick, abused, abandoned, unwanted, unloved. We see them everyday.

Some are relieved, grateful to have survived. Some are scared, fearful of more abuse. Some are depressed, careful not to be hurt again. All have special needs.

As horse lovers providing foster care, we’ve come to learn that while proper nutrition and nurture are critical, they aren’t enough. We have to help these horses overcome their past so they will be safe to handle and can lead happy, healthy lives.

We have to find a way to train out their bad habits and train in the good manners they’ll need. Even more, these horses have to learn to trust people again so they’ll be safe to handle. Without that, they don’t stand a chance.

Recognizing the problem wasn’t enough. None of us had the skills needed. And then we met Meg Dye at a monthly meeting in the Sandhills.

Meg and her husband Greg recently moved to North Carolina to start a business training animal handlers at zoos and aquariums. As Meg described how she’d trained a zebra to come to the fence and stand quietly while the vet drew blood, the light came on. If she can do that, what can she do with one of our horses? If Greg can train a 3000 pound walrus to come out of the water and wait quietly for pre-natal examinations, what can he train a horse to do?

Quite a lot as it turns out.

Using the same techniques they use to train animal handlers, Meg and Greg are now teaching a group of volunteers the skills they need to work with Special Needs horses. The class work is rigorous, the required reading and field work is demanding.

The course consists of three segments: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Students must complete each in turn before they can go on. Each segment contains three classroom sessions of three hours each. During the two weeks between classroom sessions, students work with their horses, applying the lessons learned in class. Meg provides feedback via the Internet so students are never “on their own.”

The entire course will require nine months to complete. Those students who successfully participate will have gained invaluable skills that will make a difference.

Real horses with special needs will be getting the training they need to be safe to handle. They’ll be more desirable to adopters and much more likely to find a safe, loving home for the rest of their lives.