Mary Hunter earned a master of science in behavior analysis from the University of North Texas in 2013. She has trained a wide range of species, including dogs, horses, cats, rats, raccoons, Patagonian cavies, macaws, and more. Mary is interested in how behavior analysis can be used to improve human-animal interactions, as she believes that an understanding of the science of behavior can help us find smarter and more humane ways for training our animals.
Mary currently serves as the president of The Art and Science of Animal Training and teaches as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Behavior Analysis at the University of North Texas. Mary also owns and operates her own animal training business. She provides training and consulting services to dog and horse owners in the north Texas area.
In 2019, Mary and Dr. Jesús Rosales-Ruiz published a training manual, PORTL: Your Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab. The book teaches people about behavior analysis principles and shaping using a tabletop game.
In addition to training animals and their owners, Mary is involved in research about animal learning. Her main interests include studying the process of shaping and developing better methods for teaching people to train animals. She also shares regularly about her training adventures and about the science of training on her blog, StaleCheerios.com.