Ghost Zoo--Jungle Land, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Although a number of "famous" folks passed through Jungle Land, one you may not be familiar with, that I consider one of the most famous was Dr. Robert Miller, pictured above in 1966 with a baby elephant. Dr. Miller wrote a ground breaking book in 2003 on foal imprinting revolutionizing how a foal was handled in it's first minutes of life. A practice that is carried on today in, I would wager most every horse breeding operation in the world as well as by elephant breeding centers and zoo's. It is available from Amazon.com and even if you don't have horse's, but are interested in animal behavior it is a highly recommended book. I got my copy the day it came out.

Dr. Robert M. Miller: Horse Training, Horse Behavior, Natural ...

Dr. Robert M. Miller is a world renowned speaker and author on Horse Behavior and Natural Horsemanship. He is also father of the revolutionary foal training technique known as "imprint training".

In his 30 years as an equine veterinarian, Dr. Miller has always been an innovator. Over the past 25 years, he has become a mentor to natural horsemanship clinicians around the world. His ability to explain how and why the clinicians training techniques are so effective has made him a driving force in the movement towards better, more humane, AND more effective training of horses.

The "other side" of Dr. Miller is well known among both veterinarians and cowboy poetry & humor enthusiasts. His cartoons, done under his initials RMM, have been published in veterinary and horse magazines around the world. He has been featured at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame's Cowboy Cartoonist Art Show.

"This quote from Dr. Miller's bio above "His ability to explain how and why the clinicians training techniques are so effective" is what I have always felt is the difference between good training and bad, and where abuse enters. Most trainer's don't know the "why" of what an animal does. They know that if they do a certain thing, the animal will respond a certain way. That's the elementary of animal training. The "why" they do it is the masters degree. When you understand the "why" it is no longer a mystery, but rather an incredible fascination. Understanding the "why" will eliminate any abuse in training, if you stop being impressed with yourself and what you taught the animal, and instead be impressed with what the animal is able to do, and most importantly, "WHY."