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 . . . .

1 comment:

  1. That is so inspiring! I was just reading about conditioned responses in my Psychology class, and it got me thinking about doing exactly what you are doing. Perhaps I really will give it a try.

    Good luck--I'm looking forward to seeing how your training goes!

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