Defensive Dorica

Dorica LOVES clicker training!  But as the smallest donkey, she gets bullied by Ringo and has become
a bit on the defensive. 

I usually do some clicker training in the barn after the donkeys have had their 5 PM feeding.  While they are eating, each donkey is shut into his or her stall so that there is no competition and they can eat peacefully.  This arrangement also means that I can feed each one as an individual - different amounts of vitamins or supplements.

Dorica looks forward to this with great anticipation.  She stands at her stall gate and makes the silliest sounds - some days I think she is about to sing opera while she waits for me to deliver her dish!

After they donks have finished, I usually let Ringo come out into the barn aisle first.  He stands while I clean his hooves.  We go through our routine of head lowering, targeting my fist, flexing his neck from side to side, grroming and finally backing down the aisle and right into his stall.

Deenah is next and while this is going on, Dorica waits for her turn.  But when it finally comes, she is rather beside herself and hasn't yet learned to stand still!  I really think it's the presence of the other donkeys even though they are back in their respective stalls and can't "steal" her treats.  It seems she doesn't realize that however, and she pins her ears and makes horrible faces, even growls at the others.  Yesterday, this sweet little donkey kicked out at me a few times ... she seemed confused as to who is human and who is donkey.

In observing her behaviour and thinking about it, I think I need to work with her at quite a distance from the others so she doesn't feel threatened in any way and can concentrate.

Training at liberty vs training with a halter

Lately, I have been working with Ringo unhaltered.  He is way more comfortable this way - in a halter, he tends to balk.  So as a way of building his trust and confidence, I have trained him to target my outstretched fist and now we are working on having him walk beside me, keeping a respectable space between us.

The pros of working like this are:  he doesn't balk, i.e. toss his head around; or yawn (a typical sign of stress that he has displayed); he doesn't plant his feet and refuse to move;

but the cons are: it's harder for me to correct him without having any "tools" i.e. a lead rope to correct with.  Alexandra Kurland has taught us how to use the lead to create what she calls a "t'ai chi wall."

This is extremely useful to both stop the animal from barging ahead of you and also to keep him from crowding into you.  The lead rope actually creates the illusion of a "wall" when you slide your far hand softly down the rope and up to the snap under the animal's chin and your near hand back to the animal's wither,
creating a line (or wall) between you and the donkey.

Ringo prefers that I walk on his left side and tries to put me there if move over to his right.  This is common but something we need to practice.  He is terrific at stopping! As soon as he hears either "ho" or a click, that guy can stop on a dime!  But when we are walking, if he feels that I haven't rewarded him soon enough , he will speed up and cut in front of me, demanding a treat.  He's trying to call the shots here and this is not so good.

With a goal of being able to take him out on the roads, it's time to move him back into a halter and lead rope
and work with the t'ai chi wall.

Ears!

Body language is so important to recognize and understand when working with animals.
Some of it is obvious of course ... the snarling dog with fangs bared coming at you is probably
not going to sit and lick your hand when it reaches you!  But what about the not-so-obvious.

For example I have noticed that when I am working with the donkeys, they often have their ears
back ... not flat back, as in "I'm mad as hell"  but back none-the-less.  At first I thought "this donkey is not happy, not having a good time!"

But on observation, I think perhaps the donkey is just concentrating.  Anyway I don't know.  But ears, being one of a donkey's best features, I thought "I'm going to work with those and see what I can get them to do!"  Also Alex informed me that by changing the position of an equine's ears from backwards to forwards, you can actually chnage the animal's attitude from grumpy to ... well, happy!

So I starting working with Ringo (why do I always start with the hardest?) and with him in his stall, a clicker in my right hand and my treat pouch slung over my left hip, we begin.  What I want is to "catch" any move in either ear towards forward.  MUCH harder than you would think!

Ringo is eager to demonstrate all he knows.  He turns around, drops his head, backs up ... all with his ears back!  So I don't click anything and then he gets frustrated.  A flick of an ear - YES!  so I click and treat.

We do this for awhile but the penny hasn't dropped for him yet - he really has no idea what I am asking.
And the more he concentrates, the more frustrated he gets, the further back his ears go.  OY!

Today I think I will work outside.  There's something about being in his stall that makes Ringo think of food.

Barn aisle lessons

Pouring rain today and the forecast looks like a wet week.

So ... what can we do in the barn aisle?  Donkeys each in their stalls, one by one, I bring them out.

Ringo first.  He has to target my fist at the front of the aisle, then drop his head and stand.  I clean his hooves.  Try to vary the rate of reinforcement but he is squirmy, so I click him for standing still.
Today he kicks with his right hind (always the right hind!)  I know I shouldn't react but I do give him a thump on his rear and tell him to quit.  He settles, we continue.  I get my shedding blade.  He hates brushes but loves the shedding blade so that's what I use.  He had been rolling and was full of bark mulch and straw etc.
So I clean him up and he very sweetly turns his head to touch the middle of his belly.  This is something I taught him last winter to encourage more flexibility in his neck and he'll throw this one at me whenever he's trying to get extra treats.  Finally, we're done and I ask him to back down the aisle and into his stall.  He does this really well, turning the corner into his stall and dropping his head in front of his dish for his bonus.

Deenah next.  She is so keen and I have just started bringing her into the aisle as normally I clean her hooves in her stall while she's eating or else outside.  She just loves having a trurn at clicker training and is catching on so quickly.  Although she still doesn't quite get targeting and will mouth the dowel or the clicker or my hand instead of the blue ball target.

Dorica is (always!) last.  She gets very serious and concentrates with all her might.  For some reason though she always feels threatened by the other donkeys as though they are going to steal her treats even though they are in their stalls and can't get to her.  But she's the mini and often gets picked on by Ringo.
I often have to move her a distance away so she feels a bit more secure.  Not quite sure how to handle this as she has now learned to growl and pin her ears back and she never used to do that.

overnight thoughts about training

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!

Today's sessions, training notes

I have just registered for Clicker Expo 2010 in Portland at the end of January!  And so I had better shake off the winter doldrums and get back to work!

Haltered and tied all three and set up the cavaletti jump.  First I cleaned hooves, just to get that done - Ringo was grumpy and trying to kick but I managed to work him through, although he hated being tied and almost chewed through the lead rope!

Deenah is such a good jumper that I wonder if someone had actually taught her ... she tucks her feet up neatly and really sails over the jump as if she was in a competition ... it's beautiful!

Dorica was hilarious!  She trotted towards the jump, tucked up her front feet nicely and ... plopped just her front feet over, leaving her hind feet on the other side!  Too funny and I couldn't help laughing as she did it over and over again.  But clicked and treat her anyway.  Clicker training has motivated her so much - both her pace and interest have quickened!

After putting Ringo and Dorica in their stalls with some hay, I led Deenah a ways up the road .  Prior to clicker training, she wouldn't even venture down the driveway without the rest of the donkeys, but now she focusses on me and what I am asking her to do and gets rewarded for trying.  So her motivation is up and it's really obvious how clicker training can both motivate and encourage.

After all three had their 4:30 meal, I decided to try working with Ringo again.  I brought out my target stick - blue ball on the end of a dowel with a clicker taped to the end -and we went back to basics for a bit just to make him feel comfortable.  Then backing up around all 4 corners of the stall - he did well!  So out into the paddock and I asked him to follow the blue target at the distance I wanted him to be ... a couple of feet beside me to my right.  He does so much better at liberty than haltered.  And he did well, didn't try to cut me off, although kept trying to bite the target (blue ball) so I had to remove it and hide it behind my back (of course he knew where it was but didn't persist in biting it.)

Felt much better about his progress!  Links to Clicker Expo:  http://www.clickertraining.com/clickerexpo/

Clicker Training

Clicker training with my donkeys has opened a whole new world full of possibilites.
It's a teaching method based on positive reinforcement .. teaching tiny bits and making sure that the animal always feels supported and successful.  This is ensured by rewarding even the smallest try, the teeniest attempt by the animal (donkey in this case) towards doing the very thing you are asking it to do.  It might be that the animal is just "thinking" about doing it, shifting it's weight, leaning forward ... but you will be encouraging all these positive attempts and reinforcing them so that the (donkey) gets the idea that ... "hey, I must be on the right track!"  Donkey gains confidence and so does the handler.

Okay, I'll be more specific. Take Ringo for example.  When he arrived in June 2007, I could not lift a hoof for cleaning - he would kick the hoof pick clear across the paddock. So ... clicker train him to let me clean his hooves.  Clearly, he was feeling scared, nervous, uncertain with having to stand on three legs. 

Donkeys, being equines, are ready to run at the first sign of trouble (well maybe donkeys don't run quite so quickly as horses do, but it's still in their nature to do so!)  So if you have a hoof in your hand, they are kind of immobilized and it feels weird to them to stand there with you holding onto their foot.

Place your hand on their flank and ask "can I touch you there?"  Yes?  "Click!" (either with your tongue or else with a small plastic clicker)  and offer the donkey a small food reward, held well away from your body in your outstretched hand.

Next, place your hand on their leg ... if the animal says it's okay (by standing still, not swishing it's tail or other signs of annoyance) click and reward them, then your hand moves down their leg, etc. etc.  This may take days or it may take minutes ... it depends on you, your animal, your ability to communicate and make the animal understand what it is you are asking, your confidence ... so many things!

I'm not going to explain HOW clicker training works - I'm a student, not an expert and it's a technique based on theory,  ... but I will say IT WORKS!  And I will refer you to experts and books and clinics later. 
You need time, dedication, perserverance, thoughfullness and an ability to have fun.

But I'll end this post by saying that in the nine years that I have lived with donkeys, I have been advised to whack them, bop them on the nose, yell, throw a fit, bite them back, growl ... all manner of "training" ideas that have frankly left me bewildered. Clicker training employs none of the above.  It's a life saver!

New Year's Resolution

New Years day began with heavy rain and wind.   A tree came down in the wood paddock and hit the barn roof, but luckily just the gutter was damaged.  Then the skies cleared, a rainbow appeared and the donkeys left the shelter of the barn and headed out to investigate what the storm might have delivered.

Fresh fir branches!  Donkeys adore poking around to see what new things have blown into their paddocks - maple leaves and branches are favorites!

Ringo was acting a bit odd by mid-afternoon ... too many fir branches?  I noticed him after delivering an
extra handful of hay (3 donkeys, 4 piles) - he took a mouthful, decided not to eat the rest, then rolled!  Yikes!  The dreaded "c" word (colic, that is?)

So I haltered him up for a stroll around the paddock and also to see whether or not he would respond to treats during a short clicker training session. He took the treats all right, but was he ever in a strange mood - tossing his head and pawing.  This is familiar to me - I try hard to "understand" what he is trying to tell me.

We roamed around for a bit and I turned him loose.  Later on, I was making soup when I hear that familiar loud bray.  If it has a Doppler effect attached, I know he is galloping and braying as he goes.  Sure enough, he was racing around, all by himself - the jennys weren't interested in joining him. Seeing him at full tilt restored my confidence that he is indeed feeling fine.

My new year's resolution:  patience and perseverance and consistent training sessions!