In reviewing my own training work with the donkeys, I think my most common mistake is not splitting down the training into small enough bites. The way I can tell this is that although the donkeys seem to understand what I am asking, the resulting behaviour is sloppy.
For example, Ringo will stand in the centre of the barn aisle to be groomed, but feels he can wander away if he feels like it! Now that's bad! Sure, he'll come back when I ask, but he'll still feel okay about leaving! Same with leading ... he knows exactly how to respond to slight pressure from his lead rope now, but if he decides it's been too long between treats, he'll crowd me and cut me off. Shouldn't have to keep correcting - he knows the score.
These are some of the things I need to "clean up." Ditto with the jennys: excellent responses but lacking in duration and "exactness!" Alex always says" be a splitter, not a lumper." Although I think I AM breaking things down, the donkeys' behaviour tells me that it's not enough.
Patience and perserverance!
Love your new donkey blog, which I found via the Donkeyclick Yahoo group. I have a standard jenny who's the spittin' image of your Deenah. My Rosie is a former roping donkey I adopted 2-1/2 years ago. My other donkey is a brown mini who looks a lot like your mini, although my Hank is undoubtedly fatter than your guy. My other two equids are gelding horses, an Appaloosa and an Icelandic. The Icelandic shares a big stall and paddock with the donkeys.
ReplyDeleteI've done some clicker training with all four, especially with the Icey and mini donkey. Good luck with your training! I'll be checking back to see how things are going and probably getting some inspiration to do more with my little herd.