I'm happy to announce the availability of a new professional development book, which is the first in a series called—you guessed it— Lio...

The first time I got a tiger to sit up on cue took five or six weeks.  Admittedly, I didn't work on it every day.  If I had, perhaps it...

Lions on their seats Today was the first day of classes for my youngest son, who is very excited to start fourth grade.  He's alread...

Alexander Lacey and lions Last week, I saw Alexander Lacey's mixed lion and tiger act for the first time. Wow. I've seen a lot o...

Pedestals placed "just so" or this pyramid will fall apart. Next time you are at a circus, watch what's going on during in...

Assistant letting a lion into the arena If you've ever seen a lion act, you may not have noticed the men and women in nondescript co...

Distractions I'll never forget the time that a tiger's claw caught the tendons in my wrist and pulled me to the ground. I was ...

Charly Baumann teaching his tigers I was recently thinking about the timing of learning sessions.  What got me to thinking about this wa...

Lion tamer greeting his students During training sessions, lion tamers are primarily concerned with developing new behaviors or refining...

Jules Jacot, St.Louis Zoo A few months ago I saw Jane Fonda on The Tonight Show and when Jay Leno chided her that maybe she was losin...

Circus Pages One of the many things that most folks just don't get about lion taming is that you have to try to think like a lion.  T...

Lion practice. http://lion8.us/g0KOX5 In a previous post I ranted about the necessity of practice, practice, practice. I'd like to...

Casey Cainan at practice. http://lion8.us/f0nC0x I've been teaching a brief course that supplements my regular anatomy and physiol...

In my last post, I explained how lion tamers use chairs to "bounce a lion" and coaxing reactions that will challenge them to move ...

A classic image of a lion tamer includes a whip and a chair.  That style of lion taming was popularized in the early 20th century by Ameri...

All I really need to know about teaching I learned as a lion tamer. Apologies to Robert Fulghum After working as a zookeeper and wild...