So what is it ...?

What is it about living with donkeys that keeps me so engaged? I often wonder.  Even though my goals sometimes seem too big for my britches (like hiking for days in the wilderness with donkeys!) I continue to feel so grounded and alive with my animals.

Even though they keep me close to home, where would I rather be?  Luckily holidays in Mexico just aren't my style - in fact I make a lousy tourist!

Since our acreage is small, the donkeys need to be fed hay and straw throughout the day - that can be a planning challenge for sure but it's also a routine.  That late night trip to the barn on cold, dark, rainy nights is tough too but once there, I breathe in the sweet smell of the animals and the hay and sounds of steady munching soothe the soul.

These critters are part of me now, part of my family, integral to my life.  They are my teachers and I kid myself that I am theirs. I continue to learn, not just about donkey personalities and husbandry but about myself, my resourcefulness, my levels of patience, of courage, of dedication.

I live outdoors way more than I otherwise would! They enable me to breathe in the starry skies, to hear the early morning chirrups of critters waking up, to be tense with listening and watchful with observing.  They connect me to an old self and have helped me find a new one.

A sunny day, lessons with Dorica & Ringo

Little Dorica just makes me laugh!  She is such an enthusiastic clicker donkey now but very serious when she's working.  I am training her trot on cue and now she's doing it about 75% of the time.  It's challenging as you'd never use a crop on her, even gently - she'd be crushed!  So I quicken my pace, say the word " trrrrrot!" and break into a jog.  Now that she gets it, she'll usually join me but she looks so funny with her serious expression and her ears back as though she's concentrating with all her might!


Also worked Ringo a bit.  He's really doing well with the self-haltering lesson but then has been really resistant for the first part of our session.  Eventually he settles.  Cutting me off is still a problem.

We worked at standing with his 2 front feet on a sawn off alder stump.  He did really well but it's a bit slippery and not the best surface to make him stand on ... will have to find a substitute.  Can't seem to cross that invisible line though with my own courage to take him on the road as he can really push me around still.

difficult session yesterday

Day two of letting the donkeys onto green grass.  This time when I went to halter Ringo to lead him off the grass, he was really resistant, pulling his head hard away from me, his feet following!  I tried hard to stand my ground, rotate elbow and shoulder bone and ricochet him back to me, but it was really, really hard!

I think Ringo didn't like the fact that the girls were still grazing and I was asking him to leave.  I understand his problem with that but somebody had to be first.  As I couldn't get too far beyond the gate with him, I had to resort to tying him to that stout tree again while I got the jennys out.

I had set up an obstacle course, so that when we left the grass we would go right into a training session with the cavaletti jump, cones, ball etc.  I tied everyone to a fence post near the barn paddock and began with Dorica, then Deenah and finally Ringo.  He stood quietly until it was his turn but then I had trouble controlling
him as he kept wanting to change directions on me.

It was discouraging as his strength vs my "strategy" meant somewhat of a struggle and I felt he was winning.  A step back in terms of me taking him out for walks alone!

A controlled experiment!

Ah!  At last a break from the rain - everything is so muddy.  We are supposed to be in for a good stretch of weather for the next few days.
Have closed off one of the paddocks to the donkeys and plan to reseed with pasture mix and let things regenerate until next Fall.

So, the donkeys have a bit less space to roam.  I decided to open up an area of short grass near the pond.  Set up a phony "electric" fence and will only allow brief periods of munching until they get used to it.  But rather than just open up the gate and let them in, I decided to use the opportunity to walk Ringo in, with halter and lead to see if he would pull towards the grass or listen to cues.

I halted him along the way to the grassy area every ten paces or so.  At first he was stopping and pawing and pulling away before he even realized where we were headed.  But I calmly persisted, diverted his head away from me and swung his hips around whenever he ended up facing the wrong way.

After some monkey business on his part though he just suddenly relaxed and was great.  He halted at the gate to the new area and we walked in, still stopping every few paces.  I didn't push it and let him graze
after he had "obeyed" me for a few steps on the grass.  I didn't want to frustrate him.

Went to get the jennys and let them onto the grass too.  After a half hour or so, I snapped the lead rope back onto Ringo's halter and he was an absolute angel about leaving the area with me.  Tied him to a tree while I convinced the jennys to depart also (which took awhile in Deenah's case.)

I will work in this area every day if possible as it is enclosed and the perfect place to work with Ringo on grass.  Should make the transition to the road easier if I feel I can control him here.

Thoughts on dealing with dominance ...

I've been reading Kicked Bitten & Scratched by Amy Sutherland.  It's a look at the program for students at a teaching zoo in California - Exotic Animal Training & Management, two very intense years where the students learn to work with exotic animals and go from there to working at zoos, marine parks, or the movie industry.  It's a tough program, long hours, very competitive and the students can be kicked out or demoted for being late or talking to the animals during the first year!

The students work with the principles of operant conditioning, although the author doesn't specifically refer to "clicker training."  Anyway, what's interesting to consider it this:

say you are training a baboon, or a hyena or a lion and say that animal is aggressive towards you for some reason - perhaps fear or confusion or the animal is startled or not feeling well.  You wouldn't strike any of these animals, would you?  You wouldn't whack an orca whale or a parrot - it just doesn't make sense!

I'm not talking about responding to an "attack"  such as a grizzly bear has you in his mouth and you need to fight or die.  I'm talking about training.

In training, you want the animal to "like you" not be afraid of you.  You want them to be motivated and willing, not submissively obedient and bummed out.  That's the goal in clicker training.  Keep the animal feeling successful and "right" by reinforcing, in tiny increments, the behaviour you want .

So punishment is out.  While I have understood that, it's so hard not to be reactive to an animal that is bullying you!  That's a BIG challenge for me and Ringo.  Many people feel it's okay to whack a donkey or a dog or horse and that somehow it's going to change their behaviour.  Or yank hard on the lead rope or leash, show them who's boss, etc.  We humans are primates - we're a grabby, touchy feeling bunch who use hands a lot. 

I don't know - a light bulb came on for me when I made the connection that I absolutely would not whack a gorilla so therefore I can't/ shouldn't/ won't whack a donkey!

Bullying, dominance & clicker training

Yesterday Jenny came by for a visit and we went out to talk with the donkeys.  Ringo has been cooped up as I closed off several paddocks until his hoof heals.  So maybe he was bored and feeling restless ... who knows.

In any case he was all over me, crowding and really in my space.  Clothing grabbing is next up. This is his typical dominance behaviour and one that I have been unable to change.  To be honest, I really don't understand how to work with this behaviour.  When we are clicker training, I can reward him for backing up, standing and staying out of my space or for standing quietly beside me without crowding ... and I know that one is "always training" whenever you are with your animals.  I hear Alex's voice saying "the donkey doesn't know when it doesn't count, so it always has to count."

Fair enough. But last Fall, with three donkeys at large, my simple appearance caused pandemonium for awhile as each donkey became clicker savvy.  They'd see me and think "the lady with the treats!" and then jostle each other to get to me.  I didn't like it and couldn't walk from the house to the studio without a stampede. I needed a visual cue other than myself to let that donkeys know that "now we are training." 

So I went back to using my treat pouch as a visual cue for the donkeys and they understood immediately ... no pouch, I guess we aren't going to be asked to "do" something, therefore we aren't getting treats.  Calm returned.  They'd see me, look up and continue whatever they were doing.

Ringo though, gets into these pushy moods and the only thing I can think of is either "leave" or stand my ground.  The latter is hard though, as he can intimidate me and get me to move or back up, when it should be me who gets him to move first.  He will back up and drop his head if I ask him, but if I don't click and therefore don't reward him, in he comes again and each time, more boldly.

Thinking of making him a sandwich board that says" will work for food!"

Winter is Back & Ringo is Lame

Well, rain turned into big fat drops and then into big fat white drops and pretty soon it was snowing hard this morning!  Ringo limped back to the barn on Tuesday evening and was very sweet about letting me look at his right front hoof.  I noticed that his frog, which had been flappy when I cleaned it out earlier that day, was now gone and the heel as well.  So there was nothing to cushion his weight on that foot.

Seeing nothing else obvious, I have kept him confined to soft ground and put lots of extra shavings in the barn.  That was 3 days ago and he's still not sound although putting weight on all fours.

Clicker training is such a great tool to use when an animal needs care.  When I noticed that Ringo was limping, I quickly grabbed my treat pouch along with my hoof pick and bottle of disinfectant.  As soon as Ringo sees the treat pouch, he understands that we will be "doing" something together and that he will be getting rewarded for his part.  Wonderful!

So he is willing to let me investigate, poke and prod because we have built up this relationship together.
Now it doesn't necessarily translate to an unfamiliar person - he can be wary of a stranger poking and prodding as every experience with vets have taught me.  And it may not work if he were unwell enough to refuse food.  But as long as he's keen to eat, clicker training will help me work with him.

Spring already!

The birds are waking me up even before Ringo sounds the bellows at around 6:45 am.  Sadly, no longer a rooster to join in the welcoming of Spring.  It's gorgeous here and I have finally got control of my JVS Everio video camera so should be able to document some training sessions.

Maureen was here last week - she is clicker training her donkey Fitz and we hope to work together once or twice a month.  I attached the camera to the little "Lego-like" tripod that you can warp around a fence post and set up the orange plastic cones for a review session of Why Would You Leave Me (see Alexandra Kurland's web site and DVDs)

Ringo did excellent work while Deenah & Dorica stood patiently tied to fence posts.  I should be able to upload some footage to YouTube, although I am still getting accustomed to the camera's range and so am deleting many clips that are empty of donkeys or people!

Rooster

Our beautiful silver gray Dorking rooster, Gregory Peck, died a few days ago.  He succumbed to a mysterious illness that I tried hard to remedy to no avail.  I fed him fruit and olive oil, massaged his crop, dug worms for
him and finally offered the warmth of a heat lamp.

I shall miss his chattering and crowing that sounded just like " Barack Obama!" when he got him in the Fall of 2008.