The Science Behind Better Dog, Cat & Horse Training

Good training should make life feel calmer, clearer, safer, and far more manageable.

Long before I was speaking at the World Equestrian Games, long before the world of Olympic & Paralympic horses…
my First Love was training Dogs & Cats

Tutu the Trickster, the famous trick dog sitting on an agility ramp with a playful expression, surrounded by a green grassy area and trees in the background. — Tutu The Trickster, performs at community events, and a huge North Qld Cowboys (rumour has it she has a crush on Bluey) and of course Qld State of Origin Fan.

What is the best training method?

You can see below that I come from a long line of trainers who were quiet and slow moving, and gentle. I don’t think we even saw it as “kindness”, we just knew that being quiet around the excited dogs was the only way to calm them down long term. We knew being quiet on and around horses (at least in the beginning, bearing in mind I trained mounted police with firecrackers and standing still while bus air brakes go off and strange little fuzzy battery-operated animals would wriggle around making terrifying noises for a horse, and have them quietly stand there, or for dogs, not have them rip the little wriggly testing animal to pieces!

What is Classical training (Mostly up until the late 1990’s early 2000) It’s force. It’s MAKE them do this and that, it’s also probably the fastest way to train an animal. It works. It’s what traditional horse breakers do “back in the day”. It’s the “newspaper method” on dogs, and when they turn savage, you shoot them. In those days cats were either com[letely ignored for training, so they had no problems, or they were treated as royalty stuffed with treats, and had no problems. what traditional I know, because that’s how I USED to train for probably 20+ years. Classical (in this case means old-fashioned) trainers. When I was a child, unless it was a cute little city dog (and there were not many in those days), the dog lived chained up under a tree with a 44 gallon drum as a kennell. They might be chained up for days until they were needed to muster cattle. And, the children never went near them. EVER! I learned this way to train, not as a child, but when I went to my first horse breaking clinic (yes, I use “breaking” correctly here, because I can tell you…it was not nice). I can’t remember any of the breaking itself…what I do remember is the man bringing in a 3 month old foal. His way of “educating” was to leave the foal completely untouched for 3 months, never putting a hand on it, not even to sniff your fingers, but left alone in the paddock. Then lasso the poor frightened little baby, drag it away from Mum physically, while she screams her head off, then “prance it” as the man I remember called it, into a yard to be worked. The “prance it” was one hand under their little tail, reefing it upwards, and the other hand under their throat. Welcome to the world of humans. I started my dog and cat career when I was 4. Watch – give treats – walk away. ith treats – watching body language – 100% under Mum’s supervision – but then somehow between Mum teaching me to ride, and playing polocrosse, wanting to be part of the club, wanting to be part of the scene, I got fully into “you will do X”. And, they did it. Sure enough, I could make any animal do anything. (Did you hear the word “make”).
For horses – it’s spurs. For dogs it’s collars. For (big) cat’s it’s a whip and a chair in the circus. For domestic cats – honestly – euthenasia is up 30%
PROS: It’s fast
CONS: The animal will hate you eventually, or shut down. The swishing tail should have told you (My mother said “why does a cat or a horse flick their tail when they’re angry – because they don’t have a middle finger”. They are flicking YOU. They’re not flicking a fly, it’s not random. It’s so important that judges must mark the tail flick down, because it shows stress and anger that will eventually lead to bucking in a horse, biting or scratching from a cat. From a dog, it will, one day, be a snap so quick you didn’t see it coming. Or worse, cowering and shut down. The animal will hate you, just like your child will.
FAIL: Does not work on cats – at all.
Balanced (natural?) raining. (Popular since 2000) This term seems to be all the go these days. “Balanced” training refers mostly to dogs from what I can gather, but the closest I can associate it to horses would be “Natural” training or “Natural” horsemanship. Balanced training is the positive AND negative approach.
PROS: It’s probably second fastest way to get a result, but seems to “stick” longer. You use the “collar bump”, or worse the “full upward choke” only on very rare occasions.
CONS: Firstly some of the equipment used is illegal in some countries. Even if it is not illegal in your specific area, judges do not look favourably on peopole not employing the “gold standard”. intheir training. So very few people train cats that it’s impossible to give statistics, numbers, or results, but I can tell you, giving a cat a good thump on the collar will not get you to get the cat to lie down and relax next to you, nor will it get them to sit up and do pirouettes. Only treats will do this.
PROS: It’s fast. popular on Youtube.
CONS: Dog Daddy types strangling dogs. Cannot use for guide, service or assistance animals (quote reference here of RSPCA or government)
FAIL: Can only train a very few breed of cats, normally big cats, and let’s face it, we know what happened to ? and ? when the cats finally did what they all will do if trained this way – turn on their owners – just like children.
Science-based fear-free modern game theory (this has actually been around since the 1940’s – but we’re scientists, not marketing professionals, lol!). Oh how I just want to say to a dog “sit”. I can MAKE a dog sit any time I want. There’s a million methods that anyone can see on Youtube. But what did the dog learn? When I say this s-i-t- word and I put my butt on the floor I get a treat. That’s it. However, when you set up instances, and choose educational games where the dog thinks “give me the treat, give me the treat, hang on this isn’t working, well I’ll bark, no that didn’t work, darn it, well I’ll try jumping up and being cute, what? no treat? Darn that didn’t work either. Well I’ll try this…I’ll try that…Why isn’t any of this working. Damn it I give up. Plonk on the ground. And that’s when we treat, when the dog choses that “I give in, all i can do is flop down and give up”. No, it’s not just lie down, it’s literally that moment where the dog gives in, gives up, lies down and often a big sigh or a big yawn as well.
CONS: It will take longer. It’s easy to lose your focus. It’s easy to lose your patience.
PROS: It’s proven. Not just with a few dogs, but with thousands throuth citizen science where anyone can particpate by filling in surveys regarding their own dogs. Having done the Duke Univeristy CourseEra course – I highly recommend “dognition” which is based out of Duke University.
PROS: It’s the only method allowed for training guide dogs for the blind, assistance animals, psychiatric support animals, and hearing animals. any more we can list here?
PROS: It is the ONLY method recommended by the RSPCA, America Vet Assoc….more list here
PROS: It is the ONLY method you can use on a cat
PROS: It is the ONLY method that gets my dog to non stop wag her tail (that’s good)
PROS: It is the ONLY method that stops my horses and cat wagging their tails (ahh…not so good – because the reason why horses and at wag their tails is because they don’t have a middle finger!)

Naturally, this is the only method I use now. I used the spurs, the double bridle, the choke collars…I even tried yelling at the cat. It worked. I really could get any animal to perform anything I set my mind to…until I woke up one day and said “what’s the difference between this and the elephant in the circus”….and I have been learning and studying ever since about every single cognition, dog, cat, learning paper, study, course I can possibly find. Yes, slightly addicted. But After 20+ years doing claical, 20+ years doing balanced/natural, I’ve finally “come home” to something that’s easier, more humane, more ethically correct, that gets the

Too much advice, too much noise

There is endless pet advice online — endless opinions about behaviour, feeding, products, and “experts.” The problem is that loud advice is not always good advice.

Why REAL SCIENCE matters in pet care and training

You will often hear that a product or food is “recommended by scientists,” but when you look more closely, the science is not always independent, and quite often the scientist recommending the product actually works for the company themselves. Who can you trust? Pet Professor is completely independent. We are not funded by feed companies, pet stores, toy makers, educators or vets unless a product or technique has been safety tested by relevant authorities, has been tested and peer reviewed in a major science magazine, or by a panel of the world’s best trainers with specific knowledge in that area.

Science first. Nonsense second.

The point is not to drown people in theory. The point is to separate useful information from marketing noise, fashionable nonsense, and advice that sounds impressive but does not really help.

Clearer guidance

Less confusion

Practical everyday handling

Real-world decision making

Calmer. Clearer. Safer.

The aim is not perfection. The aim is to make everyday life with your pet feel more manageable, more informed, and a whole lot less stressful.

The Colleen Kelly Story

How I got started…
I come from a long line of Revolutionaries!

Mary Louise Berry
– a WOMAN starting young horses? OUTRAGEOUS – get my pearls!:
My great-grandmother, Mary Louise Berry, was a tiny woman, barely over 4 feet tall, who was famous in her district for training horses—something women NEVER did in the 1800’s. Apparently, the men would go out droving and fencing, and not come home for days, weeks or even months if they were droving hundreds of miles in the “long paddock“. By the time they got home, that little foal had already been handled. And, apparently this grew and grew until she did her first saddling and mounting as well. This was truly outrageous for the times. #QuietAchiever

Bertha Mary Manual – trick dogs
While I never knew my great-grandmother, my Grandma lived with us all her life. While she wasn’t so much into horses, she always had little dogs, and they always did tricks. They never barked or did anything bad at all that I can remember, even when one of them was dreadfully abused by an outsider, the dog never retaliated. I’ll never forget that last little dog “Mitzy”. Thankfully my Grandmother never lived to see the abuse. But it was a huge changing moment for me, to see it with my own eyes. A drunken family member attack a little dog, and throw it across the room. Silver things always can be found if you look hard enough, I remember thinking it was strange the dog never retaliated. But, then again, we didn’t either. From this comes my understanding when I work with people with PTSD. Why was she such a “revolutionary”…she got a JOB. Women didn’t get JOBS. Certainly not young single women, they sat at home and practiced cross stitch, and baked scones. But my Grandma, she worked in a store, in an accounting section, telling tales of great leather books that were bound and unbound and magnificent calligraphy so fine it probably sits in some museum somewhere. #BreakTheRules

Alan Manuel – the quiet horse “breaker” that never broke horses
My Grandfather Alan Manuel was known as the man you could train anything. I was brought up on stories of this dreadful horse did this, or that one hurt the owner, they’d all end up with Grandpa, and he’d always fix them, and get my mother (age about 10 – 13) to ride them home to the owner bareback. He was my hero. I would walk with him and have to run beside him as he took these huge long steps. But, looking back, he was a man that truly walked quietly on this earth. He was a revolutionary in that he quietened horses. He never broke their spirit, or their thinking. He never “broke” the fun (with great memories of horses being dressed up as Santa, and a famous photo I hope I can find one day of his horse dressed in a man’s suit and top hat). He was the kindest man I have ever met. He walked softly on this earth. #WalkQuietlyTrainQuietly and that leads me to…

Gwen Manuel (Kelly) – horses, dogs and especially cats
My mother was never accused of being “quiet”. She was loud, funny, elegant, graceful, beautifully mannered and educated (by Grandma via correspondence as they did on the farms, and still do). She was an absolute revolutionary – she shocking she rode ASTRIDE! Gasp…clutch the pearls, quickly. Women didn’t ride astride. In fact she always was one of th emost remarkably balanced riders in her seat, nothing could ever get her off. She always told the famous story of moving the zipper in her brother’s jodhpurs to the side so she could wear men’s pants and ride safely – shocking the entire district! While my mother was an incredible rider, training all of our dogs to do every trick you could think of. What was (I found out later very rare) was she trained cats as well. It was from my mother teaching me “cat language”, and from her years and years and literally thousands of miles ridden (I started in endurance riding, before polocrosse, then hacking, then dressage, then vaulting, then performing gala evening shows/musical performing with the horses and dogs). #GivePeopleHellGiveAnimalsTreats

Frank Kelly I’ll have to put Dad in here too, although the horse would fart loudly and he’d fall off (I can hear him laughing from heaven, because it was so true). Dad could not ride, nor could he shoot, nor could he train a dog or cat. Dad was the bird guy. On our farm at the back of Mt. Nathan in the Clagiraba valley, we would class the three lots of birds – the honey eaters, the seed eaters, and the meat eaters as three different groups, after watching them fly onto the farms at certain times of day. If a kookaburra came along, or a hawk, everyone else bolted and left town, you wouldn’t see a tiny bird for hours. So, what Dad did was quite remarkable. Somehow he trained all three groups of WILD birds to come in together. #MoreThanOneSideToAPerson

Colleen Kelly – Yes that’s me –
– greatest achievement: Teacing WILD Ducks to Showjump.
You might have read that I worked with Olympic level horses. Or that I worked with ParaOlympians that medalled – for several countries. Or, you might have heard that my biomechanics safety program received awards from Police around the world. Or, my lectures at Universities…but did you know I trained WILD ducks to showjump, lol lol lol. Not kidding. When Dad had the three lots of birds fly in every day, eventually they retired and it was only me on the farm. Every afternoon at 3pm our stallions would all get stupid – they could tell the time better than a dairy cow. So, we’d always go in with a bit of nice pellets in a bucket, and work them as soon as they started giggling at girls. (I do the same with fireworks, people try to hide their animals away, that’s the EXACT time to train them – needless to say our horses were literally bomb proof – they had to be if I was going to be training Police Mounted Units around the world of the caliber of the London Metropolitan Police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police). So…I admit, I’m addicted. Give me an animal that won’t come out from behind the couch, and I’m “on one”. I won’t give in until that poor thing has realised that I’m not there to eat them, and that I’m really OK. I love that part of training, that very first time a wild horse touches you, or that elderly cat finally pokes it’s head out from under the covers. So, little by little the ducks came in, and I just one day started putting up little obstacles, and of course some were real show jumps. Now if you can teach a duck to show jump, I think you’re onto some kind of method. (BTW their jumping SUCKS, lol). They’ll jump onto hay bales, and from there onto barrels, and from there onto the bench (did I tell you this was a cross country in our garage, lol). But their actual stadium jumping, sorry that sucks, lol. They can jump ONTO things, but not OVER things.

Colleen Kelly – My second career – dogs and cats
40+ years of official judging, teaching, writing programs, lecturing, competing, training riders, teaching pet dogs, performing dogs, service dogs and trick cats – finally now I’m retired from horses and competing I can finally “give back” and help the community. On a compeltely free, voluntary, basis I donate time to Seniors and people with disabilities in my area and donate performances with Tutu the Trickster at community, sporting, and charity events, where Tutu proudly shows the public her AUSLAN sign language to help promote the deaf community, and support people with disabilities. Tutu’s best friend, “Alex the Alley Cat“ has been trained for psychiatric support, and visits NDIS recipients for free within the Fraser Coast, Qld community. Contact us for further information, or to make a booking.

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