Great work! We’ve got three (house) dogs and I’ve found that learning about training and implementing the training are for the lifetime of the trainer and trainee.
Also, there is so much in trying to understand the animal you’re trying to train/communicate with – rather than just trying to make them understand you.
I was excited when I read you would be sharing these. I’m looking forward to more!
Right?! You get to understand their motivations. Kevin is really not interested in taking treats, but at this point, after a lot of relaxation work, he wants to be right next to me in the pen. He's interested in connection.
Brasso is the opposite. He wants the reward! And he's figuring out the connection along the way. It's so much fun!
I loved your article and insight. It brought me back to the days when I owned a ranch and worked horses and cows in Eastern Oregon. Prior to that however, I was a practicing master falconer. As an apprentice I was required to read Karen Pryor’s book, Don’t Shoot the Dog. I returned to that book over and over again until it was dog-eared and I understood the principles. Operant conditioning is the best training method to achieve a working “hunting” relationship with a bird of prey as they are very food motivated. Contrary to popular belief you can’t “ starve” a bird of prey into submission to get it to hunt with you. They will always be wild (unless captive bred) and would rather be free. They are athletes and must be in top notch condition to hunt and actually catch prey. If their condition is too high they most likely will refuse to hunt and will just go sit in a tree until they’re ready to come down. Conversely if they’re low in weight they probably won’t have the energy to hunt and will do the same, or, be so frickin hungry they’re unmanageable and scary. When you introduce operant conditioning into the bird’s training you don’t have those issues. It’s happy to hunt with you and weight isn’t so critical….. And, you want your bird to return to you when it fails to catch something instead of going off hunting on its own, or flying off forever. So, you use operant conditioning and train your bird to a whistle because that sound travels farther than a clicker and birds can fly a long distance away chasing after a grouse, duck or rabbit. This is an over simplification of the falconry process, but like your wild donkeys most birds of prey have their own personality and preferences and training can be distinctly individual. However, in the long run, if you’re patient, persistent and consistent enough, operant conditioning works. I like how you simplified and explained the 4 different types of conditioning because they can be confusing like you stated. Also, I admire what you are doing with the older and/or unmanageable donkeys/horses, training them humanely so they can be serviceable, bring joy to people who acquire them, and of course, by giving them a quality of life and a second chance. Bless you and thank you!
Nicole H is for Hawk is one of my favorites also! I have struggled with the nuances of OC as well. I was pretty successful with birds of prey in falconry, but couldn’t translate OC with horse and pony training. All of my horses were on the other side of 20years…. the pony the worst behaved of them all. She was in her mid 20s when I acquired her - she had been one of those pony’s that ride kids around in circles at fairs (I did not know this prior to purchasing her) and she hated kids! I got her for my nine year old granddaughter and as long as I was with the two of them all was well. I told my granddaughter to not interact with the pony, Cinnamon, when I was not with her- I was still leery of the pony and had not worked with her much. Well wouldn’t you know, my granddaughter did try to give her a treat when I was in the house and dang if that pony didn’t bite her on the chin! No blood but a bad bruise. She was lucky and I was as aghast! Such a close call. My granddaughter didn’t want anything to do with her after that and she quit riding. Cinnamon went out to pasture with the geldings and died a couple of years later of a heart attack (we think). I didn’t think about teaching my granddaughter about OC, but I didn’t have a good enough grasp of the nuances myself, otherwise there might have been a very different outcome for my granddaughter. Or, I could have made things worse. Right? Thank you for your response 🙏
Aw thank you Marilyn! H is for Hawk is one of my favorite books of all time, and I think falconry is such an incredible process of building language between a truly different animal and humans.
I wish operant conditioning were taught widely. Kids pick up on it really easily and training becomes fun rather than frustrating. But it is a difficult concept to grasp, even after using it successfully. I have struggled with understanding the nuance.
Brasso the shaggy donkey was our fifth pick in the list. All the donks ahead of him were adopted from people ahead of us in line.
Kevin was a heart tug as I just felt he wouldn't get adopted because of his age and sullen demeanor.
They're both brightening up, and it's going to be really fun to share their progress!
Great work! We’ve got three (house) dogs and I’ve found that learning about training and implementing the training are for the lifetime of the trainer and trainee.
Also, there is so much in trying to understand the animal you’re trying to train/communicate with – rather than just trying to make them understand you.
I was excited when I read you would be sharing these. I’m looking forward to more!
Right?! You get to understand their motivations. Kevin is really not interested in taking treats, but at this point, after a lot of relaxation work, he wants to be right next to me in the pen. He's interested in connection.
Brasso is the opposite. He wants the reward! And he's figuring out the connection along the way. It's so much fun!
I loved your article and insight. It brought me back to the days when I owned a ranch and worked horses and cows in Eastern Oregon. Prior to that however, I was a practicing master falconer. As an apprentice I was required to read Karen Pryor’s book, Don’t Shoot the Dog. I returned to that book over and over again until it was dog-eared and I understood the principles. Operant conditioning is the best training method to achieve a working “hunting” relationship with a bird of prey as they are very food motivated. Contrary to popular belief you can’t “ starve” a bird of prey into submission to get it to hunt with you. They will always be wild (unless captive bred) and would rather be free. They are athletes and must be in top notch condition to hunt and actually catch prey. If their condition is too high they most likely will refuse to hunt and will just go sit in a tree until they’re ready to come down. Conversely if they’re low in weight they probably won’t have the energy to hunt and will do the same, or, be so frickin hungry they’re unmanageable and scary. When you introduce operant conditioning into the bird’s training you don’t have those issues. It’s happy to hunt with you and weight isn’t so critical….. And, you want your bird to return to you when it fails to catch something instead of going off hunting on its own, or flying off forever. So, you use operant conditioning and train your bird to a whistle because that sound travels farther than a clicker and birds can fly a long distance away chasing after a grouse, duck or rabbit. This is an over simplification of the falconry process, but like your wild donkeys most birds of prey have their own personality and preferences and training can be distinctly individual. However, in the long run, if you’re patient, persistent and consistent enough, operant conditioning works. I like how you simplified and explained the 4 different types of conditioning because they can be confusing like you stated. Also, I admire what you are doing with the older and/or unmanageable donkeys/horses, training them humanely so they can be serviceable, bring joy to people who acquire them, and of course, by giving them a quality of life and a second chance. Bless you and thank you!
Nicole H is for Hawk is one of my favorites also! I have struggled with the nuances of OC as well. I was pretty successful with birds of prey in falconry, but couldn’t translate OC with horse and pony training. All of my horses were on the other side of 20years…. the pony the worst behaved of them all. She was in her mid 20s when I acquired her - she had been one of those pony’s that ride kids around in circles at fairs (I did not know this prior to purchasing her) and she hated kids! I got her for my nine year old granddaughter and as long as I was with the two of them all was well. I told my granddaughter to not interact with the pony, Cinnamon, when I was not with her- I was still leery of the pony and had not worked with her much. Well wouldn’t you know, my granddaughter did try to give her a treat when I was in the house and dang if that pony didn’t bite her on the chin! No blood but a bad bruise. She was lucky and I was as aghast! Such a close call. My granddaughter didn’t want anything to do with her after that and she quit riding. Cinnamon went out to pasture with the geldings and died a couple of years later of a heart attack (we think). I didn’t think about teaching my granddaughter about OC, but I didn’t have a good enough grasp of the nuances myself, otherwise there might have been a very different outcome for my granddaughter. Or, I could have made things worse. Right? Thank you for your response 🙏
Aw thank you Marilyn! H is for Hawk is one of my favorite books of all time, and I think falconry is such an incredible process of building language between a truly different animal and humans.
I wish operant conditioning were taught widely. Kids pick up on it really easily and training becomes fun rather than frustrating. But it is a difficult concept to grasp, even after using it successfully. I have struggled with understanding the nuance.
Brasso the shaggy donkey was our fifth pick in the list. All the donks ahead of him were adopted from people ahead of us in line.
Kevin was a heart tug as I just felt he wouldn't get adopted because of his age and sullen demeanor.
They're both brightening up, and it's going to be really fun to share their progress!