Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Training a Goat to Spin

I went out and spent a long time with the girls prior to training, simply because the weather outside was beautiful.

finishing soon.....

Monday, March 12, 2012

Training a Goat to Shake

Well, its day two of my training experiment. I got started rather late, and I wanted to use a different treat than carrots, since we went through them too fast. Plus they stained my finger tips orange. So I dug through our fair supplies, looking to see if I could find that bag of liquorish treats they really liked. I was successful, but there was a lot less than I thought. Maybe a handful at most. But the small pellets would be ideal rewards. Full of flavor but small enough to use as a small reward and not to fill them up.

So I went out with my new treat in my pocket, and Lissa was ready and waiting at the fence as soon as I was there. I let her out, and she went wandering around first, chasing the chickens a bit like she liked to do. But then I pulled in her focus and said "touch!". It delighted me that she remembered! She touched my hand and quickly looked for her treat. She was not disappointed.

I went through the touch exercise for a few minutes to make sure that she had it down pat. I tried "stay" again, and got some progress, but wasn't getting too far. Still, I worked on it for a bit, but I could tell she was getting bored with it. So I moved on.

"spin" was next on my list of ideas. At first I tried it with me standing stationary and getting her to rotate a bit. She dug her heels in and refused to budge. I forced her hips around a bit, then clicked. She started being slightly less resistant, but not enough to make much progress. So I tried to show her what I wanted, by walking around, next to her hip, in a circle. This did work better than the original idea, but still she would rather stand still and try to follow me around without moving more than her head.

I went back to "touch" for a bit while I tried to brainstorm how else to do "spin". At one point, Lissa was the one who figured it out for herself. It was not the spin I had imagined, but I noticed that because we had started with the "touch", Lissa was very willing to elaborate on that rather than to start fresh with something else. So I started having her follow my hand. She was VERY good at this. The only problem was she tended to get distracted when she came to the pocket she knew the treats were in. And she often times believed she deserved a treat, whether or not she did the trick properly. But soon I could get her to go almost all the way around me before a "click" and a treat. We'll need a lot more training to get it so that she can do it without direction, but I think she's up to it.

With all this training, I soon ran out of the liquorish treats, so I grabbed a handful of chicken feed (non medicated layer) which I knew she loved. We went back to working on the "follow" move, which she was also VERY good at. This trick sprouted from her loving to follow me when I tried to back up, so I led her around the field, and as soon as I stopped, she did too. So she got a reward for that.

We worked more on "spin" and "touch" and then I decided to try "foot". This was another difficultly, because rather than understanding to lift her foot, she'd reach down with her nose to touch my hand and then expectantly look for a treat. After a little while she was getting frustrated and kept pawing at the ground. Which I decided was close enough. "click" treat. She couldn't quite connect the treat with the action, but she was getting better. I decided to end on a good note with a few more "touch". Then I used "follow" to get her back to the pen.

I grabbed some more hen pellets for Rosie and pulled her out of the pen. I put a leash on her this time, because she was very impatient and would wander away. She too remember the "touch" "click" treat, which made me very happy. But it was soon apparent she wasn't as fond of the chicken food as was her mom and Lissa. So I scattered the rest for the chickens and got her some real grain. This got her attention much better.

After refreshing with "touch" for a bit. I decided I would try and teach her something that Lissa couldn't do, since she was more interested in my affection than the food. I started teaching her "foot" tapping the back of her knee with my clicker hand. When she lifted her foot or shifted her weight from it, I quickly "clicked" then treat. She was better at it than Lissa, but never quite lifted her hoof without prompting. That'll be for another day.

Eventually not even her own sweet grain could keep her interested for ever. She eventually decided it wasn't worth paying attention to. So I let her wriggle and fight the leash for a bit, since she had less training with it, then led her around in a few patterns with it before putting her back in the pen.

I decided it would be best to focus on one major trick per goat, and then build off of that. For Lissa, it'll be "touch" since she's very fond of that. For Rosie, I plan to use "foot" and maybe eventually build off that to some more acrobatics. I haven't decided for Pheobe what would be best for her. Working with Rosie and Lissa tired me out, so I didn't work with her today.

I also decided not to work with them too long each day, so that they wouldn't get tired of me too quickly. Lissa was obviously willing to work longer, but I also didn't want to spoil their supper. We'll have to see once again what tomorrow brings.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Training a Goat to Talk

So after debating and debating what I'd like to do with my life, I went over all the different things I like to do. I am insatiably curious about the mind and how it works. I love animals. I'm really good at working with people. So I was wandering around the internet looking for something to catch my interest, when all of a sudden, I had an epiphany! I will study to become a psychobiologist! Basically, I get to work with humans AND animals, in both research and practice. I'm now looking forward to working in a research setting discovering new things about animals and their behavior, OR at a zoo making sure that animal habitats are perfectly designed to keep them happy and healthy/working with the breeding program OR working with traumatized kids using animals to break the ice and pull them back from the brink!! :D :D

So now to this post, not just about my epiphany (and if I were you, I'd remember my name). Today I felt the inspiration of my future career coursing through my veins. I'm currently reading the book "Alex and Me" about the smartest bird in the world, an African Grey parrot named Alex. This book gave me the courage to start what I've been daydreaming about for a while; training!

And though I have to pick one of four kinds of animals to train, the decision was easy. First to knock off the list was my hermit crabs; they work too slow to ever train, plus I've never actually seen them eat..... Second knock off, the chickens. They're all fine and dandy, but their life expanse is short and my mom would rather them focus on laying eggs. Third choice, one of my three cats; but in this case I'd have to buy treats and a few other supplies, plus work with one where the others wouldn't disturb it.... Someday I'll train them too.

SO I decided to train (drum roll please) MY GOATS!! And I'm going to document each day that I work with them, so that if I end up with my goat circus (I'm crazy I know) I can publish a book after retirement and make even more money.

Today is day one of my "Training a Goat to Talk" escapade. I prepared my supplies eagerly; a clicker, and three carrots chopped and separated into three different cups. So easy! Though I found myself almost impatient with how long the carrots were taking to chop.

Next step was to go outside and dive head first. I reminded myself to not be too expectant on the first day; way back when we tried to clicker train my dog, I skimmed the book and recalled the first step was to train the animal that the clicker sound meant a treat. So I decided to work with my herd queen Lissa first.

I pulled her out of the pen and amid the chickens and hay, I started clicking. At first, I just fed her the tiny bits of carrots I had chopped (tiny pieces means small reward but more encouragement time). She however was curious about the clicker in my hand, so began to touch that hand with my mouth. An idea came to me, and I ran with it. Each time she touched my hand with the clicker, I clicked, and gave her a treat. She got to the point of touching one hand and quickly bouncing to the other to find the treat. I moved my hand around and she reached and stretched to touch it before going back to the other hand for the treat. Occasionally she'd look for the treats in my pocket, but mostly I was able to keep her focused. I soon added the command "Touch!" to the training, and now I would (try) to say "touch" before she touched my hand, click, and then give her a treat. I tried working on stay with her, but that engagement ended quickly so I stopped and went back to "Touch". When I ran out of carrots from the first cup, I put her back in the pen.

Pheobe should have been next, but she shied away from the gate when I opened it, so I grabbed Rosie instead. Rosie was one I was worried about a bit. She was the baby after all, plus she never really took much of an interest in food apart from grain. But she took to the carrots perfectly and soon I had her ears pricking whenever the clicker sounded. At the same time, I found her easily distracted, and occasionally she'd wander away. I never forced her to come back; she wouldn't go far without the rest of the herd. Instead I called her, and each time she came back to me I clicked and gave her a treat before continuing. She picked up the "Touch" command very quickly, but was obviously struggling to hold her attention on me. But soon enough she finished her carrots, so I put her back in the pen once more.

Finally I grabbed Pheobe, and by grab I mean that literally, seeing as I had to drag her out of the pen. But once she was out she remembered she had seen me with carrots and followed me willingly to the center next to the pen. She, like her daughter, picked up the "click/treat" process quickly. BUT she had an even SHORTER attention span than her daughter, and it wasn't long before the treats didn't interest her at all (which I found surprising considering that she loves food). So, not wanting to force her and knowing she was still getting used to frequent human contact, I put her back in the pen.

But I still had half a cup of carrots left. So, I pulled Lissa out again. She had been paying careful attention at the fence line, so I figured she wouldn't mind working again. I reminded her about the touch trick, and then decided to see if I could progress her further. Instead of clicking each time she touched my hand, I waited. At first she would touch my hand then go look for the treat. When she didn't get one, she'd go to touch my hand again. This time, I'd say "touch" and click when she did. It took her a few tries, but she learned that unless she heard the click, she wasn't going to get the treat. So she started holding her nose on my hand waiting for the click.

Of course, with her big appetite and willingness to learn, she soon devoured the last of the carrots. So I bid the girls adue and came inside to proclaim my first day of success. I'm excited for this project, and can't wait to see what I can train the girls to do. The sad part is that I'm only home for a week. I guess that'll be a good start, then every time I come home for a weekend I'll have to work with them to refresh their memory. By summer, they should be ready to REALLY buckle down and train :D :D

Tomorrow will be a good test to see if they actually remember anything from today... I'm not sure how good a goat's memory is . . . .