Seven minutes of Thyme’s first noseworks session for @clickerhorse. I had done no scent training or shaping prior to this.
14 week old English Springer Spaniel (bench).
Scent: Birch (competition standard).
Music: Thistle singing.
Things to note...This is Step 1, and I will spend the next few weeks doing exactly this, about 3 minutes a day. Really letting him sniff the scent. I’ll change arm positions to shake things up, cross arms. ALWAYS REWARD AT THE SOURCE (works well to aim the treat to go under the scent source so while getting his food his nose is still at the scent @maxandmaeby mustard bottle evolution) - if you run out of food you remove the scent. Don’t bother with indicators right now (although think about it. Looks like Thyme here might be a sit or a drop. Thistle however is a freeze and point).
No clicker, because a) broke it and b) not necessary for this kind of shaping.
YOUR HORSE WONT BE AS FAST AS THIS. That’s okay! He’s a puppy sponge, from a hunting breed no matter how show standardised. He gonna get it fast. Just go at your horses pace, in the end it is a fun puzzle exercise for the both of you.
If he was slower or struggling he’d be rewarded any movement towards the scent with his head and take it at his own pace. tempting as it is, DO NOT WIGGLE THE SCENT. You can however stare at it in a determined fashion so they follow your eyes.
My next steps after doing this for a week are, more or less:
1. A single container (glass or metal, NOT PLASTIC, with holes in it for the scent to go through. Plastic warps scents) - on the ground. It can’t be a single sniff, needs to keep their head at the scent and “convince me” they’re intrested. HERE is where I start shaping the indicator. Reward at the scent source!
2. Multiple similar containers, like 3 or so, scent only in one. Pet needs to do the indication and stay with the scent. Reward at source. This is helping with scent discrimination as opposed to “object hunting”. If your pet is giving up after a few seconds of staying with scent or distracted - go back a step. HOWEVER, if ur pet is distracted for like a second then goes back to working... DOUBLE BONUS AT REWARD.
3. More containers, start throwing in mild distractions. Maybe one of the containers has a different smell or a least fave treat (THAT THEY CANNOT GET) in it. BTW don’t forget to touch all containers so your scent is on all. Wait for indication, reward at source (or as close to). Maybe try to distract them, ask them to check out a container they already checked and wait for them to either ignore you or check it then return to the scent (aka HAH! you can’t fool me human!)
4. More containers scattered around your room. YES i know more containers but containers make it easy to put other treats in the container that they cannot eat so they can practice ignoring the yummies and finding the scent. Food won’t get you food, scent gets you food!
5. Okay you can start phasing out boxes and sticking purely to scent tins. Start out simple, hiding it in the grass and then start hiding it around places and gets more practiced. This is where you start hiding under things, in things, up high, down low...really getting the pet to start puzzling where the smell is and teaching them not always on ground in a box. Wait for indication.
6. Take that scent tin and your pet out of your usual areas and hiding it on walks or trails. Game is playable anywhere!
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Oh I see that look in your eye, Allegra. Working with Allegra on targeting and standing calmly by the trainer as foundation behaviors. However someone gets a little distracted. Future goals include teaching her to voluntarily participate in hoof care. #horsetraining #ponytraining #positivereinforcement #clickerhorse #zooanimaltraining #targeting @furuviksparken (at Furuviksparken)
@vonmetternich / @clickerhorse It's a version of "around a round pen" which you can find videos of on YouTube, except we are using cones for stationary targets rather than a hand held moving one. Basically the pen is just to give some protected contact while the horse is learning the deal, so that you can move away from them if they try to mug, and so they don't feel pressured and have more freedom to leave if they want. The pen is usually more circular or sausage shaped but I was lacking in things to make it with. The rope is lower than I'd want but I know Java isn't usually pushy and already knows the clicker deal so I wasn't worried. I'd want something more solid with Garf and Lady, such as trot poles on top rather than rope, since they'd be less likely to push through that. I really could do this with Java without any protected contact at all, but the lesson suggests it, and plus you'd normally end up with the horse walking all the way around a partial circle shape which is good for bending (I'll have to work something out eventually). Oh, and the point of having this set up in our yard rather than doing it over the fence is because it means we are both seperate from the other horses, and also it's easier to work with cones across a smaller barrier than the paddock fence. And then of course the circling is a factor too. Anyway, basically the whole point of this exercise is to eventually have the horse be able to a) calmly go to cones that you throw in any direction and b) walk around any set of cones already set up and go to the ones you cue them to target. The advantage of this over a hand held target is that it isn't reliant of you- in that the horse isn't at risk of also following your movement instead of only the target. This can make it tricky for establishing voice cues for walk, halt, trot etc. because very often part of the cue is your movement. So when you try at a distance with you standing still, or try when riding, it doesn't work because the horse doesn't understand the voice cue on its own. Sometimes horses can get frustrated and "chase" hand held targets too because what they want is moving away from them as they move towards it. But if you throw a cone and then you cue the horse to target it once it's landed, the horse isn't having to chase. Or you have a bunch of cones set up in a shape, and the horse moves from one to the next without what they want moving away from them. I'm not saying hand held targets are a bad thing of course- they are a fantastic tool. But they can cause problems for some horses and for some behaviours. Hopefully that makes sense!
clickerhorse a parlé de vous dans un billet “Respect’ and Natural Horsemanship: the effects of language on horse...”
totally @tait101 and @ babbelcause ‘s fault :PAs a…
This totally makes me want to dig deeper into how langague is used to describe horses and their behaviour, it can definitely be tell-tale about the way people view and (subsequently treat) them.
