It was over 65 degrees today! :o
I went to work, finished Thurs/Friday settlement a little after one, and went to see the boys. It's amazing how much faster I finish when there's no one around.
Peanut was covered in caked-on mud, so I took some time to clean him off. We didn't ride because the clouds were threatening (and it sprinkled as I was bringing him to the barn), so we did some clicker stuff instead. He really has either no patience or no attention span, as the tricks requiring him to stop and hold are very difficult for him to learn. Oddly, putting his head down and freezing there and freezing in place were easy, but getting him to hold a foot up until I took the cue away? That took years before he offered it to me spontaneously and now he understands. Still, if I ask for the hold for too long he'll offer me a paw instead of holding it any longer.
We're stuck on about two tricks now - taking objects from me and smiling. He'll smile, but for just a second. I can't seem to get him to extend it, or to offer it without reaching towards my hand that's giving the cue.
As for taking objects from me, we use one of these. It's perfectly sized for a horse, and as soon as he saw it he grabbed it in his mouth. He loves that damn thing. BUT... he will grab it and immediately drop it. He will not hold it for any length of time, or wait for a cue to drop it. I try to only click when he still has it in his mouth, and keep clicking if he holds it for even longer, but it's completely hit or miss and he'll drop it so fast that I click the drop instead of the hold. Sigh.
I did find that it should be easy to teach him tug-o-war, but first things first.
The problem is, if I don't click because I'm waiting for longer intervals to pass, he'll just become bored/frustrated and let his attention wander. I guess I have to hit the books again or (finally) join Dawn's clicker group.
It is cute, though, when I first bring the clicker stuff out. Peanut just starts quivering and offering little bits of just about everything he knows until I actually begin. He gets so excited!
I wish that I could continue work on the bow, but there's no soft area to do it in. Ah well.
1 comment:
I taught Cersei some basic clicker stuff last night! We did targeting first, and watching the lightbulb come on when she realized she got the c/t for touching something else!!! was just the cutest thing ever.
Then we did a bunch of stuff she already kinda knew. Sit, stay for a couple seconds, settle (lay down), and CRAZY. Sometimes she gets crazy and rolls on her back and grunts and grumbles. We always tell her she's a crazy dog when she does that, so getting her to GO crazy was pretty easy.
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