!I really do love Shadow so much and today we had good fun
.As I don't get many sessions with the clicker in and haven't been able to see him for the past week, I decided to break down the day into three chunks...
I made quite a few observations about my skill as a clicker trainer today- having all this free time at home due to being not very well and having time to do lots of reading and make some shaping plans and structure things definitely did us the world of good.
Due to it being icey- it meant I didn't want to risk bringing Shadow in; but I put the hay out of the other horses and got to work with Shadow; as we've not done anything for the past 3 weeks I wanted to refresh by doing some Don't Mug me Training and adding in a verbal cue.
I began by saying clicking each time he turned his head away- he kept repeating this and then when he seemed to get the idea- I added the cue 'Away' in. Each time I said Away- he moved his head to the side and took a step back when I gave him his treat
! Spent 10 minutes on that, until I lost all feeling in my hands ( my gloves are too thick and I can't hold anything with them on
)Made their breakfasts up ( they get breakfasts when it's sub zero!) and tried to poo pick but the poo bend the rake and so that plan got abandoned!!!
I can't believe how much of a gentleman Shadow really is- the funniest bit is, as I do most of the work in the field at liberty- with no headcollar etc, I call Shadow to come over. Usually if I had treats- he'd be over- but he's so much more respectful now and doesn't come charging over- when he sees the treats.
So, the don't mug me training obviously had some effect- as he was very, very polite indeed- every time we play with the clicker, his attitude improves and he matures each time- it's such a nice thing! Shadow loves to hold things in his mouth ( the trug bucket, my coat, rugs etc), and so when I put his headcollar/bridle on, he usually opens wide to eat it- I've already gone through one set of reins because I was stupid and didn't realise he was eating them, and then I got on and found my reins broke! So I want to get rid of this habit by getting him to lower his head and take his headcollar nicely
( without eating it!); so I thought I'd try and encourage him to take his headcollar, by reinforcing him taking it nicely and not rewarding for when he went to bite it. I began by rewarding him for looking at it ( as if I were tackling a bridle shy horse) and then he was like 'I know all that Mum; let me eat it
'' So, each time he opened his jaw, and grabbed the headcollar he got an 'Ah ah' ( he knows that means no reward), and he let go and stood thinking for a while, he then put his head nearer the headcollar and I clicked. He repeated this again ( with his mouth shut), and I jackpotted it. Next thing, he slid his head through the headcollar and let me do it up. So he got a handful of treats and a big hug. We repeated and he did it again and so got jackpotted for it!!I was about to finish, when I couldn't help but reinforce what Shadow did next. I'm not sure whether I did subconsciously cue it or something, but usually when we lead in, when he has his headcollar on, he goes to walk straight off- anyway, he stood there, holding himself and stood square- he stood next to me and was like a statue- usually he just wants to walk off or eat my jacket/the leadrope, so I really reinforced this. He kept offering me the behaviour and I couldn't believe it!!!
He got a few too many carrots for his dinner too
, as I'm still overwhelmed by it. It actually made me quite tearful, what a lovely way to end the day and what a lovely thing for him to do. I finally feel that I understand him a lot more and can be a lot more effective as a clicker trainer. I noticed today that sometimes I hold the treat in my hand before I've clicked, so need to remember to keep a few seconds between the click and treat delivery...
No comments:
Post a Comment