10 years ago I clicker trained Baasha to shake hands. Then I lost the clicker and kind of forgot about it. 6 months ago I was sitting here without my horse, thinking of fun things to do when he gets here. One of the things on my list - get another clicker. I even made a list of things I wanted to teach him. First: carrot stretches. But you don't need a clicker for that, do you? So the last couple weeks I've been asking Baasha to stretch his neck for carrots. I hold the carrot over by his left chest, right chest, and he has to bend to get it. He thinks it's bizzare. Sometimes he gives up, and looks at me like, "Well, do you want to give me a carrot or are you just teasing me?" So I try to make it easy. He's still very unsure.
Yesterday I was trying to get him to take the carrot between his knees. He dropped his head, couldn't see the carrot, raised his head, dropped it again, got confused, and offered to shake hands!!!!! I was so shocked! I'd forgotten about that, but apparently it was stored away in his memory. I happily took his leg and shook it, and gave him the carrot. Then I thought, "Would he remember both legs?" and I went to his other side and said, "Shake hands!" and he did! Amazing!
I love this behavior shaping stuff. I want a new clicker! Anyone have any ideas for a home-made one? (Remember: I'm in Germany!)
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6 comments:
That is so cool that he remembered his old tricks!
You can't find a clicker over there? If you can't, let me know and I'd be happy to mail you a couple...
I havne't tried clicker training with my horse yet, but my dog responds to it like crazy.
that is very cool! What about just clucking with your tongue?
PS- you've been tagged! Check over at my blog for details.
I'm too lazy to carry the dang clicker with me everywhere, so I just make the clicking sound with the front part of my tongue. (the back-of-tongue clucking sound means "trot on", so it's important for me to remember which noise I want).
I want to teach Fiddle to bow and to lay-down-so-I-can-get-on, but so far her clickertraining has just been carrot stretches and stuff. She will pick up any foot you point to and hold it up for a cookie. We're working on "dance", where she picks up feet in rhythm. Not there yet.
Also she does "look away" when she is begging, because I hate being mugged--so she walks up and turns that gigantic head to one side and THEN gets a cookie!
--Aarene
A good 13 years ago I taught my mom's horse to "bow." She puts her front leg forward and bends her knee and then puts her nose between her legs. She learned pretty quickly that she got treats for doing that, and started begging. I'd walk into her stall and she would immediately drop her head between her legs. These days I only see her a few times a year, and she does it every time she sees me (but never to anyone else!). She has one long memory.
here are some ideas i came up with
snapping your fingers or
go to the toy or pet store and finding something that squeaks and squeaker train him instead.
wow, nice ideas, anonymous! maybe i'll go to a pet store.
and jackie, that is so sweet, she bows for only you! and 13 years later!
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