[nagdu] Clicker Training; was: Miniature Guide Horses

[Raven Tolliver]

Hi Sheila,
I have no vision whatsoever, and train dogs of various ages and breeds
and use clicker training with all of them. The leash is only used to
heel or gesture, never to correct or punish. I've use clicker training
with dogs from 4 months to 10 years old.
GEB uses clicker training with their dogs and introduces it to all of
their grads.
You can learn so much about it by visiting
clickertraining.com.
Karen Pryor is the pioneer of clicker training dogs, and you can
download her books from Bookshare. There are books for clicker
training, dogs, cats, and even horses I believe. I read both Karen
Pryor's books on clicker training dogs, and I have thoroughly explored
and studied her website. Just give the website a look see, familiarize
yourself with the terminology and methods. Try to use these methods
with your own dog. It's a lot easier than you might think.
I turned to solely using clicker training when I started dog training
under a veterinary behaviorist. None of the apprentices or volunteers
were allowed to use harsh or traditional methods of any kind. No
yelling, leash corrections, or physical force at all. At first, I
thought this was ridiculous! How could we train shelter dogs without
making them do what we wanted?
I learned very quickly that it was important to motivate and teach a
dog desired behaviors, rather than forcing them to do it. I learned to
click and treat at the right time for the right things, and saw the
magic a clicker could do.
Once I saw that while training with other dogs, I used the methods
with my own guide dog. And I agree with Ann, eliminating corrections
completely has created a more stress-free partnership. My dog is more
optimistic when my signals are not clear, and when my dog is confused
or doesn't do what I want, I focus on communicating to him what I
would like him to do.
For instance, let's take running a curb. GEB taught me to give a
left-anded leash correction when the dog runs a curb. Really, there is
no need for the leash correction. Instead of correcting my dog, I just
stop, heel my dog to my side, show him that we are at the curb, then
rework the error.
I would rather put more emphasis on what I want out of my dog and see
that behavior occur more often because of praise and treats. That is
far better than yanking the leash and being down on him for
misbehaving or making an error while working.

On 2/23/14, Buddy Brannan <buddy at brannan.name> wrote:
> I have this interesting book that details how one can start a dog from zero
> and teach lots of things. The author calls these "training levels", and the
> book appears to be very detailed and thorough. $25 will get you your very
> own ebook copy of the current version; the previous edition is available for
> free.
> http://www.sue-eh.ca
>
> On Feb 23, 2014, at 9:56 AM, Daryl Marie <crazymusician at shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> An,
>>
>> That is a wonderfully thorough and concise way of describing clicker
>> training.  I think Jenny does respond much better to positive
>> reinforcement, so I may slowly start incorporating clicker training or
>> similar once I learn more about it... just gotta correct Jenny's
>> scrounging problem, which is really improving in general anyway *smiles*
>>
>> Daryl
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Ann Edie <annedie at nycap.rr.com>
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 02:28:37 -0700 (MST)
>> Subject: [nagdu] Clicker Training; was: Miniature Guide Horses
>>
>> Hi, Daryl,
>>
>> Yes, people frequently want to pet Panda or take her picture.  And they
>> often want me to let their small children pet her or have their picture
>> taken with her.  They also ask lots of questions about her.  I try to
>> answer
>> questions if I have time and to educate a bit on etiquette with regard to
>> all service animals.  Panda is not crazy about having strangers stick
>> their
>> hands in her face, so I direct the petters to her neck and shoulder if I
>> can.  She mostly wants to go on with her work, but she will target my
>> hand
>> with her nose and wait patiently until I extricate us from the little or
>> big
>> hands.  One thing that is different with a miniature horse guide is that
>> often when we enter a store, restaurant, or other public place for the
>> first
>> time, the staff and management come over and ask if they can take a photo
>> of
>> us to put up on their wall, sometimes alongside the pictures of famous
>> celebrities who have visited the business, to show everyone that it is
>> true
>> that they had a tiny horse in their place.  The funniest thing is that
>> when
>> we're just walking down the street, people will stick their heads out of
>> their car windows and yell, "That's a big dog!" or "That's not a dog!" or
>> "Look at the donkey!" or "There's a cow!" or any number of other
>> ridiculous
>> things.
>>
>> You asked about clicker training--
>> Clicker training is a training method which relies on positive
>> reinforcement--what most of us would call rewards--to motivate a learner
>> to
>> change his behavior or learn something new.  And it uses a marker signal,
>> usually a mechanical clicking sound or a tongue click, to mark the exact
>> behavior which is going to be rewarded.  This lets the learner know just
>> which of the many things she has done in the recent past has earned the
>> reward, and gives us time to reach into our pocket to get a tiny bit of
>> food
>> that the learner finds valuable enough to change her behavior in order to
>> get, and to deliver that reward to the learner.  The reward or reinforcer
>> does not have to be a food treat, but it must be something that the
>> trainer
>> can deliver in a short time and in a variety of settings and
>> circumstances,
>> and it must be something that the learner finds desirable enough to want
>> to
>> change her behavior in order to earn.  Since most dogs, and horses, are
>> highly motivated by certain foods, treats are the primary type of
>> reinforcers used by clicker trainers.
>>
>> Quite a few of the guide dog schools in the U.S. now use clicker training
>> as
>> part of their training methodology and teach a bit about it to their
>> students during the team training process.  For many programs, clicker
>> training is seen as just one tool among many in the toolbox, to be
>> brought
>> out to teach a specific task or solve a particular problem with a dog.
>> Guide Dogs for the Blind in California and Oregon has gone the farthest
>> in
>> adopting clicker training as the primary training method used throughout
>> the
>> process of raising and training their dogs.  I believe it is now used by
>> all
>> their puppy raisers as well as the professional guide dog trainers at
>> GDB.
>> I believe they offer classes in clicker training to their students in
>> class,
>> but I don't know if they expect all students to use this method for
>> routine
>> handling of their dogs over the length of the partnership.  I believe all
>> schools in the U.S. are still teaching the use of various types of
>> "correction", as well as the use of praise and petting,  to their
>> students,
>> as the  routine way of working with their dogs and maintaining the
>> working
>> relationship between the partners.
>>
>> It has been my personal experience that when we use a
>> positive-reinforcement-based training method with our animal partners and
>> eliminate "correction" (which is another name for "punishment") from our
>> training and working relationships, a wonderful transformation occurs in
>> those relationships.  The attitudes of both the human and the animal
>> partner
>> are transformed.  The animal's stress level goes down because she has a
>> much
>> clearer idea about just what the human partner wants her to do and she
>> knows
>> exactly how to earn rewards.  She now sees each walk and interaction with
>> the handler as an opportunity to perform well-understood behaviors and
>> earn
>> rewards which are valuable to her.  The handler is less stressed because
>> she
>> is no longer worried about being the policeman of her dog's behavior.
>> She
>> is focused on teaching the dog what she wants her to do, rather than
>> being
>> focused on preventing the dog from doing what she doesn't want her to do.
>> The new understanding of the handler is that if the dog doesn't perform a
>> certain behavior which is desirable to the handler, then it is because
>> the
>> handler has not taught that behavior to the animal sufficiently or not in
>> circumstances with the level of distraction that the animal is being
>> presented with.  This wipes away the beliefs that the dog is "testing"
>> the
>> handler or that the dog is being stubborn or wants to be the dominant
>> partner.  Clicker training and clicker handling makes each walk with my
>> guide a joy for both of us, and once most people have made the switch
>> from
>> correction-based training to positive-reinforcement-based training and
>> handling, they do not want to go back.
>>
>> If you want to learn more about clicker training, there are many sites on
>> the Internet to explore.  I suggest starting with Karen Pryor's site and
>> book, since she was the one who popularized the method and gave it its
>> name.
>> Her book, DON'T SHOOT THE DOG, is a classic and a great introduction to
>> the
>> theory and practice of training in general, and clicker training in
>> particular.
>>
>> I hope that gives you the information you wanted, and perhaps peaks your
>> curiosity about clicker training.
>>
>> Best,
>> Ann
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daryl Marie
>> Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2014 8:44 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Miniature Guide Horses WAS Cincinnati Family with
>> miniature horse service animal, sues city.
>>
>> Ann,
>>
>> Thank you for that wonderfully descriptive and thorough list of reasons
>> why
>> you have a horse.  That's so awesome!  Do people ask to pet your horse
>> because she's so cute? I had that yesterday in Wal-mart with Jenny...
>> UGH!
>>
>> Also, I hear about Clicker training, but am not familiar with the term.
>> What is that?
>>
>> Daryl
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Ann Edie <annedie at nycap.rr.com>
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 23:47:04 -0700 (MST)
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Miniature Guide Horses WAS Cincinnati Family with
>> miniature horse service animal, sues city.
>>
>> Hi, Daryl and Everyone,
>>
>> You asked how or why I switched from using guide dogs to working with a
>> miniature horse guide.  Well, my decision to work with a miniature horse
>> guide was prompted by many experiences and philosophical factors.
>>
>> First of all, perhaps, was my experience with guide dogs.  After working
>> for
>> 9 years with my first, wonderful chocolate Labrador guide dog, I
>> experienced
>> 2 heart-breaking attempted partnerships with one male and one female
>> German
>> shepherd guide.  I decided that, even in the case of the very successful
>> guide dog, the working lifespan of dogs is painfully short, and the
>> disruption during the period of the decline of the working guide, the
>> loss
>> of that relationship, the time of transition to a new dog guide, and the
>> period of adjustment and team building with the new dog guide, were just
>> too
>> stressful for me physically, emotionally and in terms of time commitment
>> for
>> me to want to repeat the process every few years.  And it is even harder
>> if
>> you throw in the occasional mismatch or match with a dog who decides
>> he/she
>> really isn't prepared to work full time as a guide.
>>
>> Second, I am, and have always been, a horse lover.  At the time I got my
>> miniature horse, I already owned 3 riding horses and was very involved in
>> their care and training.  I knew that horses are intelligent enough to do
>> guide work and that many of them have the temperament to do the work.  I
>> also knew that horses do look upon the humans with whom they have close
>> relationships as members of their bands (families), and do take on the
>> roles
>> of companion and guide/protector as needed.  My own Arabian horse,
>> Magnat,
>> acted as my guide both when I was riding him and when I was walking with
>> him.  I had trained him to stop at changes of footing and elevation and
>> before going through doorways or gateways so that I could orient myself
>> and
>> make sure the passage was clear.  He was also a wonderful retriever who
>> would not only happily pick up grooming tools that regularly flew out of
>> my
>> hand while I was vigorously brushing him, but would also tidy up the
>> arena
>> by bringing me sundry objects which others had dropped , like whips,
>> hats,
>> tissues, and little traffic cones.  And miniature horses have an average
>> lifespan of 30-40 years or more, compared with the 10-15 year lifespan of
>> dogs, which means you can expect an amazing, long-lasting and
>> continuously
>> deepening relationship with one very special animal partner.  Around the
>> year 2000 I began hearing reports of the Guide Horse Foundation's
>> training
>> of the first miniature horses as guides for blind people, and I was
>> intrigued.  I had not known up to that time, that there were horses small
>> enough to serve as guides.
>>
>> Third, through my interests in dogs and horses and their training
>> (obedience
>> for dogs as well as guide work, and dressage riding and general
>> management
>> for horses) I had become convinced that I wanted a guide animal trained
>> with
>> methods which relied on positive reinforcement rather than what is called
>> "correction" in the guide dog world.  By the year 2000, methods which
>> were
>> based in behavioral science and which relied on positive reinforcement
>> were
>> becoming the norm in training dogs as well as most other species of
>> animals
>> for all types of management, performance, and companionship/obedience
>> tasks.
>> However, guide dog training programs were largely entrenched in the
>> traditional methods which relied on correction both during the dogs'
>> training and in the relationship between the dog and handler after
>> placement.  I had become accustomed to working with my horses and dogs in
>> the more positive way, and I no longer wanted to go back to the
>> punishment-based methods of the guide dog programs.
>>
>> Fourth, I was fortunate to be working and sharing a barn with Alexandra
>> Kurland, who is the foremost advocate of positive training methods,
>> specifically, clicker training, in the horse world.  So when I expressed
>> to
>> Alex my interest in perhaps working with a miniature horse guide instead
>> of
>> a successor guide dog, she responded with a proposal that we acquire and
>> train a miniature horse to be my guide, and that we use clicker training
>> exclusively both to train and to handle the guide horse, to which I
>> enthusiastically agreed.
>>
>> So, in the summer of 2001, we started searching the internet for a
>> suitable
>> young miniature horse.  We found a good prospect in Florida, flew down to
>> meet her, and knew immediately that she would be our little clicker
>> guide.
>> Panda came to live with Alex in September, 2001, in the days just after
>> 9-11
>> when we were all in a shocked daze, wondering what the world would be
>> like
>> in the next months and years.  She definitely proved to be a bright star
>> in
>> a time of darkness and doubt.  Panda was just 8 months old when she
>> started
>> her training, which was a combination of both basic socialization and
>> guide
>> training, and which lasted about 18 months.  She was actually ready to go
>> to
>> work full-time earlier, but we didn't want to have her begin her working
>> life until she was over two years old.  Panda came to live with me and
>> became my full-time guide in the summer of 2003, and she has been the
>> most
>> wonderful, consistent, confident, and intelligent guide that anyone could
>> hope for.  She just celebrated her 13th birthday, and we have been
>> working
>> together for ten and a half years, with the prospect of decades of happy
>> partnership ahead of us.
>>
>> In answer to your question about how guide horses work-- They do all of
>> the
>> same guide tasks as guide dogs do, although sometimes they do it a bit
>> differently than the dogs.  For example, instead of going under a table
>> or
>> chair in a restaurant or on the bus, the guide horse stands beside my
>> chair
>> or between the bus seats.  The horses don't sit as dogs do, but they
>> either
>> stand or lie down instead.  They do all the usual guide tasks such as
>> stopping at curbs and stairs, going around obstacles, changing speed for
>> uneven footing or for ice, mud, water, etc., looking out for overhead
>> obstacles, turning left and right on cue, monitoring moving vehicles at
>> driveways and street crossings and exercising intelligent disobedience
>> when
>> necessary, and finding specific places in the environment, such as doors
>> to
>> go inside or outside, elevators, stairs, checkout counters, pedestrian
>> signal buttons, home, etc.  And yes, they are housetrained and relieve on
>> leash and on cue, just as the dogs do.
>>
>> The organization I mentioned earlier, the Guide Horse Foundation, trained
>> the first working guide horse team, Dan Shaw and Cuddles, in the spring
>> of
>> 2001.  That organization trained a few more teams in the next couple of
>> years.  But as far as I can tell, they haven't been active in recent
>> years.
>> All of the active teams that I am aware of, except for Dan Shaw and
>> Cuddles,
>> have miniature horses which were privately trained or owner trained.
>>
>> I hope that answers some of your questions.
>>
>> Best,
>> Ann
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daryl Marie
>> Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 12:47 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Miniature Guide Horses WAS Cincinnati Family with
>> miniature
>> horse service animal, sues city.
>>
>> Hi, Ann,
>>
>> May I ask what prompted the change from guide dogs to guide horse?  Who
>> trains a guide horse?  Does it guide similar to a dog?  I am very
>> curious!
>>
>> Daryl
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Ann Edie <annedie at nycap.rr.com>
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 13:34:56 -0700 (MST)
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Cincinnati Family with miniature horse service
>> animal,
>> sues city.
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> FYI, I use the same size plastic bags for picking up after my miniature
>> horse guide as I did for picking up after my dog guides.
>>
>> Also, I keep my miniature horse guide at my property, a privately-owned
>> house in the suburbs with a lot not too much bigger than the one
>> mentioned
>> in the article.  The town officials in my town as well as the animal
>> control
>> officer and the code enforcement people are all aware of the presence of
>> my
>> miniature horse guide, and none has given me a hassle about it.  My area
>> is
>> zoned residential and does not permit what they call livestock.  (I know
>> this because the neighbors and town officials certainly did react quickly
>> when my daughter attempted to keep 4 baby chickens she rescued from her
>> 8th
>> grade biology class in a pen in our backyard.  That requires a zoning
>> variance and the agreement of the neighbors.)
>>
>> Anyway, I'm not here to support the keeping of any or all of the other
>> animals, but my miniature horse at least is considerably quieter than the
>> dogs that live on either side of my property, both of which bark
>> incessantly
>> at anyone who moves in their vicinity.  And as for smell, I pick up after
>> my
>> horse 4-6 times a day and there is never a pile left in the yard, whereas
>> the neighbors' dogs are allowed to leave piles in their yards for many
>> days
>> before the waste is picked up, if ever.  And--this may be a matter of
>> opinion--but horse manure is nowhere near as bad smelling or
>> objectionable
>> to pick up as is dog droppings.
>>
>> My miniature horse is a trained service animal and I have the same right
>> to
>> keep her in my home and to be accompanied by her in all places of public
>> accommodation as I would if she were a dog guide.  I believe the family
>> in
>> this article may not be claiming that the horse is a trained service
>> animal
>> for use in public, but rather as a medically prescribed support animal
>> which
>> can be kept in the home under the Fair Housing Act.  I have only seen
>> this
>> law used in the case of public housing or rental properties, so don't
>> know
>> if that law applies to privately owned homes and to town zoning codes.
>> But
>> I have heard of a couple of court cases where the lawyers brought into
>> court
>> a miniature horse and a large, rambunctious mastiff or great Dane for the
>> court to compare as to which might be more noisy, smelly, and disruptive
>> to
>> neighborhood tranquility.  Which do you think would come out on top?
>>
>> Best,
>> Ann
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Raven