Animal Behavior Lab

Help make the next discovery.
Most teenagers don't get to participate in real scientific research until college. At Skyheart, you can start now. Through our collaboration with the UC Davis Green Care Lab, you'll contribute to ethical, non-invasive animal behavior research while working with our sanctuary animals. Explore fascinating questions about learning, personality, communication, and welfare, and experience how behavioral scientists transform curiosity into discovery. Whether you're interested in veterinary medicine, biology, psychology, conservation, or simply love asking big questions, this is a rare opportunity to experience what real research is all about.
Why Teens Love It
  • Join a real research team. Work alongside scientists conducting ongoing, non-invasive studies in collaboration with the UC Davis Green Care Lab.
  • Go behind the scenes. Most people only read about scientific discoveries. You'll get to see how they're actually made by joining ongoing research with the UC Davis Green Care Lab.
  • Work alongside real researchers. Learn from the UC Davis Green Care Lab team as you gain the kind of authentic research experience most students don't encounter until college.
  • Do science that matters. Help investigate real questions about animal behavior, learning, personality, communication, and welfare while contributing to research that may inform future discoveries.
  • Explore your future. Whether you're interested in veterinary medicine, biology, psychology, animal behavior, conservation, or simply love solving complex problems, you'll gain first-hand experience that few high school students ever have.
Age:  15-17 year olds 
Time: Tuesdays, 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Dates: Sept 29, Oct 6, 13, 20, 27, Nov 3, 10, 17, Dec 1, 8, 15
No sessions Thanksgiving week (Indigenous Peoples’ Remembrance Week)
Location: Skyheart Sanctuary, 26630 Co Rd. 98, Davis, CA 95616 
Price: $480
Registrant Spots: 6/session
Why Parents Love It
  • An extraordinary educational opportunity. Teens participate in authentic, age-appropriate components of ongoing, non-invasive behavioral research under the mentorship of a UC Davis professor and behavioral neuroscientist.
  • Develop college- and career-ready skills. Students practice scientific observation, critical thinking, data collection, collaboration, and science communication while working on meaningful projects.
  • Stand out in future applications. Authentic research experience, particularly when paired with opportunities to present findings or contribute to community outreach, can strengthen college, scholarship, internship, and job applications.
  • Inspire lifelong curiosity. More than learning scientific facts, teens discover how knowledge is created, building confidence, independence, and the curiosity to ask thoughtful questions about the world around them.

Animal Photography

Learn to photograph animals like a pro, with subjects who have minds of their own.
Great animal photographs take more than pointing a camera and pressing a button, especially when your subject is a pig, goat, horse, or donkey who may have very different ideas about the photoshoot! Led by Skyheart instructor and photographer Claire Short ([see her work here]), students will explore the art and science of photography while working with Skyheart’s rescued animals as their subjects. Learn shutter speed, aperture, focus, lighting, composition, exposure, action photography, and portraiture, then put those skills to work capturing animals in motion and beautiful outdoor and studio-style portraits.
Along the way, you’ll discover how animal behavior and photography work together. Use positive reinforcement and training techniques to invite animals into position, keep photoshoots fun and voluntary, and learn how patience, observation, and understanding your subject can turn an ordinary photograph into an extraordinary one.
Why Teens Love It
  • Take the photos everyone wishes they could take! Get up close with Skyheart’s horses, donkeys, goats, pigs, and other rescued animals and learn how to capture their personalities in incredible photographs.
  • Get the impossible shot. Freeze an animal in motion, capture the perfect expression, create dreamy backgrounds and dramatic silhouettes, and catch those split-second moments animals definitely did not plan for you.
  • Direct your own animal photoshoot. Become both photographer and animal trainer, using treats, targets, and positive reinforcement to invite animals into position while keeping the experience fun for everyone involved.
  • Make your photos look professional. Unlock the mysteries of your camera and experiment with action shots, portraits, lighting, and creative photoshoots while developing a photography style that is completely your own.
Why Parents Love It
  • Turn screen interest into a real creative skill. Instead of simply consuming images, students learn how to create them, developing genuine photography skills and a deeper understanding of the technology behind the camera.
  • Build patience, focus, and observation. Animals don’t pose on command. Getting a great photograph requires students to slow down, pay attention, anticipate behavior, adapt when things don’t go as planned, and persist until the right moment arrives.
  • Bring art, science, and animal behavior together. Students explore light, motion, optics, composition, technology, and positive-reinforcement training in one uniquely hands-on experience—making photography an unexpected doorway into STEM learning.
  • Develop a skill that can grow with them. Students leave with more than great pictures. They gain a creative outlet, technical foundation, and portfolio of their own work—skills they can continue developing for years and potentially carry into school, college, careers, or simply a lifelong love of photography.
Age:  13-15 year olds 
Time: Wednesdays, 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Dates: Sept 30, Oct 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov 4, 18, Dec 2, 9, 16
No sessions Veterans Day, Thanksgiving week (Indigenous Peoples’ Remembrance Week)
Location: Skyheart Sanctuary, 26630 Co Rd. 98, Davis, CA 95616 
Price: $480
Registrant Spots: 6/session
Camera InformationStudents will get the most from the program if they can bring a digital camera that allows adjustment of settings such as shutter speed and aperture. A DSLR or mirrorless camera is ideal, but no previous photography experience is necessary.
Don't have a camera? Before deciding the program isn't for you, check whether you might be able to borrow one from a parent, relative, or family friend. If that isn't possible, let us know when you register and we'll do our best to help arrange access to a camera for the program.
Specific activities will vary depending on weather, the animals' willingness to participate, and the interests of the students—which is part of the adventure of photographing animals!

Animal Care and Training

Join the team the animals depend on. Learn to care for them, train them, and earn their trust.
What does it really take to care for a horse, donkey, goat, or pig? Join Skyheart's Animal Care and Training Team and discover what happens behind the scenes at a working sanctuary. Prepare meals, create comfortable bedding, groom animals, and maintain clean, enriching habitats while learning how professional trainers use kindness, patience, and positive reinforcement to make everyday care easier and less stressful. Through trust-building games, enrichment activities, obstacle courses, and hands-on husbandry, you'll develop real relationships with the animals while helping them become healthier, happier, and more confident.
Why Kids Love It
  • Become an animal caretaker. Step into the role of a real sanctuary team member and discover what it takes to care for horses, donkeys, goats, and pigs every day.
  • Learn the "secret language" of animal trainers and discover how to earn an animal's trust.
  • Dream of becoming a veterinarian? Learn the same trust-based techniques used by wildlife veterinarians and professional trainers to help animals feel calm and confident during health checks, hoof care, grooming, and even taking medicine.
  • Make a real difference. Many of our rescued animals are learning to trust people again. Your care and training help them become calmer, healthier, and more confident. You'll see the impact of your work every time an animal chooses to walk toward you instead of away.
​Why Parents Love It
  • Build responsibility through meaningful work. Children develop reliability, follow-through, and pride by caring for living animals that genuinely depend on them each day.
  • Strengthen focus, patience, and communication. Successful animal training requires careful observation, self-control, and clear communication, helping children build concentration and persistence in a fun, hands-on setting.
  • Develop empathy and emotional intelligence. Learning to recognize subtle animal body language teaches children to better understand emotions, build trust, and appreciate how their own actions influence others.
  • Gain practical life skills. Children learn safe animal handling, husbandry, teamwork, problem-solving, organization, and positive reinforcement techniques while experiencing the satisfaction of making a meaningful difference in the lives of rescued animals.
Age:  10-12 year olds; 13-15 year olds
Time: 10-12 year olds: Wednesdays, 2-3:30pm; Saturdays 10:30am-12:00pm
           13-15 year olds: Saturdays, 12:30-2:00pm
Dates: Wednesdays Sept 30, Oct 7, 14, 21, 28, Nov 4, 18, Dec 2, 9, 16
​            Saturdays Oct 3, 10, 17, 24, Nov 7, 14, 21, Dec 5, 12, 19
​​No sessions Halloween, Thanksgiving week (Indigenous Peoples’ Remembrance Week)
Location: Skyheart Sanctuary, 26630 Co Rd. 98, Davis, CA 95616 
Price: $480
Registrant Spots: 6/session

Build for Animals

Design, build, and invent awesome things animals can't wait to explore.
What if a puzzle feeder kept a pig busy for an hour? Or a climbing structure gave a goat a whole new place to explore? Become an animal inventor as you use real tools and creative problem-solving to build enrichment, improve shelters, repair habitats, and create spaces where animals can forage, climb, scratch, rest, and play. Every project is inspired by the question, "What would make life better for this animal?"
Why Kids Love It
  • Become an animal inventor. Dream up awesome ideas, then build puzzle feeders, climbing structures, toys, scratching stations, and other creations the animals get to enjoy.
  • Take on real design challenges. Can you build a puzzle that outsmarts a pig? A playground a goat can't resist climbing? An enrichment toy that becomes a horse's new favorite?
  • Use real tools to build real things. Learn how to safely use tools, work as a team, and turn your ideas into projects that make a lasting difference for the sanctuary.
  • Build something that matters. Every project begins with careful observation and ends with something that improves life for the sanctuary's animals.
Age:  10-12 year olds; 13-15 year olds
Time: 10-12 year olds: Thursdays, 4:30-6pm 
           13-15 year olds: Fridays, 4:30-6pm
Dates: Thursdays, 10-12 year olds:  Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov 5, 12, 19, Dec 3, 10, 17
​            Fridays, 13-15 year olds: Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 13, 20, Dec 4, 11, 18
​No sessions Thanksgiving week (Indigenous Peoples’ Remembrance Week)
Location: Skyheart Sanctuary, 26630 Co Rd. 98, Davis, CA 95616 
Price: $480
Registrant Spots: 6/session
Why Parents Love It
  • Build creativity through problem-solving. Children learn to design, test, improve, and adapt solutions based on an animal's needs.
  • Develop practical life skills. Children gain experience using age-appropriate tools safely while building confidence through hands-on projects.
  • Encourage innovation and perseverance. Not every design works the first time. Children learn that experimenting, revising, and trying again are part of the creative process.
  • Create with purpose. Every project has a meaningful outcome, helping rescued animals stay mentally stimulated, physically active, and emotionally healthy.

Junior Ranch Hands!

Who takes care of the animals on a ranch? The ranch hands do!
Every animal at Skyheart needs someone to help care for them, and that's where you come in! Feed hungry goats, collect fresh eggs, grow treats for the pigs, help clean and care for animal homes, and lend a hand with fun ranch projects. Along the way, you'll discover what it takes to care for a ranch while spending your afternoons outdoors making new animal friends.​
Why Kids Love It
  • Become a real Junior Ranch Hand. Feed hungry goats, care for miniature horses and donkeys, and discover what it takes to help a real ranch run every day.
  • Every day is a new adventure. Help grow treats for the animals, explore the gardens, meet new animal friends, and lend a hand with fun ranch projects. There's always something exciting happening!
  • Get outside and get your hands dirty. Dig in the garden, push a wheelbarrow, collect eggs, build, explore, and spend your afternoons where adventures happen.
  • Make the animals happy. Every bucket of water you fill, every meal you help prepare, and every job you complete makes life a little better for the animal rescues who call Skyheart home.
Why Parents Love It
  • Build confidence through real responsibility. Children experience the pride of contributing to meaningful work as trusted members of the ranch team. Every task is age-appropriate, hands-on, and designed to help children feel capable and valued.
  • Develop practical life skills. Through caring for animals and participating in daily ranch life, children strengthen responsibility, teamwork, problem-solving, perseverance, and independence while learning skills that extend far beyond the ranch.
  • A deeper connection with animals and nature. By caring for animals and their habitats, children develop empathy, patience, and an appreciation for the natural world that grows through experience, not just instruction.
  • Healthy habits that last. Time spent outdoors, moving their bodies, exploring, building, and caring for living things encourages curiosity, confidence, and a lifelong love of nature.
Age:  7-9 year olds
Time: Thursday: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
           Friday: 3:00 - 4:30 pm
Dates: Thursdays: Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Nov 5, 12, 19, Dec 3, 10, 17
​            Fridays: Oct 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 13, 20, Dec 4, 11, 18
​No sessions Thanksgiving week (Indigenous Peoples’ Remembrance Week)
Location: Skyheart Sanctuary, 26630 Co Rd. 98, Davis, CA 95616 
Price: $480 
Registrant Spots: 6/session

Grow for Animals (coming Spring 2027!)

Grow food, medicine, and habitats that help animals thrive.
What if the lettuce you planted became a pig's favorite snack? Or the flowers you grew attracted pollinators that kept the whole garden healthy? Dig into the fascinating world beneath your feet as you plant, harvest, compost, and discover how healthy soil supports healthy animals. You'll also explore the pastures to identify harmful weeds, learn how to safely remove invasive plants without pesticides, and help create healthier spaces for both wildlife and sanctuary animals. Every seed you plant and every weed you remove makes a real difference.
Why Kids Love It
  • Grow food your favorite animals can't wait to eat. Plant fresh treats and forage for the horses, goats, pigs, and donkeys, then watch them enjoy something you helped grow.
  • Become a garden scientist. Dig for worms, investigate soil life, discover helpful insects, and uncover the hidden world that keeps plants, animals, and ecosystems healthy.
  • Become a pasture detective. Learn to identify plants that are safe for animals, spot harmful weeds before they spread, and help protect the sanctuary using natural, pesticide-free methods.
  • Watch your hard work come to life. From tiny seeds to healthy pastures, you'll see how your efforts create a better home for animals and wildlife.
Why Parents Love It
  • Reconnect with nature. Children spend meaningful time outdoors while learning where food comes from and how healthy ecosystems support all living things.
  • Develop observation and critical thinking. Identifying plants, distinguishing beneficial species from invasive weeds, and making thoughtful decisions sharpens attention to detail and scientific reasoning.
  • Learn environmental stewardship. Children discover practical, environmentally responsible ways to care for the land while reducing reliance on pesticides and protecting wildlife.
  • See the impact of their work. Every seed they plant, weed they remove, and harvest they gather directly benefits rescued animals and local wildlife, giving every task a meaningful purpose.

Refund Policy

Skyheart Apprentices programs are designed as educational opportunities rather than business ventures. We keep tuition as low as possible, with program fees going directly toward our instructors, program materials, and the care of our rescued animals.
Because our programs are intentionally limited to just six students per session, each registration represents a significant portion of the program’s enrollment. Staffing, materials, and resources are planned based on those registrations. For this reason, program fees are non-refundable. If your child is unable to participate, you are welcome to find another child to take their place. The replacement participant must meet the age requirements for the program, and any financial arrangements should be handled privately between families. Please contact us before making a substitution so we can confirm eligibility and complete the necessary registration paperwork.
Thank you for understanding. Keeping our groups small is part of what makes Skyheart special, and this policy helps us provide that individualized experience while sustainably supporting our programs and animals.